Russian Video of the World Ice Competition

Alexey Dengin from Team Russia put this video together of their tour of the IWC. I suppose we should do something like this, but I just haven't had the time. Enjoy !
Ice Club 2010

Romania

2/4/2010
Italy to Romania

Levaing Rabenstein was difficult. The logistics were easy enough to go, but after having a great experience being able to climb on the structure and having made friends with a few of the Russians and gleaning some technique tips from them, the long trip to Romania ahead was the “down” part of the emotional roller coaster on this ice climbing competition tour.It’s true, there’s a lot of highs and lows throughout the competition. The experience is overwhelming at times and I’m sure that it will take some time for it all to sink in.

We made it out of Italy and flew into Romania where we met Pavel Shabalin, one of the UIAA Competition Judges. Myself, Pavel, Justin, and Leigh all took the train(s) to Busteni together. We had some great complex discussion about the competition and its organization, the athletes and their backgrounds, and shared a few war stories of ice climbing. Pavel drew some pictures of the Russian words I was trying to learn and wrote them out in both Russian and English. “Cat”, “spoon”, “potatoes”, and “cup” sound very similar. The language is complex to be sure, but not nearly as bizarre as Chinese is to both of us ! We were invited to come and train in Moscow and Kirov in the future. Pavel is one of the main coaches of the Russian Federation team. That’s a pretty nice honor.

The train ride into Busteni reminded us all of the train ride to Kirov, but it was definitely not the same. It was only two hours to get there. The exchange rate is about 3.5 Lei = 1 USD. Some things are cheap, and some things cost the same. Busteni is a bustling ski town that is cheap to stay in for the most part. There’s a lot of youth mixed in with the older generation. There’s lots of 1950’s architecture, but more style than what we saw in Russia. Maybe the Romanians were not in as much a hurry to get things built after World War II. Anyway, Busteni is a great little town, nestled up against the Transylvanian Alps. It’s a ski town too with the Kalinderu Ski Area gaining nearly 1300m of elevation right out of town. They claim 40% advanced ski terrain. I’ll have to partake in the assessment after the competition.

I took breakfast at a small restaurant the first morning here and was able to order an omelet! We tried to order scrambled eggs in Milan and they wanted to charge us 42Є (that’s about $75 USD). I think we could have bought a few chickens and scrambled our own, in addition to whatever else. Anyway, I took a walk in the first proper snow storm I have been in since arriving in Europe, and made my way to the ski area where the new climbing structure is located for our competition.

This structure is quite impressive. It looks like the U2 concert stage from this year. It has three arched legs supporting a horizontal keystone ring at the top that a modular climbing wall can be created and dismantled quickly in order to make any combination or series of climbing. It’s the 4th dimension!

Competition head. After having climbed in Rabenstein, I finally feel like I have a clue as to how the climbing behaves, some of the intricacies of the style and technique, as well as gaining some confidence. On-sighting an M12 finals route is difficult to say the least but I’m feeling like I can piece it together now. Time is the major influecial factor. It drives the decisions made while climbing. Going fast is prudent, but going too fast is careless. The Korens lost the last competition in Saas-Fee this year because of a careless mistake.

Markus Bendler has swept the continent clean of all the major ice climbing competitions. He would not have to even show up or compete in Romania since he has so many points, and is already the undisputed World Champion…again. Nobody has ever heard of him in the USA. I guarantee that once he makes his way across the pond, he will be on the front cover of any given magazine. He’s also a very nice guy. He signs autographs and poses for photos with kids who look up to him. He is a European hero. It makes me wonder why Americans idolize professional athletes from baseball, football, and basketball. Most of them are a bunch of creeps who hardly give a kid the time of day.



There’s just a few days left. Inscription of the athletes starts today and the competition is going to be shown on Romanian National tv as well as streamed live via internet:
http://www.evenimentelive.ro/iwcbusteni.html
Check it out if you’re bored at 2 am in the Rocky Mountains. This event is represented by 32 countries and is on the Olympic scale. I’m daunted by that fact, but I’m also willing to give it my best shot. There was a point where Justin and I had discussed bailing out and going to Chamonix to ski, but we pulled our shit together, got our chin up, and are ready to give it all we got. I’ll pull my bicep from my humeral head before I come off that wall tomorrow.

From Russia ... to better days ahead

1/8/2010
A blank stare
In Moscow we had to find our way to a train station. Since neither Justin nor I read or understand Russian, we were limited to form recognition of parts of works. So we would look at a Russian name and say it in English as best as we could. Even though we could kind of communicate with each other, all bets were off when we had to talk to someone else. The Russian language looks like the English and Greek alphabets were speeding in a car together down the autobahn and then were involved in a major trauma scene.
We finally made it to our train station after working our way through the impressive metro system. We had no cell phones or any other means of communication, but we had a time and a place to meet our contact. Luckily, we looked like out of place American ice climbers and we were snatched up by Michelle, our guide to Kirov.
All the athletes lined up to get on board once we were all assembled, and we were assigned a cabin. There were four of us to one cabin and we took all of our baggage in the room with us. Needless to say, there was no room to move. Our beds were small and cramped and we settled in for the 14 our train ride on the Train. The crew of about 15 athletes fell asleep fairly quickly as there was nowhere else to go, no commons area and no amenities otherwise.
I have not slept well since arriving in Russia and the train trip didn’t help. I was up 4 times as it was intriguing to see the train stations at the stops we made as well as looking at the bleak countryside light by moonlight. Once I’m awake, I have a hard time going to sleep. My mind wanders and with all the excitement going to the World Competition, my nerves are a bit fried. I wake up in the morning more tired than when I went to sleep. The jet lag has taken a severe toll.
We hopped on a bus that took us to the hotel. Some athletes look as bad as I feel and some are asleep in their seat as soon as they sit down.
Arriving at the hotel, we are given rooms and have to report back within the hour to register for the climbing competition. All the foreign athletes are in a small room upstairs in the hotel when 20-30 Russian athletes arrive and register. Most of them are teenagers. The rules are explained in several languages and there is some confusion with interpretation.
A short walk from the hotel brings us to a large tower, a ski jump tower to be exact. Underneath is our climbing venue. We are ushered to the isolation building that is an old building with no heat. The temperature outside is minus 29°C. Ice becomes brittle at minus five. The “warm-up area” is a timber post and lintel system inside the hallway. Competitors swing wildly past each other on the monkey bar structure in hopes of getting some kind of warm-up.
I’m leaning up against the wall and as I look down, the whole room shakes, as if a bomb went off outside. I looked at Justin to see if he felt it, but his face tells me that I am the only one feeling it. I realize that I am in trouble. The jet lag, travel, and excitement have taken their toll. I now know that I am punch-drunk tired and I am not ready to compete. My heart drops into the pit of my stomach. I get more nervous since I know that I am in a weakened state and am not strong enough to even get a good warm-up session in before heading out to take my turn at on-sighting a climbing route in this competition. It’s over before it’s begun and the room continues to shake intermittently. I almost can’t stand up without losing my balance.
Trying to get a warm-up on the flexing timbers, my muscles are at about 60-70% capacity. My name is called out in Russian and I am taken to the venue. They tied my knot and I am looking at the route. I laugh out loud and look around and know that I only want to lay down right there and go to sleep. It’s crazy to think that, after all the training and effort to be afforded a chance to be where I am, that I cannot even climb. I am trying not to internalize the shameful feeling that somehow I screwed up to be in this poor of shape.
They prod me to climb, so I get on the wall and start. Both axes on the starting hold and I begin to move across the traversing opening moves. The third move goes to overhanging terrain and the weight of my body feels like a ton of bricks. The cold penetrates past the skin and my arms feel like lead. I try to kick into the boards, but my crampons bounce off. I let go and drop to the ground.
We are allowed a second try, so I get back on thinking that somehow I might get a better flow to the climb and that by some miracle that I will be able to get moving upwards. The second round I get a twinkle of power, but only briefly. I do some figure 4’s and figure 9’s and get through the same moves and one more. Then, the high feet come in pulling the overhang to a very long stretch to the next hold. This is my main weakness in climbing since short people have an easier time crunching up and bringing their legs up to move past the overhang and I am not a short build.
I’m too cold, too tired, and I can’t think. I look at the hold and I now see two of them. Double vision isn’t what I needed. I simply let go and I’m done with my first World Competition climbing event. I’m completely embarrassed. I feel I’ve disgraced everyone, including the route setter, friends, family, and sponsors. I just want to puke. As cold and miserable as it was, I stayed around to watch Justin climb. Justin, unfortunately, did as poorly, but was also the victim of either the language barrier or unfair judging since they called him “outside the boundaries” on his second attempt at the second hold. They counted his highest point however, so we tied for 33rd place out of 38.
The route was too hard right off the deck since we weren’t the only ones who suffered as bad. Nearly 1/3 of the climbers has fallen there and never even made it past the first clip. In fact, nobody even finished the climb, not even the world’s best climbers could not finish it. As a result, there is a complaint to be filed by the judges to the overseeing body of route setters. I’m not sure how any of that will work out in the future, but it was a rough start for the newcomers from the USA.
I wasn’t really phased by the ordeal since I couldn’t expect that I knew that I was pretty much doing well just to make the appearance and to expect much more would be unfair. Justin was upset for a while but he got over it quickly after I told him how I did and reassured him that this was only the first of a long series of competitions this month. We weren’t in Ouray where we only had one shot for the whole year. We were on the World Competition circuit and would have at least three more opportunities to tie in. The rest of the evening was spent socializing and meeting some of the people involved in organizing the competition as well as some of the other English speaking athletes.
The following day we were able to go to the Kirov indoor rock climbing gym where all of the local people climb and train. I was shocked to find out that this was the only place that many of the Russians have ever climbed using their ice tools. So, they are familiar with all of the climbing holds used in this competition in Kirov, whereas we were learning on-sight, meaning that we had never seen the holds or were able to hang off of them. This is a clear hometown advantage. I would have liked to of climbed in this gym at least once before getting on the route. The locals make all their own holds out of 1 part polyester and 3 parts sand, but wouldn’t share an exact recipe, all interesting and good information for me or anyone else who might compete here in the future. Anyway, we all got a good session of climbing in under more hospitable conditions. It felt good to move and I got into bett humor quickly.
We dressed up for the speed climbing competition in the early evening. The sun had set hours ago and the ice climbing wall was lit up with bright lights and a disco ball with music trying to pump a good vibe through high winds and blowing snow. I had never competed in a speed climbing competition before, although I had set a few of the lines in Ouray several years ago when they used to have speed climbing competitions. Dennis Van Hoak lent my his speed climbing tools and I gave it a go with a couple of warm-up tries. I as moving well enough and thought I might have some fun. Indeed, I had a load of fun in the competition round. I climbed well all the way up and nearly hit the buzzer at the top when I pulled out a chunk of ice that sent my flying, leading to my disqualification. I would have made the next round had I stayed on, but it was not to me.
Dennis was really upset since he fell off only three moves up the ice. Having taken 2nd in a World Cup speed climbing competition, he was a bit disturbed. I gave him some good words that it wasn’t his fault and that he still has more competitions. It seems like a nice way of coping with failure when we look ahead at the next round. It sooths our emotions somehow and is like a little sugar after having swallowed a heap of bitter.
More socializing and hanging out watching others climb in the semi-finals and finals competitions for the remainder of the stay in Kirov. There’s really no nightlife for foreigners that we knew about, especially with the language barrier.
The finals route ended as expected. The girls all failed at the ice since they have never thrown their ice axes into virgin ice. The men finished as expected with Markus Bendler finishing first. Harold Klammer from Italy might have been closer to the podium, but he dropped an ice tool and was not allowed to continue. Russians finished out the top remaining slots.
We were still on the clock since we still had to pack, eat dinner, and catch a bus to the train station all within an hour. We got on a train the took us about half way back to Moscow and we went into the bar and had a good time with al the athletes and some of the local folks. Unfortunately, we had to be dropped off at the half way city for some strange reason. Likely it was an error on the organizers part. This set us laying on the terminal floor for four hours until the next train came through to pick us up for the remainder of the trip. At least on the second leg we were able to get a bedded cabin and catch some sleep, although I didn’t sleep much. Go figure. Time to start changing something.

International World Ice Climbing Competiton 2010

2 – 3 January 2010

Flight across the Atlantic to Russia

As a Mountain Guide, I take people into the mountains to attain a goal who are in the same shoes and have the same excitement that I have for this trip to Europe for the 2010 UIAA International World Mixed Rock and Ice climbing Competition. For some, climbing a 14er in Colorado might be a life-long goal. This competition is extraordinary for me and is one of my life-long goals to participate in.

To date myself, I learned how to climb ice with a mountain axe (not a technical ice climbing axe) and when it wasn’t fashionable to fall. Since then, I have chosen to climb on ice axes without leashes, following a more progressive path, and even learned to love the heel spur, an additional crampon that allowed the climber to alleviate some of stress of hanging on by transferring weight to their legs. The spur allowed some to achieve climbing at a level that was previously thought impossible. The use of spurs also allowed for a more enthralling visual experience for spectators. Then, some people took the spur off and went on to climb hard routes “bareback” or “spur-less.” Now, the spur is not allowed in competition, a shame since the evolution of climbing should be embraced and not clipped like the birds of a feather condemned to not experience their full potential. Climbers are presently forced into contrived series of climbing moves in competition routes using “figure 4s” and “figure 9s.” If you can’t do these moves, then it’s going to be a show-stopper. Perhaps the reader can feel my sentiment as a bold statement, but I believe that part of the reason that many people get into climbing is to be able to express their own style and technique. It appears that conformity is etching its place here as it has across the remainder of the climbing culture, a pity.

The opposite is true in Ouray, CO, where I’ve had the great privilege of competing for the last three years. There, the competition routes have been set in a more traditional/alpine style that are more based on the skill of finding a hold on cryptic rodentie and progressing in a generally vertical, straight-up fashion. Sometimes, the competition route is covered with verglass, a thin ice layer that usually never holds my weight of about 200 pounds (90kg). So, I’ve set my sights on climbing in a competition that I know where the holds are and I’m not worried about them breaking. The IWC climbs are standardized so that every climber has an equal opportunity to climb a route that will be generally the same throughout the competition, so there is no advantages to going last, per say.

Although I have grown up climbing on ice, and I call myself an “ice climber,” I spend less than 10% of my ice climbing time actually on waterfall ice. I spent several years learning how to climb bigger and more intimidating ice climbs in the Canadian Rockies. When I was going through Physician Assistant School, I was fortunate enough to land a family practice rotation in Ridgway, CO and I spent most of my time off doing night solos of all the climbs in the area, including Ames, Bridalveil, as well as the Ouray and Silverton area climbs. Dragging a rope behind me, I found it easier to climb at night and by headlamp without any pressures from other parties, the main objective hazard in ice climbing.

Taking the flight from Albuquerque to Chicago Midway, then on to Dulles Washington was an easy first leg. The awakening that I was going to Russia became apparent once checking in at Dulles. Having traveled a fair amount, I never ceases to amaze me how large the discrepancies are between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” At home, I consider myself always bordering on the “have-not” side, but compared to the rest of the world, I have more than most. People see how I get by on meager earnings and ask me “how can you do it?” “Everyone has a different reality” I tell them. Mostly, I am happy be alive and be able to experience the places, people, and events that have shaped me into who I am. Today I am a competition ice climber headed for the World Cup in a foreign, and in the past, a hostile land.

My father and my grandfather were not able to go to Russia, and there may be a possibility that Russia may not welcome Americans once again with the resurgence of communism under Putin’s rule. I wonder how we will be seen in the Russian’s eyes once we are on their turf, the largest geographical, and still a political powerhouse, country in the world. Will it be different in Moscow than Kirov? What about general safety? So many people have been afraid of the perceived low level of safety and stability of the country. I can definitely feel the distance between the cultures just in getting on the plane, but I’m looking forward to dispelling the mystery and making friends and establishing relationships that could possibly tie our countries closer. I wonder if the language barrier will be as limiting as I predict.

Training Blues

Last week was a heavy hitter on the training side and I’m still feeling the effects. It’s now been three days off from climbing and I’m itching to get back into getting some hang time on the ice tools. I know, however, that I can’t afford to push it too hard this close before a difficulty competition. I know my body after several years of ice climbing competition how I need to do things. Everyone beats to a different drum and has a different training regimen. In training with other people it becomes necessary to help each other out since none of the ice climbers I know in the USA have a climbing coach. We are all self-sustaining on all fronts and so we lean on each other to train and climb with. People who don’t climb hard routes find it difficult to understand our “selfish and non-recreational style.”

Timy Fairfied has been as close a coach for me as I could possibly have. He has participated in International World Climbing Competitions and he has the heart and soul of a competitor. He has taught me how to climb better for sure, but has also been able to forge my minds perceptions into strong positive beliefs that allow for completion and success. He still continues to inspire and coach young adults and helps good climbers become even better. Timy has also inspired me to travel and test my mettle outside of my comfort zone. I’ll always carry a little bit of Timy with me, especially on trips like this. I once went with him and Brandi Proffitt to China to set a UIAA competition for the Asia X-Games, so this competition won’t be too shocking, but this time I am a competitor, a bit nervous and excited.

This is a journey that I dreamed of after completing my first Ouray competition in 2007. I brought up going to Europe to compete in this circuit to many people, but nobody was interested and thought it was not worth going. I remember watching another of my inspirations, Will Gadd, appear at the IWC in climbing magazines and even as a cameo in Petzl’s CD movie, “Picth Sorbet.” From there, I become enthralled with the possibility of making my own reality.

Climbing is an interesting activity. Some people take climbing as a loose recreational hobby, especially since the advent of climbing gyms and the high relative safety that accompanies that theater. Another theater has introduced more people into Ice climbing than any other in the world, the Ouray Ice Park. It also has a high safety margin when compared to the way I learned how to climb ice. Now, I train those who are willing and ready, how to climb hard on rock, sometimes even before they have ever tried to climb on ice. This makes for a physically strong climber, albeit, not a strong alpine awareness. The evolution of climbing and its techniques are never-ending. Perhaps tomorrow’s clever climbers will come up with something new and revolutionary.

So, my training has taken the mandatory abrupt turn and instead of working on cryptic alpine-style routes that are also somewhat physically demanding, I have had to work on my power and confidence on the “euro-style” of mixed climbing in order to even think I could show up and sign in for this competition. To the lay person, climbing in one style generally looks like climbing in any other form. However, I can attest that this is far from the truth.

The climbers from Europe are very strong, driven, motivated, and supported by their country and sponsors. I have worked diligently for three years to seek sponsorship in the United States. My efforts have been fraught dead-ends during a hash economy. The USA Olympic Training Committee was completely unsupportive, but it’s understandable, since mixed rock and ice climbing is not an Olympic sport. Having said that, I was extremely fortunate to be picked up as an Ice Holdz team member and received modest financial support. This was the fuel I needed to continue looking for sponsorship and PMI Rope came through with a little more money, enough to cover my rail travel throughout Europe! I was elated. Huge thanks to those two entities. I hope that anyone reading this will support them.

Running track based on my personal VO2 max, climbing days, rest days, eating “right”, not drinking alcohol (as much) and not traveling so much, all spells disaster for personal relationships. I thought that my eating was in check last year when I was counting calories, but I obviously was mistaken when I developed a myeloproliferative syndrome, a condition where my white blood cells were generated, but didn’t turn into full-grown cells. In addition, I had anemia, which contributed to a fairly major fatigue problem. Falling asleep in the middle of the day on a whim isn’t good. I started to eat more and somewhat indiscriminately and became better, I realize that eating is more important than I gave credence.

1/4/2010

Got up yesterday morning and drank some fairly expensive coffee downstairs in the hotel. I worked on my research project for about 2 hours and then checked in with the hotel to see if we could stay for another day since we were told that we did not have a room the day before. Luckily, we got a room. That freed us up for a large chunk of time that we were able to devote to running around greater Moscow unbridled.

We took the swanky Metro to the town center and tried to get into the Armory, Unfortunately, they didn’t allow our Avalung backpacks in, or maybe we had too much of a tan, but we as soon as we got through the metal detector check point, they kicked us out.

So, we ran around Red Square at -22°C and checked out some cool architecture at St. Gabrial’s’ Cathedral. We strolled through the vendors, all of which sold the same trinkets. I bought a couple CCCP t-shirts and we rallied to a rock gym that Justin had found on the internet. Justin’s really good at sniffing stuff like that out with today’s technology, something that most people here are completely oblivious to.

We took a metro to as close as possible and then hiked a km or so to get to what seemed to be an educational compound of sorts. We made our way up to the 4^th floor with the help of two Moscovite girls who spoke the best English we’ve encountered so far. They were able to get us into the gym saying that “we were with them”. We paid our $150 rub and got to climb on their wall that was located in a quite large structure that included a full gymnastics floor, a superimposed track, and tennis courts. The wall was about 150m long and had a good selection of bouldering and tope rope and lead climbing. They desperately need rope. I would have left mine, but we need it for the remainder of the trip. I showed then some IceHoldz and they were a bit perplexed. I left some literature with them about indoor ice climbing and they seemed put out that I would give them information. Perhaps it’s because they can’t use the information or there’s just no way could they ever afford doing this activity since they are limited by their government in what expenses can be covered. The ropes were so bad that when I went to tie in, the rope end felt like a bag of worms since so many people have fallen on the first 8m of it. Justin took up that first 8m, coiled and clipped it to his harness, tied in short, and got stares from the manager of the gym I don’t think the manager understood our thought process. Our though process was, “don’t fall.”

The youth seems to be a lot more accepting and outgoing. Once people here get to be about low to mid 20’s, they seem to have a stern affect. There’s not much smiling, joking, or laughing in any venue. Moscow, in general, is a very quiet and a very clean city. There is no trash anywhere, period. There is also no advertising signs or billboards cluttering the viewscape, that being what it is. Busses and trains run constantly in every direction on overhead electrical power lines, reminiscent of the 1920-30s in the United States. They are quiet and don’t spew CO.

The architecture is by and large rigid, geometrically square, and functional for the time being. I seriously doubt that many of the homes and apartment complexes will be able to be refurbished and brought up to modern day standards easily. My fear for Moscow is that a small earthquake could be absolutely devastating. Justin walks around shaking his head at all the fire hazards he sees. It’s amazing that the amount of public responsibility is at such a high standard and that is what enables this city to not have large disasters. The United States seems to have way more events that could carry a larger threat should it occur in Moscow.

It’s been good to get here early and have a chance to get over the jet lag. We are about 13 hours opposite from home, and the change is a bit grueling, especially at this high latitude. I’m reading my textbook for advanced environmental exercise physiology and the only research that shows helping out with jet lag is Bright Light Exposure (BLE) and melatonin. I have neither. I do have Ambien (works well) and loads of alcohol (blahhh). So spending some days here in advance is a good thing.

Americans stick out like a blinking strobe light here. We are wearing standard clothes for the States, but the Moscovites wear lots of fur or black, brown, and dark drab colors. It’s not my style at all, so I was considering buying a large fezz (or whatever the furry hats are)…ya, right.

On another note, the last time that a UIAA Ice International World Competition was held in Russia was also in Kirov. Will Gadd was the last North American to compete in this competition here, and it was at the time when the revolutionary transition to leashless tools and spurs made an explosive appearance on the ice climbing scene and the front cover of climbing magazines. It was a pivotal point in ice climbing history.