Events

The UIAA Ice Climbing Competition calendar 2009 has the following forthcoming events:

• Ice Master World Cup - Val Daone / 16-17-18 January 2009
• Saas-Fee Ice Climbing World Championship / 22-24 January 2009
• Ice climbing competition Mojstrana, Slovenia / 31 January - 1 February 2009. The speed competition on 1 February 2009
• Ice climbing competition Busteni, Romania 7-9 February 2009

Registration

Note for federations: Please use our new ICE Competition Management System to register your athletes to competitions. Please contact us if you do not have a password.

Athletes can download the UIAA-ICICC International Licence application form from the right hand panel. This must be submitted  to obtain the required licence to compete in the above competitions. 2009 application forms are not available yet, but will be posted here as soon as they are.

The UIAA is working to support and collaborate with the famous Ice Climbing festivals in North America, namely: Canmore and Ouray. More information about these events below.

UIAA Ice Climbing Competitions is a very fast growing sport. In 2007 115 athletes from 19 countries took part in the World Cup (47% growth from 2006).

Ice Climbing Event History

Ice Climbing is a fairly new Competition Sport. Even though the first known ice climbing competition was organized in Courmayeur on the Brenva glacier in the year 1912, ice climbing as a sport is considered fairly new in terms of worldwide competition and participation.

Ice climbing competitions started in Russia (at that time the Soviet Union) and have been held each winter since 1970. There were three disciplines: difficulty, speed and speed climbing of a longer route (100+m) by roped groups where the lead climber changed every 40m. At the end of a season the winner of each of the disciplines was announced. National ice-climbing speed competitions in Russia have been held since around 1987. During the winter 1996/1997 the Russian team participated at a Courchevel competition in France and at that time they adopted the French rules for difficulty also for their events.

These competitions at Courchevel in France were also famous. The magnificent 40m high tower in Courchevel was synonymous for difficulty ice climbing events in Europe from 1995 till 2000 when a huge piece of ice fell down just a few hours before the event started. The main rule was to climb as high as possible using as few hits as possible, with the time limited between 8 and 14 minutes.

There were and still are several competitions in North America. The most famous were Winter X games ice climbing events (speed and difficulty), but after 1999 ice climbing was excluded from Winter X games. Another good event was the IWC competition in Quebec Canada that hosted all the best competitors in the world. There are some other ice climbing events that also include competitions, but with their own regulations. One of the most well-known is the Ouray ice gathering in Colorado, USA, a five day event with many other attractions for climbers of all ages. The Canmore Ice Climbing Festival in Canmore, Alberta, Canada combines great competitions with skill clinics, where climbing techniques are taught, and other attractions such as climbing demos and slide shows.

Slovenia is also well-known for the Bohinj speed race (50m). From 1994 till 1999 duel speed competitions were held on a natural rock in Bohinj. In recent years there have been problems with ice as a result of climate change. Since 2000 Solcava has hosted difficulty and speed competitions, while for the season 2002/2003 the event "Slovenian cup" took place in 3 different locations. The Slovenian cup has now taken place every year in speed and difficulty.

The International World Cup started with a competition in Cortina in year 2000. In 1999 the competitions in Europe were organized to a kind of schedule (not yet IWC) in Courchevel, Cortina, Pitztal and Kirov. The first common rules appeared in 1998 and the first IWC (International World Cup) took place in 2000 organised by a private German company, who organized the event till the season of 2002, when the International Ice climbing commission of the UIAA took over. In 2007 there were competitions in 3 locations in Europe. However the Sport is expanding rapidly, and we expect to have 5-6 events next year.

Future of Ice Climbing Competitions

First the UIAA aims to build up national series in those countries, which have ice climbing competitors. This is working towards building the continental series and raising world wide participation. Second the UIAA wishes ice-climbing to become an Olympic discipline in future.

Ice Climbing World Cups have advanced progress in ice-climbing style, hardware development, training and the establishment of ice climbing as a serious sports.

Ice climbing competitions are a sport for a small group of climbing specialists. BUT the big difference of ice-climbing from other "non mass sports " is, that it is also very interesting for spectators and media who are not actively engaged in ice-climbing, because the element "ice" is a very fascinating and living element.

Ice always keeps its natural character, even on artificial structures!

When non-climbers see ice climbers doing their acrobatic moves in difficulty or climbing at high speed up a vertical ice-wall, they easily understand what’s going on. This is the big help for the platform of competition ice climbing - and this will help to establish and internationalize our sport.