Ice Ice Beta

What are those funny folks in tights doing on the YouTubez, kicking into the whozimiwuchits and spitting off those metal thingamajigs? If you, like me, have ever had questions about Ice Climbing World Cups, this is your episode of Ice Ice Beta… because today we chat with, Rob Adie, the man responsible for organizing the UIAA World Cup Tour. He’s sort of a one-man band. To help paint the picture, l...

Kevin Lindlau is one of the rare birds in drytooling who excels at both comp *and* outdoor climbing. In January, Kevin completed the second ascent of “Aletheia”, rated D16 ✅, becoming only the second person in the world to climb the grade. (There’s some nuance here since other routes have been proposed at D16, but this is the first route that has been repeated and the grade corroborated). Anywho,...

It’s a tale old as time: Narrative is the vehicle that connects us to something greater. And for Christian Beckwith, he’s built a career on that foundation. You probably know of Christian, or have interacted with his work. He’s spent more than thirty years immersed in the world of alpinism, and in that time he was the editor of The American Alpine Journal, co-founded Alpinist — which Reinhold Mess...

What are the things in your life that have infinite complexity upon closer inspection? I’m betting you didn’t expect that question on a podcast about ice climbing. But that’s Jackson Yip for ya. An atmospheric researcher by training who specializes in cloud-microphysics, Jackson is also a deeply passionate climber and alpinist who has coupled his interests in a myriad of ways. Whether scrabbling t...

It’s rare to find American-made climbing companies. The shortlist includes the likes of Metolius, Organic, Misty Mountain, UnParallel, and a handful of rope producers. It’s even rarer to find technical apparel made in the U.S., which makes NW Alpine so distinct. And by technical, I mean purpose-built clothing designed for the elements, not adventureleisure masquerading as such. Anywho, the idea fo...

Today on Ice Ice Beta , we’re chatting with Melissa Orzechowski of The Adirondack Queer Ice Fest 🌈 a no-cost ice climbing festival solely dedicated to the LGBTQ+ outdoor community.  When the idea first came about, the organizers, Melissa, Robbi, and Nol, thought they might be the only attendees — something  for just the three of them. They didn’t know how big the community was in the Adirondacks,...

This is the first of a new series — the Community Spotlight — which is a way to celebrate everyday folks who are helping to grow the sports of ice climbing and drytooling. You may have seen Jon Blackwood’s shipping container project on Instagram (which he is working on with Johnny Korthuis), if you’re curious like I was this chat is about what he’s up to. For Jon, his journey into drytooling began...

We’re headed across the pond on this episode of Ice Ice Beta. Today, we’re chatting with Willis Morris and Oz Miller of the Scottish Dry-Tooling Club. The club has been called the developmental model of the future, a rolling circus, and bonkers by various authorities. But what is the organization, how does it work, and why has it been so successful in just a few short years? A few anecdotes to hig...

What goes into projecting first free ascent winter lines in New Hampshire? That’s the subject of today’s chat with Jon Nicolodi, a humble MBA student and hard mixed climbing hard man. (Those are my words, he certainly would not describe himself that way.) Surprisingly, Jon’s only been mixed climbing a few years but has established some big winter FFAs in that time — the routes range from M8 to M11...

I’ve been dry-tooling more than ice climbing this winter, largely because it’s been frustratingly warm in New England. Call this my adaptation strategy — but really, I feel like I’m just getting ahead of the curve since trigger alert: dry-tooling is the future of ice climbing. #provemewrong(please) Not to be all dire, dour and doom and gloom, but globally, climate change is leading to fewer days b...

Kendra Stritch made history by becoming the first American to win a UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup medal in December of 2014 — when she took gold on the speed wall in Bozeman, Montana. Since then, Kendra has been a major force in developing dry-tooling and competitive ice climbing in the U.S.: She helped to formalize USA Ice Climbing under the auspices of the American Alpine Club, has organized count...

Life doesn’t follow a clean and cut narrative arc — unlike the stories we tell. Sure, it might all start and end the same way for folks, but it’s the complex, messy middle that makes us, us. One of our tendencies with storytelling is to simplify, which means skimming over a lot of the details. But when we do that we might find the narrative doesn’t actually work, it's not really who we are. Luckil...

In today’s episode with Tom Beirne, we talk about the psychology of performance and the ethics of developing a new dry-tooling crag. Tom doesn’t love labels — and definitely don’t call him the dry-tooling guy — but to help paint a picture he’s a mixed climber from Seattle who especially enjoys questing, runs The Barn, a dry-tooling gym, helped to develop Wayne’s World, a dry-tooling crag, and is a...

It takes a village to raise an ice festival, and for Liz Sahagún and her co-organizers, it’s all hands on deck for the All In Ice Fest — which will take place from January 5th to the 7th of 2024. Entering their third year, the mission of the fest is to create a space where folks from historically marginalized communities can simply have fun ice climbing without having to feel like they’re checking...

What goes into making an ice axe? Of course there is technical know-how, design, and testing, but for Marty Theriault, it was more like an act of therapy. And a way to connect with friends. Marty started Forecast Equipment after he was medically released from the Canadian military for PTSD. He’d been percolating on the idea of a new tool and finally had the time – to heal and to create. He wanted...

Introducing the Meet the Maker series.  Each day this week we’ll be releasing a mini episode with an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. 🎙Today we chat with Kyle Siegel, the Founder of Raide , which makes gear that supports efficient human-powered movement in the mountains. Their first major drop is the LF 40L which may be the perfect backcountry skiing pack, but which I al...

Introducing the Meet the Maker series.  Each day this week we’ll be releasing a mini episode with an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. 🎙Today we chat with Benjamin Leibham, the Founder of Alto Gear, which make ice climbing accessories out of upcycled and recycled material. You’ve probably seen Ben’s ice screw wrap at an ice festival, they are the brightly colored roll-ups...

Introducing the Meet the Maker series.  Each day this week we’ll be releasing a mini episode with an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. 🎙Today we chat with Ben Carlson and Nick Hernandez, Co-Owners of Furnace Industries , which make gym-safe training equipment for ice climbing and dry-tooling. Quite simply, you’d be hard-pressed to find another company that has done more t...

Introducing the Meet the Maker series.  Each day this week we’ll be releasing a mini episode with an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. 🎙Today we chat with Deed Ziegler, Founder of RecPak . I’m excited for these because I think ice climbers will really like them – RecPaks are 700 calorie, ultralight and ultra-packable meal replacement drinks that I think are perfect for si...

Introducing the Meet the Maker series.  Each day this week we’ll be releasing a mini episode with an entrepreneur who is making specialty gear for ice climbers. 🎙 Today we chat with Doug Heinrich, the Founder of Aniiu , which make technical ice climbing gloves. Doug is a longtime Salt Lake City climber, route developer, and alpinist, among many superlatives. He’s also the VP of Product Development...

Sometimes opportunities arise which push you outside your comfort zone. For Kelsey Rex, an out of the blue invitation turned a next year trip to Alaska into "we're leaving in two months". That accelerated timeline required a Matrix-like download of expedition planning and put Kelsey in her sweet spot as a lover of meticulous spreadsheets. It also meant confronting her tendency towards, as she puts...

Cogne is known as one of the ice epicenters in Europe. Located near the base of the Gran Paradiso, the only 4,000 meter peak in Italy, the Cogne Valley boasts over 400 ice climbs and many more mixed and dry-tooling lines. Consistency and accessibility are the name of the game: The microclimate and terrain means ice is reliable year-in-year-out and you can often start your approach to climbs right...

Stas Beskin is known for soloing big bold climbs, such as Rainbow Serpent and Fearful Symmetry, two of the most iconic WI6s in the Canadian Rockies. It's one thing to solo big flows, it's another to do it on freestanding pillars about as wide as your shoulders. But he does that too. And he does so without swinging his tools. Stas' conception of ice climbing revolves around displacing as little ice...

This week we chat with Ryan McCauley, a member of the USA Ice Climbing Team. Ryan has had a rapid rise, fitting for her speciality in speed. In fact, within two years of starting to dry-tool, Ryan went from falling off the second hold of rec team tryouts to finishing 6th overall in Women's Speed Climbing during last year's World Cups. According to Ryan, this wouldn't have been possible just a few...

Today we're talking about the Beartooth Mountains in Montana, which have a history of minimal spray when it comes to ice climbing. So of course that's what we are going to do... Let's start with why should you go: One, if you're looking for first ascents or a first ascent-like day out, the Beartooths provide. Two, it's the largest uninterrupted landmass above 10,000 feet (or 3,000m) in the U.S., o...