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

Ice Climbing World Cup in Saas Fee 2014.

Ice climbing world cup in Saas Fee is traditionally an unforgettable event and I think one of the best World cup stages. This year it was 15th anniversary of the World Cup in Saas Fee, so organizers and sponsors did a lot of work to make this event special. I got an opportunity to participate this year, and I was really happy to be part of this happening. Frankly speaking I had a goal to get into the final, but I finished 4th, which was really great result for me, especially since I still feel my wrist while figuring four on the left hand. Thus I was more then satisfied with this outcome and had a great time celebrating that with my friends. I want to say thanks to my friends for supporting me! Here are some photos made by Karin. Thanks Karin!
https://plus.google.com/photos/117383906611635290106/albums/5973700752836989617?cfem=1

on the final route

men podium

Sam in qualifications

Petra in semi finals

Niko in semi finals

final

final

the best support

The best support

Women podium

Swiss Ice Climbing Championship in Saas Fee

This last weekend in Saas Fee there was the Swiss Ice Climbing Championship. This year it was organized on the structure where annual Ice Climbing World Cup takes place, and I think it was great idea. All the participants have an opportunity to climb on the structure just before the World Cup and get the feeling of type of climbing there. As usual we had two disciplines speed and lead. In qualification for lead we had two routes which were fairly easy that everybody can enjoy climbing. 8 finalist were selected for the elite group including Sam and myself. I was climbing last in the final. Apparently I was too much set for the victory, so I was climbing a bit in a hurry. Of course when you are hurrying too much you don't pay enough attention how you put your ice axe. This was my mistake and on one of the moves my ice axe slipped, so I ended up on the 7th place. Too bad since I had good pace and enough force to finish the route. In the elite category victory went to Kevin Huser.
After the lead we had a finals for speed on a very bad ice. It was more like a snow than ice! For the final I climbed one route with fifi and one route with ice axes! )) after several awkward  runs i ended up on the first place, which gave me a little bit of relieve after my disappointing climbing in lead final. All in all it was really nice competition and I would like to thank Silvan and his crew for preparing the routes and also all the sponsors who made this event happen. Yes one more thing! It was really nice party after the finals with a life music. I don't remember the name of the band playing this night, but they were great! Thanks go to them as well! Next weekend is World Cup in the same Saas Fee, which should be even better! See you there!

This weekend was the 15th International Ice Climbing Festival in Kandersteg. Organized by Black Diamond, Polartec and Petzl this event became a traditional event where many climbers, ice climbers, and all people who loves mountains gather together to spend a wonderful time together. Dry tooling competition is a big part of this festival, and it is always fun to climb and compete with your friends. This year I managed to finish on the first place, although Pati couldn't join the event because of the accident he had recently. Anyway I'm proud to be the last winner of the Ice Climbing Festival in Kandersteg. Why last? Because it was the last time this festival was organized in Kandersteg. Next year this festival will have another format and will be held in a new, so far unknown location.
And of course we had a legendary party after the competition. I would like to thank Pavel, Natasha, Kristen and Stephane for support and of course all the organizers for this and all former festivals. Thanks Ron Koller for preparing all the routes.
Photos and results are coming soon!

It's been a while since I last time posted on my blog. A lot happens after my trip to Canada with Olov and Sam. I had an important event in my life on the 1st of February 2013. I finally successfully finished and defended my Ph.D. I was really happy to see my father and many of my friends at my public defense. Thanks to all who came to support me! It was also an amazing party after!

Another major event in my life was begging of my working experience directly after my Ph.D. I started to work as an engineer in small swiss company Omnisens SA, based in Morges. 

With all these changes in my life I didn't forget about climbing. I was looking very much forward to spending time rock climbing during summer and was preparing for the season. On one of my business trips to Scotland  in May I went training to the climbing gym. I didn't know well my new climbing partner and on one of the routes while leading 7c I fell on one of the last moves. He wasn't paying enough attention to my fall and couldn't take a rope, so I had a 13 m free fall straight on the floor. Afterwards usual procedure: a lot of pain, ambulance, hospital, medical check, transport to Switzerland with REGA jet, operation, and long recovery. That was the end of my rock climbing season 2013. Anyway I don't complain, because I was very lucky to make away with just a few injuries. 

Lesson learned: Never climb with someone you don't know!

If you want to train - do some bouldering or finger boarding. In this case if have an injury - you can blame only yourself for it! :)

I gradually started to come back to climbing only in the end of August. Although it was not enough time to get back in shape for hard rock climbing routes, I had a lot of fun climbing with my family during our vacations in Europe.

Calanque

calanque

calanque

Gorges du Tarn, France

Gorges du Tarn, France

From September I started also with dry tooling and I had many nice sessions with my friends.

Here some new photos from amazing route T2 (WI6, M5) at the Trophy wall we did on 15.12. T2 is a dry tooling variant of the famous Terminator route. This route consists of three pitches where the first one is the crux. It starts with a thin ice for about 10 m, then several meters of dry tooling where you can find one bolt and after you take a free hanging dagger on which you have to climb for 10-12 m before reaching a bolted belay station. The second pitch is a steep ice for about 50 m. Third pitch starts with a big free standing icicle for about 10 m and then continuous for another 30 m of nice and easy ice. That day we new already were to go and how long will be the approach, but it was freezing cold, around -16 C. We parked the car just before the beginning of the horse trail. Actually it is forbidden to drive there, but we took a risk since it safes us one hour. This time approach to the base of the climb took us a bit less than two hours, and it was much easier to walk up since we could follow our own tracks. I started with the first pitch. Up to dry tooling part everything was smooth. The dry tooling part is slightly overhanging and it starts with a nice vertical crack where you can find good holds for you ice axes. After few meters of climbing crack narrows down to the size when you can't put the blade inside. There it gets scary, since there is no more place to put the protection. At this point I could reach the tip of the hanging dagger. I knew that now I have to climb carefully to don't break the icicle, since I had only one good bold 5 m below me. I squeezed myself between the icicle and the rock, standing with one of my foot on the icicle and another on the rock. I climbed free hanging part slowly and carefully. I put two small friends at the end of the crack just for my head. They would probably have never hold me if I fall, but it was enough to stop thinking about falling and concentrate on my climbing. At that time I was pretty pumped and I still needed to go out on the icicle and finish the last ten meter without placing any protection. When I moved out on the icicle I was completely pumped and I had to take a quite long pause when I was at the end of the icicle, just before the belay station. Finally I arrived to the belay station, put on my down jacket and belayed Olov and Sam. Afterwards Olov took a lead for a full 50 m pitch. It started with a icicle and then 30 m of WI5 ice. Last pitch I leaded again and it was nice ice for 50 m. It was great experience and at the same time good training for my head! )

View from the base of the climb

Rockies

I'm climbing the first pitch

Going to the dry tooling part

Found the only bold on the pitch

Got on the dragger! A bit scary

Not so comfortable position

Nice clouds!

View from the top

Happy to be alive before the last rappel

T2 on the left.

Trophy Wall

Trophy wall 3

Here some new photos from the Sam's camera about our climb of the Real Big Drip (M7, WI6). This is classic route in Ghost Walley. From Canmore you take the Trans Canada Highway towards Calgary. You take the exit to Morley and continue on the Bow Valley Trail  east. after few kilometers you take the left turn on the Forestry Trunk Road (40). The road take first north and gradually turns to the west. You drive on this road until it intersects with Richards road. After you take Richards to the north but just for few meter, and you turn again left on the Township road. This road brings you to the gorge of the Ghost river. You must cross the river, which is not so difficult during winter and continue south for approx 1 km. The Real Big Drip is situated on the east-north side of the Orient Mountain. Approach from the river gorge will take you about 1-1.5 h. Depends how much snow is there. Good luck! It is a must do ice fall in Rockies in my opinion!

Looking for the way on the Ghost river

remains of a wolf. We also met some alive! )

Physicked before the climb 

The Real Big Drip

On the first pitch of the Real Big Drip. M8 with quite bad rock

Arriving to the first dragger

Finally on the ice

Super comfortable first station 

Second pitch

Add caption

Olov leading the third pitch.

Back at the car!