The creation of World Ice Climbing, a self-governed Operating Unit within the UIAA, was approved at the 2024 UIAA General Assembly in Malta.
“This is a very positive step. The approved new structure of ice climbing is going to enable the people who are experts in this field to work with a greater degree of independence. Personally I don’t think that the previous ‘Commission-type of structure’ worked for ice climbing. This is a specialised project. If you look at other organisations they have very specific structures in place to develop their sports and by experts who are fully focussed on that. This is a major step in allowing the sport to develop.”
Peter Muir, UIAA President
As per the revised UIAA Articles of Association, World Ice Climbing (WIC) is defined as such:
- The UIAA is the sole and exclusive international body recognized by the International Olympic Committee IOC governing Ice Climbing competitions worldwide.
- The UIAA General Assembly establishes a competitive Ice Climbing operating unit to be known as World Ice Climbing for the purpose of governing, directing, regulating, promoting, developing and the general furtherance of competitive Ice Climbing (its “Objects”).
- World Ice Climbing operates on a self-guided and self-governed basis and on behalf of the UIAA as beneficial owner will administer, apply, preserve and develop the competitive Ice Climbing assets and funds of the UIAA.
Shortly after the creation of the Operating Unit, and following an extensive recruitment process, the UIAA Management Board elected the first three officials to the inaugural World Ice Climbing Board. They are:
Joanne Carilli-Stevenson, USA, (AAC) – Chair
Etienne Grillot, France (FFCAM)
Alexandru Paun, Romania (CAR)
The Board is also comprised of athlete representatives, elected by the Athlete’s Committee:
Eimir McSwiggan, IRL (MI)
Willis Morris, GBR (BMC)
The Chair of World Ice Climbing will have an obligation to report regularly on the work of the WIC Board to the UIAA Executive Committee. WIC is also requested to present a quarterly financial update and a risk assessment twice a year to the UIAA Management Board.
One of the first major tasks of World Ice Climbing will be – in collaboration with the UIAA Office and event organizers – the delivery of the 2024-2025 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour, partnered by Outdoor Research. This includes five World Cups on three continents, a World Youth Championships and six Continental Cups.
Alongside the World Tour, the Board members first task will be the creation of several committees to continue the progression of the sport in the areas of event management, rules and regulations, training of officials, developing the sport for the Olympic Games, and more. These committees will be populated with experts who will continue to push the sport forwards.
Over the past few seasons, a dedicated Governance Group has led the sport. The UIAA thanks all members of the Governance Group for the time and effort they have dedicated to ensuring competition ice climbing has continued to thrive over the past two seasons. This includes UIAA EC member Martin Lascano, UIAA MB members Eimir McSwiggan, Phil Powers and Andy Syme as well as Heeyong Park and Gyuqhyoung Min from the Korean Alpine Federation.
For further information on voting decisions made at the 2024 UIAA General Assembly click here.
For full details on the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour please visit the dedicated website.
