Ice climbing
A common type of ice route is a frozen waterfall, particularly one that cascades down a mountain face or a down-mountain gully.
Ice climbing routes can also take the form of high alpine snow-covered couloirs that are permanently frozen year-round.
[8] This means that standard ice-climbing grades broadly peak at WI6-7 (i.e. WI7 being completely sheer vertical ice and with additional risk issues).
The breakthrough came in the 1960s when Yvon Chouinard designed a new wooden-handled ice axe with a curved serrated pick called the "Climax".
This was followed in 1970, when Hamish MacInnes designed the all-metal aluminum alloy ice axe that had a radically dropped pick called the "Terrordactyl" (or Terror).
[10] Chouinard and McInnes' ice axes would lead to an explosion of interest in climbing on frozen waterfalls in the North American Rockies and in the European Alps.
Slipstream (WI4+, 1979) in the Canadian Rockies blurred the distinction between waterfall ice and alpine climbing; the Moonflower Buttress (WI6 M7 A2, 1983) in the Alaska Range applied the highest levels of ice climbing skill to a major alpine first ascent; and the list goes on.
Helmcken Fall's unique characteristics provided severely overhanging iced-routes, and in the next decade, grades were proposed up to WI13 with Mission to Mars in 2020.
[9] The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) has organized and regulated the sport of competition ice climbing since 2002 when the very first "Ice World Cup" (IWC) competition took place under the new UIAA rules and codes.
[12][13] Most of the IWC lead climbing routes are held on bolted dry artificial surfaces and thus employ dry-tooling techniques (e.g. stein pulls and figure-four moves).
[2] Where ice climbing is done as lead climbing (i.e. not top roping), the key tool for protection is the ice screw, a hollow metal threaded steel tube with cutting teeth on its base and a hanger eye on the opposite end.
Because of the difficulty in construction, the common use of V-threads is as anchor points for abseiling or belaying, and not for lead climbing.
[2] The core techniques that are used in ice climbing are considered to be straightforward for even a novice to understand, however, it takes experience and skill to apply them efficiently and safely.
A critical part of front-pointing is ensuring that the heels are neither elevated — as often required in rock climbing — or held too low; both scenarios which can result in the front teeth of the crampon shearing off from the ice and the climber losing their foothold(s).
[17] The ice axes (or ice tools) are rarely held at the same level — which can result in a very inefficient and energy-sapping "chicken wing" action — and thus there will usually be a higher axe placed at close to maximum extension above the climber and a second one placed below it (see photo opposite).
[17][18] Once the feet are secured and front-pointed into the ice, the climber will stand up straight and will start to swing with the other axe to reach the next position of maximum extension above their body.
[21][22] In Canada, the WI prefix is sometimes dropped from the grade, and for longer multi-pitch ice routes, a "commitment grade" (a Roman numeral from I to VII) is also added to reflect the seriousness of the overall undertaking (e.g. the grade of a Canadian ice route can appear as III-5)[6] The following WI-grades and descriptions are provided by the American Alpine Club (republished in 2013) who note: "Ice climbing ratings are highly variable by region and are still evolving.
