Ice Ice Beta

Phil Wortmann doesn’t look at outrageous projects like most people. It can’t be that he took too many hits to the head, because he stopped boxing early, and it’s not la la optimism either. Still, for someone to make a 5.13 project on Pike’s Peak their first at the grade and to establish what is likely the Lower 48's hardest, longest and most sustained mixed climb requires a little something someth...

If JC Dubeau is known it’s somewhat as a dark horse.  Search for JC online and you won’t find any trip reports or beta spraying, but as a soloist with a selfie stick he has surprisingly good photos on IG for someone who likes to keep a low profile. JC is also an older athlete who doesn’t train or project yet he will likely send yours if you let him. 💪 So who is this guy? In this episode, we chat...

Enni Bertling has seen it all when it comes to climbing in Finland. When she started she was one of the few climbers in the country, then she helped form the Finnish Ice Climbing Team, and is now the Head of the Youth National Team, among other roles too numerous to list but which also includes routesetting, coaching, and occasionally competing when the mood strikes.  Still, despite how it sounds,...

Pedro Guerra-Zúñiga has a fighting spirit — a spirit that especially likes to laugh.  Growing up, Pedro expected to get cancer, at some point, probably in his 60s. Fate has a funny disposition, though, so when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Pedro decided to respond on his terms: with humor and a goal of making Team Canada.  After all, you never know what can happen.  In this episode,...

Roger Strong made his catch king crab fishing so he could ski and climb the rest of the year. His life was forged by sea and steel, commercial fishing hardening him for both alpinism and captainship. As he says, it was some of the best and worst times. But to continue the metaphor, the metallurgy of life also requires tempering, annealing, and healing too.  In this episode, we chat about: 🧊 Life...

Does drytooling have a grading problem? Katie McKinstry Stylos is one of top drytoolers in the world, specializing in big roofs. In 2023, Katie sent A Line Above The Sky , becoming the fourth woman to climb D15. This past summer, she returned to project Parallel World (D16/D15+/other?), and she has some questions. While Tomorrow's World is somewhat of a benchmark for grades in drytooling, compared...

In Matthias Scherer’s words, Norway provides the true character of ice climbing. That is to say, you can always find adventure, from single pitch up to vertical kilometer ice flows. Outside of popular destinations like Rjukan and Hemsedal, you will rarely find a line that has been picked out. Depending on where you go — from the 1,000-meter ice falls of Gudvangen to the 1,700 fjords that fracture...

According to the American Alpine Club’s 2019 State of Climbing report, only 1% of surveyed climbers identified as Black. Jordan Revis is trying to change that. This past winter, Jordan helped lead the first-ever Black Intro to Ice Climbing workshop at the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest and he is part of the DEI committee with the Western Massachusetts Climbers' Coalition, among other initiatives...

Who Do You Want to Be? On the surface, it’s a simple question, but getting to the core is often a devious stumbling through masquerade — “Is this really what I want to be doing?”, “Is this me or who I used to be?”, “What’s next?” Marcus Garcia is turning 50 this year and he’s lived a lot of lives in that time. These questions have been buzzing.  In this episode, we chat about: 🧊 Starting anew and...

This episode is part of the Meet the Maker series where we highlight an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. If you’ve ever wanted to hear the story behind some of your favorite – and soon to be favorite – products, that’s what today’s conversation is about. We’re doing this because we believe that thoughtfully-designed gear is more than the sum of its parts: they are crafte...

This episode is part of the Meet the Maker series where we highlight an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. If you’ve ever wanted to hear the story behind some of your favorite – and soon to be favorite – products, that’s what today’s conversation is about. We’re doing this because we believe that thoughtfully-designed gear is more than the sum of its parts: they are crafte...

This episode is part of the Meet the Maker series where we highlight an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. If you’ve ever wanted to hear the story behind some of your favorite – and soon to be favorite – products, that’s what today’s conversation is about. We’re doing this because we believe that thoughtfully-designed gear is more than the sum of its parts: they are crafte...

This episode is part of the Meet the Maker series where we highlight an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. If you’ve ever wanted to hear the story behind some of your favorite – and soon to be favorite – products, that’s what today’s conversation is about. We’re doing this because we believe that thoughtfully-designed gear is more than the sum of its parts: they are crafte...

This episode is part of the Meet the Maker series where we highlight an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. If you’ve ever wanted to hear the story behind some of your favorite – and soon to be favorite – products, that’s what today’s conversation is about. We’re doing this because we believe that thoughtfully-designed gear is more than the sum of its parts: they are crafte...

Passion, conviction, obsession. Heart and soul. Words to describe the devoted. Those driven to produce what had never existed before — a crusade to push the sport forward.  When Bill Belcourt talks product, you listen. The former head of R&D at Black Diamond, Bill helmed the department during the heydey, when anything was possible and all roads led to BD for product innovation. Chances are, if you...

Today, we dive into the mindset of a competitor. Gordon McArthur has been a staple on the World Cup circuit across 15 seasons, including a one-year retirement. We talk about the particular highs and lows of returning to the sport, the story of Storm Giant (the first proposed D16 in the world), and what role ego plays in it all. In particular, our conversation hovers around themes of drive, our rel...

Doug Heinrich has just about done it all and seen it all in ice climbing ⛏️ as both a climber and product designer 🧤.  Doug hails from Salt Lake City where he began climbing in the 1970s. He was an extensive route developer, including many mixed climbs in the Wasatch, competed at the X Games, and has been at the vanguard for product at Black Diamond almost from the beginning. In this episode, we...

Eliteclimb makes the lightest ice tools in the world, and it’s not even close. It’s possible because Jarosław "Jarek" Walewski uses a mix of carbon and kevlar composites, and nothing else—the only metal in his tools are the bolts and picks. The one-man brand has been bucking industry trends for over a decade now, and it’s his unique position as an independent craftsman that lets Jarek pursue solut...

This episode is all about training for ice climbing, mixed, drytooling and speed. To discuss these diverse disciplines, we’re joined by Kevin Lindlau, Aneta Loužecká, and Zac St. Jules and dive into how they think about and structure their training for their respective specialties.  Kevin is a leading roof-climbing drytooler and the first American to send D16, Aneta was last year's World Cup Champ...

Corey Buhay has made a life out of doing what she loves. That’s not to say it’s been easy. Known as the go-to reporter for all things drytooling ⛏️, Corey quickly built a career as a freelance journalist regularly contributing to Climbing 🧗‍♀️, Backpacker 🥾, Smithsonian 🗿, and the like. Around the time she started writing full-time, she also started drytooling. Again, she quickly established he...

I’m sure Carolyn Parker could have become a household name if she had wanted. In her 20s and 30s, Carolyn was one of the most talented all-around mountain athletes in the U.S. — she was one of the first women to become an AMGA certified Rock Guide, climbed 5.12 trad at altitude 🧗‍♀️, went on 8,000-meter peak expeditions 🏔️, sent M8, skied 50-degree couloirrs⛷️ and regularly ran mountain ultras. O...

How many of you were inspired to start climbing because of a comic? I’m sure Masato Najakima is not alone, but he is the only person I can say with certainty that that's the case. (And if you’re curious, it was Gaku: Minna no Yama (in English, "Peak: Everyone's Mountain")). Anywho, Masato is a leading drytooler in Japan and was one of a contingent from the country who sent “A Line Above the Sky” l...

Pavel Dobrinskiy is a leading figure within the drytooling community in Moscow and is one of the most prolific route setters on the Ice Climbing World Cup circuit 🌏. Maybe you’ve heard about the Russian style of setting — its high-tension ⚡️ moves are calculated for maximum kinetic energy like Ivan Drago in route form #sterotypingmuch? Perhaps. Anywho, Pavel’s had something to do with that.  Fro...

Mixed climbing was always part of the alpinist’s bag of tricks 🪄, but the technical and impossibly steep style we know these days only started to come into its own in the ‘90s. The period has been referred to as the Modern M-Revolution — a period when grades advanced rapidly, from about M8 to M13 📈 — and lasted roughly from the mid-90s to the early 2010s. It was punctuated at the start by Jeff L...

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right, or so goes the pithy expression. But at least in Angelika Rainer’s case, it does seem to bear out.  During Angelika’s 20-year career, she helped set new world standards, becoming the first woman to send D15 ✅ and routinely finishing first or second on the Ice Climbing World Cup circuit 🥇. That’s a far cry from the kid whose favorite...