I've been recently climbing some ice in Colorado, US and I found one piece of apparel very useful. It's Black Diamond access hybrid jacket.
http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/mens-insulation/m%27s-access-hybrid-jacket-APO66U_cfg.html#start=1
With no exaggeration it was really comfortable to climb some ice, as well hard dry pitches up to D11. Basically on ice, I was using this jacket as a layer under gore-tex jacket, and it worked really good. While climbing I was never sweating and when I was belaying I was warm enough. Of course, if your partner is taking one hour to climb a single pitch you would want to take another jacket for belay, but if you are both strong climbers and move fast, you will hardly be cold with this jacket. In addition, I didn't experience any discomfort in movements. Strongly recommended! 

Ice climbing in Norway

Norway was always popular among ice climbers, but only few knew about its hidden ice lines, as there was very less information available about access, topos, etc. Nowadays more and more people are traveling there to discover undercover ice falls. Watch this nice video about ice climbing in Rjukan, Norway.

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/experience-story?cid=rjukan-norway-new-water-energy

Ice climbing season 2014/2015

Well, it's December 2014 and it's time for the new ice climbing season. This season I started the preparation early enough to get in good shape before Ice Climbing World Tour. Just before leaving to the first competition in Bozeman I could climb Iron Man, D14+ in Eptingen, Switzeralnd. It was a good sign that I'm ready for the season. Well competition is not only about the power in your hands, it's also a lot about technique and mental power. 

At the time of arrival to Bozeman temperature was way too warm to have some ice. Lead and Speed competition were organized completely without ice. Well for Lead it's not an unusual situation, while for speed it was a bit awkward. First day was Lead qualification and full Speed. For me Lead qualification routes were not so difficult and I felt good on the routes. There was only one problem - i had difficulty to keep my feet on the wall. For some reason my crampons couldn't enter the wooden sheets of the structure. And that's what exactly ruined my semifinal. I lost a foot on the under clink and I was hanging on the rope after three moves. It's disappointing, but,well, I learnt my mistakes and did some conclusions. Hopefully Korean competition will be better.

Men podium

Bozeman, ice climbing structure

Wild Bisons

Yellowstone national park, hot springs

Caro and Niko