Cheongson, South Korea

Yes ! I'm back on the UIAA International World Ice Climbing circuit and representing the USA, imagine that. I'm just sponsoring myself on this one and have a little more experience going into this round. I'm looking forward to seeing new places, meeting new friends, and gaining more experience.

The winter that seemed like it would never come because of rains and warmer temperatures finally made it to North America. With only one week of real freezing temperatures I wasn’t sure I was going to see winter at all. But as planned, Gordon McArthur, a friend I had met through an ice climbing competition in Ouray, CO several years ago, flew from Canada to meet up with me at my home in Albuquerque, NM and he must have brought winter with him. The lowest temperatures on record descended and were a wake-up call for the months ahead.

We stayed up all night training on my climbing wall in the backyard that I made specifically for mixed rock and ice climbing, something that is not readily available on the North American continent. Our flight was early the next morning for the month of competition climbing in Asia and Europe.

Flying into Seoul, Korea for my first time I am filled with the excitement of being able to be the first and only American athlete to compete in the International World Cup Ice Climbing competition in the far southeastern reaches of Korea. It is a great sense of pride that I am the only person from the USA and so I get to hang the flag. Several other Americans have competed in the IWC before, but never in Asia. South Korea is home of two of the best competition ice climbers and the country has great pride in sponsoring the first IWC on Asian soil.

This is my second year as a World Cup competitor. I don’t have the jitters like I did the first year since I know what to expect from the climbing and I know most of the other athletes. It’s the exposure to the culture and environment that is now overwhelming. New events in new places are exciting and a good cause for foreign travel to not only major cities, but also to the heartlands of these countries, affording an experience I would not have otherwise had.

Gordon and I are a Team North America of sorts and have gotten together with Malcolm Kent from Denmark in Seoul. We spend a couple of days before the competition strolling through the markets and seeing some of the arts and architecture of this ancient and great city. The economy is clearly thriving and there’s no shortage of anything. We find a good selection of mixed rock and ice climbing gear in shops that are crammed together like sardines in a can. Prices are equivalent from back home.

We meet up with the Korean representative and all the other athletes for long bus ride to the venue. I am happy to see many old friends and the excitement of competing once again surges through all of us as our laughing and sharing quick “where have you bens?” are exchanged. We also miss those who cannot make it, are no longer competing, or have passed away. The UIAA IWC is a fairly small circle of people on a grand worldwide scale.

The exotic foods catch many of us off guard. New tastes, textures, and flavors of foods are not something that I am used to, but I go for it and enjoy a rare occurrence of a new experience.

Getting off the bus the athletes are met with movie cameras and a small gathering of the local people who clap for us as we are directed into the registration room. We pick up jerseys and accept gifts from the country. This time it’s a tea pot.

Inscription and dedication evening is preceded by an incredible feast. Several drum and fan dances are performed, representing Korea’s heritage. Then it’s off to bed after a long day.

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

UIAA European Open Ice Speed Climbing Competition in Romania

2/7/2010

Finishing up the 2010 Ice World Cup Circuit

So all of the preparation, planning, logistics, and thrill of competing in the World Cups in all the venues that we’ve been to over the last month and a half have been…extraordinary. The Euros like that the underdog Americans have made an appearance. Justin and I have been interviewed by media at every event. It’s intimidating since none of the Americans have ever made much of a presence in Europe.

I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time. New friends have been made, new connections with climbers from all over Europe and Asia have been established, and I had the opportunity to see many places and cultures that I have wanted to see since I was a kid. I have been encouraged and inspired by some of the world’s best mixed rock and ice climbers. The blood lines of experience from many of the original competitors have been passed down to the next generations of climbers that we are competing with. Markus Bendler learned to climb hard mixed lines and was trained by Harry Berger who I have also climbed with in Ouray, Colorado in past years. There’s less than 3 degrees of separation many times as this is a small community.

There is a lot of energy to get a World Competition in the United States. All of the competitors and UIAA Organizers have been very positive about the USA presence on this entire circuit. They feel that it makes for a more international competition. Furthermore, it validates their Olympic movement. There is a lot of energy being put into mixed climbing becoming a venue at the Winter Games. This may not happen in my lifetime of being a competitor, but perhaps I am contributing in some way to make this happen. Both Justin and I are interested in putting together a circuit of sorts in the USA. I have been told that I have two months to tell Urs (the Swiss coach representing the Ice Climbing Federation) if it might be possible to position a mock World Competition in the USA for next year. Although I am excited about the prospect to put an event on, I also realize the implications of taking on such a task from my experience with the Ouray Competitions in the past.

Therefore, I think it is prudent to call on anyone who thinks they have a possible venue, organizational structure in place, and the interest to consider hosting this type of event. I would be more than happy to have a lengthy discussion with those who would like to contribute. Justin and I have some great ideas, but we would need a lot of help to accomplish something of this magnitude.

An event like this in the USA means something different for every individual person. I can’t see anything bad about an event like this on a personal note and I have a laundry list of how it can be a good and positive thing not only for the general ice climbing community and those in the industry, but also for the USA.




We didn’t attend the competition for the finals. Rather, Malcolm drove Urs, Leight, Justin, and me 40km to the north on a mountainous, winding, and snow packed icy road to the north to visit the castle of Dracula. Yes, we learned all about the history and creation of Dracula on a cold, dark, blizzarding day in the Transylvanian Alps. The drab mid-century décor of the castle, along with the foreign feeling was good enough to have some Halloween-style fun. I couldn’t help but think about how many people had been killed with sharp tools in and around the Braun Castle, and now here we are to compete in an athletic event, having a different way to use our sharp tools, and nobody dies. What a concept!

I do know that when we got back and saw the finals, this is what Markus Bendler looked like as the 2010 overall Ice World Champion !!! This guy is a MACHINE I say...maybe he's a Terminator.



Back to Skiing!

Well, we’re in Romania and its puking snow. We competed in the UIAA Open European Championship – Romania. It was laden with Russians and they really wanted us to compete to “make it more interesting.” Ya, it was interesting all right. I missed my first round of climbing out of 5 chances and also got no practice or warm-up before having to climb. I pulled the picks right out of the ice with my Russian-made fifi ice axes on the first round. The second round went better since I made it to the top. I just wanted to get up the thing for a change without the ice breaking. Then, a Bulgarian put a ice tool through his thigh. He was bleeding and limping. There’s really nowhere for someone to get medical care here, but a family doctor was present at the ski are base and came over to take a look. She said to just leave it alone. I told the competitor that I would suture him up for free if he would like, and he agreed. I left the competition and took him into the Red Cross aid room where I was able to break out my medical kit, do a proper job stitching his leg back together, and returning him to the event.

Fortunately, I didn’t miss my turn, so I got a chance to climb again and this time I reached the top. Sweet! Only more than half as fast as the Russians, but I made it. It’s all I can do to get up the climbs without gacking myself in the legs or piffing myself with a crampon tip. I blame my weight pulling the ice apart, but I’m sure it’s my technique that holds me back. I just don’t have a lot of interest in speed climbing because it’s just a side show to the main circus event for me, the difficulty competition, and a way to have some fun. I don’t take it seriously enough to be a real competitor, yet I’ve scored higher in speed climbing than I have in difficulty. What’s up with that?

After today we’re hitting the slopes on our way back to Bucharest.
With all the snow that is falling over the last two days it might be possible that there could be some good skiing available. There’s some quite steep terrain around, up to 60°, or so we’ve heard. There’s not much in the way of rentals here. They have no telemark equipment anywhere, so Leigh will have to learn how to turn with her heels locked down. There’s no touring equipment available for rent either so I guess we’re not heading out to the back country.

I'm ready for some green chili chicken enchiladas!

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.

Saas-Fee Ice Climbing Competition 2010

1/22/2010

World Mixed Ice Climbing Competition number THREE !

The Saas-Fee Ice climbing competition is a stupendous even that I was glad to be a part of. The difficulty competition was a great event and well organized while being in one of the most high-energy areas I’ve ever seen.
I felt really good in the isolation booth and got a good warm-up. There’s a lot of anxiety in there with all the athletes trying to get good head space. Some stayed out of the heated booth, some had headphones, some slept, and others sat or paced around, pretty much par for the course. A doctor doing some research by polling the athletes was the only other point of note.
The only issue I had was that the media, wherever they were from, were so intrusive that they were pushing me out of the way to get video coverage of either Markus Bendler or some other well known local athlete. The cameraman was pushing me out of the way when we went to the preview the qualification route.
I was still pretty nervous before going to compete, but I knew that I would feel better once I tied into the rope and got going. It’s good to get some competition experience in a short period of time, and that’s what I was after on this trip. Ya, I’m and “old guy” at 39, but it’s been something on my tick list for years, finally making the dream come true.
Putting on my boots was painful as I had blisters on my heels from the ski tour to Zermatt with the rental boots. I waddled out into the Ice Dome and took a look at the route. I couldn’t wait to get onto the ice so that I could relieve the pressure from my heels.
There were two qualification routes and half the men athletes were assigned to mine. I also knew that for me to make the Semi-Finals round would be a tall order since I had a stacked field of heavy hitters. It was going to be a push, but the climbing looked fun and doable. The whole thing was son live video internet stream, so lots of friends and family were able to watch if they were up early or cared.
The first steps up the ice were easy and then the transition to an overhanging ice feature. I was able to cruise the figure 4’s and 9’s to gain a hold. I heel-hooked and did a mantle move to a no-hands rest. Later, Yevgenny Kryvosheytsev, a champion ice climber, told me that he was impressed with that move since I have a different climbing style, more like an alpinist, not a sport climber. The next holds were rock holds bolted onto a slightly overhanging wood structure that I was able to cruise through to gain another ice feature. The pump start coming to my arms but I knew I had to keep moving. I wasted some time at the no-hands rest taking a break and knew that I would need to move faster later. It was later and now was the time to just keep going. I made two more clips and then went into a series of futile fig 4’s and 9’s while trying to shake the pump out, but to no avail. I needed someone to chop off one of my legs so I wouldn’t weigh 92 kg anymore. My hands greased off from my tool that I left hanging in the ice.
I turned around to face the crowd and had a monster smile plastered on my face. Blank stares from the people watching told me that they definitely weren’t experiencing what I was. To them it was just another disappointment that another athlete didn’t reach to top or do something spectacular.
Moving fast is a requisite, not an option. Although I felt like this was my best performance thus far, I know that I have a long way to go before I can be a true contender, and I’m a pretty good climber back State-side, on-sighting M10, but Europe grows climbers on trees. They expose the youth to climbing and there’s full-on ice climbing camps and competitions available from the time the kids are 8 years of age, and they come out in groves. Climbing in any form is part of the fabric of the society, and is not considered outlandish or extreme like it is back home. The Russians train at a facility for mixed climbing as well as train for speed climbing. But they also have a coach and funding available, whereas, Americans (as well as some of the Europeans) are self sufficient. Sponsors help, but the amount of funding is limited, especially in the present economic environment. My vision is only that, my vision. It is something that I would love to see happen.
Anyway, I didn’t make the Semi-Finals, nor did any of the North Americans, and close doesn’t count.
The speed competition was a horrific experience in trying to shove my blistered feet back into my fruit boots. I’m so tired of getting blistered feet. Each step up the ice made back of my heels rub more against the raw skin that was already peeled down to the dermal layer, weeping and bleeding through the socks. Getting ready at the starting gate I tried to focus on the climbing and forget about the pulsing pains shooting up the back of my feet with each step. No complaining, I told myself…time to harden up! My axes continually caught or pulled through the ice and my first time was very slow. I was glad I stayed on the ice and didn’t fall off. Staying on the ice and not getting hurt is half the battle. The other half is to move fast and efficiently. For my third time speed climbing ever I wasn’t expecting too much, but I wasn’t expecting to be like that. The second round went better since I was able to suck it up, but I nearly had to roll over to where my pack was to change my shoes when I got finished climbing. Even had I made the finals, I wouldn’t have been able to climb again, it was over.
Justin Spain had a way different experience, both good and bad. The lad has a set of lungs and likely has a good VO2max and was able to make descent enough time to get him into the final round. We cheered him on with American vocality. Unfortunately, he fell off the shit pile of ice and gacked himself in the finger with a sharp speed climbing tool that took off the finger of the glove and was still sticking on the pick even after they lowered him to the ground. Seeing the piece of cloth on the pick I pretty much thought there was going to be blood, even if Justin didn’t know it yet since he would be pretty adrenalized.
Sure enough, he had a good full thickness laceration that was going to need some prompt care. Fortunately, I brought a wound and suture kit along for just the occasion. We went to the bar that was an easy 20 steps away through the plastic door. This is the famous bar that boasts a climbing traverse across the ceiling. If you and get hurt it’s your own fault. The blood poured out his finger until I placed a tourniquet on it and I was able to inspect, irrigate, and suture the wound while Justin enjoyed some free drinks from the crowd that gathered and took photos of the procedure. The lights dimmed and the band got to playing as I finished up the final stitch. Then we gathered up the Brits and got on with the party after the finals finished.
One thing I was sure to do was to tell all and any of the locals who were working the Ice Competition event was to say thanks for hosting the event. I know all too well from having worked for years at the Ouray, Colorado Ice Festival how much slave labor goes into putting something of this magnitude on. I think they appreciated the praise.

Arrival in Saas-Fee, Switzerland

1/18/2010 - 1/19/2010
Milan, Italy to Saas-Fee, Switzerland
Up and at ‘em ! Moving on to the next competition venue on a cold and foggy morning in Milan, we caught a ride by shuttle bus to the train station. We must be headed to Switzerland because all the transfers ran like clockwork. No waiting around. The train out of Milan was fast and smooth and only made a few short stops. Waterfall ice and climbing crags littered landscape when we got into the mountains. I was able to get some studying done by reading some of my textbook for the spring semester at UNM that hasn’t started yet.
Malcolm Kent from the UK had given us some food when he dropped us off from our trip out of Valle di Daone, and I carried it in a bag with two bottles of champaign that Emilo, the owner of Zamberlan boot company had given to Justin and I at the last competition. We ate the food, but left the bubbly for another time, likely in Saas-Fee.
Gordon McArthur is supposed to show up from Canada today/tonight. This will be his first World Competition and I’m sure he’s super excited. We all have a flat in Saas-Fee, and as you can imagine, it’s pretty nice. A quaint chalet with a bomb shelter serving as the game room downstairs comes complete with incredible views of some of our ski tour lines that we’ll be doing later this week.
We strolled through the town after getting settled in. The 1:25,000 maps are available at the local gift shop and the magnetic declination is about 0, so that makes navigation a bit easier in whiteout terrain. I’m pretty psyched to get some big days on skis here, especially since I’ll be taking my AMGA Ski Mountain Guides Exam in Alaska in a couple months.
The Swiss take the Euro, but give change in Franks. They don’t take Euro coins however, and so we’ll be stuck with buying trinkets with our leftover Franks when it’s all said and done. Pretty good scheming, I’d say. The exchange rate is nearly 1:1 with the US dollar, but they don’t take US that money. They nail you on currency exchange, so the best bet is to use the evil Visa card.
Ryan Nelson, a hard mixed climber who pushed the limits early on in mixed climbing history has been sending me information on Facebook about what to do and where to go! He’s becoming the best tour guide and single best information point for the entire trip so far. Really, Ryan should be climbing with us at this competition. I remember seeing him and Jarrod Ogden putting up hard mixed lines in Ouray when I was still coming to grips that what they were doing was even possible. I’m sure Ryan could train up and get on the podium. Yes, this is a call to arms. Not only Ryan – you know who you are out there. Answer the call, push your limits, and train hard. Hope to see your name on the docket for the World Ice Comps someday!
We took a quick peek at the venue for the competition here is Saas-Fee as well. It didn’t appear that anyone was working on it or was in shape for competition, so we took a closer look. Holy crap, they would never allow this in the USA (something cool and fun). The structure is fixed inside a 10 story parking garage in middle of the spiral drive! The wall is bolted on, fixed with cable and manipulated with a monster-sized winch on the -5th floor. Yes, the minus 5th floor. The parking garage is built on the side of a cliff as there are no high-rise buildings in Saas-Fee to ruin the viewscape. Ice runs down the semi-symmetrical looking climbing structure. The holds look like real rock holds and are mounted on extremely overhanging terrain. Large blocks of ice have been hoisted up and fixed speckling the structure with volumous opportunities for outlandish mixed climbing terrain. I can only hope that I have the drive to get up this thing and have as good a time as it promises to be.