Many women shy away from hard mixed routes or ice climbing in general, but this lovely lass shows us that mixed climbing the ladies can crush with the best of them.
I am an ice climber, or more accurately, a climber. I climb everything. Buildings and industrial structures for work, bouldering for strength and social fun, rock routes because I love that, alpine routes because I sometimes like to suffer, and mixed because I love the awkward technical leverages you do with those sharp tools! I love climbing comps too. World Cup events and stuff like that.
For the past few weeks I've been living in Germany at the edge of the Alps in the region Allgäu. I'm originally Dutch. In the flat country where I was born we only have climbing gyms. No rocks, not even small ones, not even ones small enough to trip over. Really. The Netherlands is just all sand, mud, and water. That makes it pretty hard to train for ice climbing. We only have horizontal ice. Probably the reason Dutch are rather good in speed skating.
The chance to move to Germany was amazing! My boyfriend, Dennis, is writing his final paper for his studies in Industrial Design at a climbing gear company, based in Southern Germany. Being without my boyfriend for longer then a month just doesn't work. I gave up all I had, even the fridge, couch, my house and my job and moved in with Dennis. I didn't even have a job yet. Luckily the gear company Dennis now works for was super sweet and offered me a job too! Yay!
My regular training day now goes like this:
Wake up > eat a banana > run to work (8km) > shower > eat breakfast and work > go bouldering during lunch > eat lunch when working > work till late and drive back with colleagues or with Dennis > eat some food > cycle to the climbing gym > climb till 10p > cycle back home> sleep.
Recently we found ourselves in Starzlachklamm, a dark, wet, sketchy cave that just calls for dry tooling, coffee, climbing, and more climbing. A perfect way to spend a weekend. On Sundays we go sport climbing outdoors. It’s very awkward to me that you can just go outdoors whenever you want. We don't have that back home in the Netherlands.
During the weekdays it’s usually dark when we get home. It makes no sense to climb outdoors, so a great alternative for training for ice climbing are the DRY ICE Tools. And I'm one of the lucky ones that received a pair! I had used them a couple times in the Dutch gyms. There, people looked at me like I was crazy and playing a dangerous game. They had the regular non-ice climber comments: "oh, that’s so easy, you're just holding on to this big grip all the time" or "now you've got so much more reach, that makes climbing just so easy now".
Right. Just try it.
Here in Germany the voices are surprisingly different. The first time we pulled out the tools people stopped climbing to watch us. They wondered what these strange tools were and understood immediately that we were serious about the winter climbing season. Soon after, two other climbers tried to make replicas and we're starting to have rather fun group tooling sessions in the boulder room (wow, that last bit of this sentence probably sounds weird if you're a non-climber).
Dennis also has a another brand for his indoor ice tools. He got yet a pair from a Scottish friend. We can clearly say the rubber strap on the DRY ICE Tools give by far a better grip on the holds compared to the other two brands that we've tried. Also the DRY ICE Tool handles are shaped differently. DRY ICE Tools are more comfortable and more realistic than the Scottish tools, closer to the design of real ice climbing tools that we use in during competition. It can still have a little tweaking though. We think the upper grip of the tools can be made a little more comfortable by lengthening the pink-rest on the upper grip.
We can easily do figure fours and even make long, reachy swing moves with the tools. Our heavy 95+kg (about 210lbs!) friend Axel climbed with DRY ICE Tools and even he could easily swing around in the roof, proof that the tools are plenty strong.
When lead climbing we use BD Spinner Leashes. We want to prevent the possibility of dropping the tools. If we accidentally dropped a tool on another climber or belayer, we'd be screwed. In the Netherlands all the gyms are just toprope, we'd still use leashes then. The tricky thing when leading is to manage the possibility of fall when clipping. If you fall and leave the tool on the hold, then you're hanging in your leash. In order to reduce that possibility, we developed a method. When clipping: One tool hangs your thumb of the hand that you’re holding on to the other tool (see photo below). The other hand is then free to clip. If you happen to fall you'll just hang on the rope, not the leash.
After much use, the handles on my DRY ICE Tools are still not getting greasy. I do not use gloves and when my hands get sweaty, I sometimes even chalk up. In this way I’m finding that I’m growing thicker skin, which is useful for long winter routes.
It is, however, challenging to train for precision using DRY ICE Tools compared to using real ice tools on holds. You rarely have the same sketchy tricky moves on which you need 200% body tension. But DRY ICE Tools are clearly safer and than using real tools in the gym. To train precision and tension, we simply to go outdoors and rock it on the real stuff.
It's funny how different it is to climb with ice tools. I can climb hard sports routes with my hands in the summer, but then at the start of the winter season I really need to build up a specific kind of strength again. Though there is a big overlap, the muscles that I need for the ice climbing are different from the ones I need for sport climbing. Being able to climb with DRY ICE Tools allows me to get strong for ice before the ice season even begins.
To see what Marianne and Dennis are up to today, check out her phenomally inspiring blog at www.lavinia-marianne.blogspot.com
Extreme Ice Climber Tim Emmett and DRY ICE Tools co-owner Ben Carlson chat about the comfortable ergonomic design of the Tools at the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest #DRYICETools. Tim now owns a pair of DRY ICE Tools, by Furnace Industries.
At the 2014 Ouray Ice Fest, DRY ICE Co-Owners George Fisher and Ben Carlson revealed their latest innovation, the DRY ICE Kronos, the world's First Wooden Handled Technical Ice Climbing Tool, slated for production Fall 2014.
DRY ICE Kronos - The Lowdown
The Shaft
The DRY ICE Kronos uses non-impregnated, densified beech wood laminate developed especially for a wide range of industrial applications including motor sport, aerospace industries, as well as for neutron shielding in the nuclear industry. The grade specially produced for the these industries is constructed to the highest density possible using thin veneers producing a dense, stable, high strength laminated board with excellent wear resistance.
The DRY ICE Kronos handle material offers high stability, increased strength, stiffness and improved life when replacing hardwood, and on the other hand, reduced weight, shorter machining times, is non-sparking and non-conductive when replacing metals. Kronos handles have half the strength of steel at only one fifth of the weight.
The Kronos shaft is CNC machined in 2 parts allowing us to machine 'islands' inside the handle halves that fit into the faces of the custom designed pick. These two parts are then bonded together using Aerodux 185, a 2 part epoxy adhesive used in the aeronautical industry for, amongst other things, bonding the wings to light aircraft.
The pick islands then dovetail into the pick to transfer the energy from the pick strikes directly into the shaft rather than through the stainless steel hardware. There is a 0.3mm gap between the islands where the pick is inserted. This clearance means that the pick is pinched by the wood shaft distributing the force evenly and avoiding stress hotspots.
The Pick
Kronos picks are CNC plasma cut from 4mm tool-grade steel and heat treated for strength and durability. They currently hand finished and individually inspected, and further innovation is expected as the Kronos takes shape.
DRY ICE Tools Co-Owner Ben Carlson going all in while testing the DRY ICE Kronos at the Ouray Ice Park.
This past weekend DRY ICE Tools was a sponsor at the 17th annual Arcteryx Bozeman Ice Festival. Festival goers were able to pick up tons of swag from us and were able to demo DRY ICE Tools in the portable Ice Tower courtesy of Don Foote, organizer of the upcoming Cody Ice Festival.
DRY ICE Tools Co-Owner Ben Carlson and de facto DRY ICE Team member Dana Williams were on hand interact directly with customers, answer questions about DRY ICE Tools, and most importantly get to word out about our company.
Also we finally got to meet a couple of our sponsored DRY ICE Athletes who were in attendance for the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup North American Championships. The field of competition climbers included some of the best climbers in the world Including Gord Macarthur, Will Gadd, Ines Papert, and Angelika Rainer. DRY ICE Athlete and Durango CO native Marcus Garcia of The Rock Lounge placed well among very tough competition. Olympic Athlete Andy Turner, one of only 2 members of the Great Britain Ice Climbing Team chosen to Represent the UK in Sochi, was not able to make the trek to Bozeman. Looks like at trip to the UK is in our future!
These events are always great places to meet up with friends, make new ones, and climb on some of the best terrain in the world. No doubt, DRY ICE will be back again in 2014, and we can not wait. Till then, come see us at these upcoming events:
Busy Days here at DRY ICE Tools HQ. There's nothing better than when people seek out YOUR company because they love your Indoor Ice Tools. We have been asked to be sponsors of both the 2014 Smuggs Ice Bash and the 2014 Michigan Ice Fest!
Check out our press releases below:
DRY ICE Tools 2014 Smuggs Ice Bash Press Release
DRY ICE Tools 2014 Michigan Ice Festival Press Release
DRY ICE Tools are flying, FLYING, off the shelves. And it's no surprise. Mixed Climbing really is the next big thing in climbing.
With our new outlet in the United Kingdom, all of the events we sponsor: the Portland Alpine Festival, Rockfest in Calais ME, the Bozeman Ice Fest, Ouray Ice Fest, Smugg Ice Bash, the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest, and the Michigan Ice Fest, we expect tools sales to pick up even more.
Due to the hand crafted and detailed nature of our tools, we make them in limited quantities. So GET YOURS NOW!
Furnace Industries would like to welcome our lastest sponsored athlete: Andy Turner. His skills and experience dry tooling outdoors and on the competition circuit make him a perfect match for DRY ICE Tools. We look forward to working with Andy to continue to develop indoor ice and mixed climbing training tools of the highest quality.
ABOUT ANDY
For 10 years Andy Turner has been at the forefront of winter climbing in the UK. He has many first ascents of the hardest routes to his name, as well as repeats of other cutting edge routes.
Andy’s skills, perfected in the harsh British winters, have been used around the worlds extreme winter landscapes including the Southern Alps of New Zealand, Patagonia and the Norwegian Lofoten Islands. Not content with pushing the standard of mixed rock/ice climbing, he has used his talents and skills to progress the training techniques and standards in a new wave of dry-tooling in the UK.
As an athlete performing at the highest standards - he was also a semi-professional cyclist in his early twenties, Andy is also a qualified Mountaineering Instructor, utilising his skills, experience and knowledge, to enable others to facilitate their own amazing adventures.
Andy additionally gives back to the sport by coaching a number of upcoming climbers including the Great Britain Junior Ice Climbing Team.
Last winter Andy decided he needed a new challenge and decided to put his considerable skills to the test by entering the world of competition climbing.
Setting up the GB Ice Climbing Team, which he manages, coaches and climbs for. In his first season he competed in 4 of the 6 rounds of the Ice World cup. The Ice World Cup circuit has rounds held in South Korea, Russia, Romania, and Switzerland and for 2013 a test event at the Bozeman Ice Festival in the USA.
The 2014 season is looking bigger and better than ever, and Andy would like the opportunity to compete in all six events of the intense World Cup season. This competition will provide the perfect preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi where Ice Climbing is included, as a cultural event.
This Olympic Ice Climbing festival is by invitation only. Recognised as one of the planet's top climbers, Andy has been invited as one of only two climbers that will comprise ofthe Great Britain team.
In addition to his work with DRY ICE Tools, Furnace Industries would like to help Andy gain more sponsored support:
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Andy is looking for funding support, to enable travel to compete in this seasons world cup circuit ensuring he is at the top of his game, and then realize his dream of going to the Olympics as part of a sport that he loves-competition ready!
WHAT ANDY CAN OFFER YOU?
As a sponsor for the northern hemisphere winter of 2013/14, you will receive some/all of the following dependent on sponsorship level:
1. Branding on all kit and clothing used whilst training and competing (Olympic competition excepted)
2. Branding and links on his website www.andyturnerclimbing.co.uk
3. Social media exposure via Andy’s website and blog
4. Company exposure in press - local and national
5. Access to stunning imagery - through his close relationships with top adventure photographers.
6. Access to Andy’s coaching, teambuilding and UK guiding skills for your company and clients
7. Inspirational Lectures by Andy about his adventures.
8. Company Association with an Olympic athlete, adventurer, and Inspiration
Major Sponsor: Minimum £3000Minor Sponsor: Minimum £250
Find out more about Andy Turner at;
andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com
facebook.com/andyturnerclimbing
@andyturnerclimb
Think you're a hot shot ice climber? Think you're a badass when your 40' runout from that last stubby?
For all you ice climbers who enjoy living through that ice pitch to sip that next single malt, ever wonder how good that placement is? Read this paper detailing the results of a highly controlled Dynamic Shock Load Evaluation of Ice Screws.
If there's one thing Petzl does better than make the highest quality climbing gear, it's promote that gear with KILLER Videos. In this vid, the Petzl team, guided by Andy Turner, tackles Scotland most ridiculour terrain...
From Petzl.com:
If there's one place on earth where climbers celebrate the arrival of the next snowstorm, it has to be Scotland. Each winter, pounded by the North Atlantic winds, the Scottish Highlands are plastered by a layer of snow and frost. A Petzl team made up of Martial Dumas, Ueli Steck, Yann Mimet, Mathieu Maynadier, Aljaz Anderle and Erwan Lelann and guided by local Andy Turner, made the obligatory pilgrimage to this temple of frozen ice and cold stone. This video has it all, including a rare sighting of the Loch Ness monster and a Ueli Steck flash (second ascent) of The Secret (X, 10) - the hardest route at the Ben.
Get Psyched! There's going to be a DRY ICE Tools Demo at The Cliffs Valhalla! Thursday 10/24 6p Till Close!! Come find out what all the buzz is about!
DRY ICE Tools is a Sponsor! Come check out the tools at our table Sat night at the Studley Theater.
More info: http://www.chestnutmtnproductions.com/reel-rock-film-festival/new-paltz-ny/
Saturday, October 5th, 2013. The day the East Coast Climbing Scene will forever remember as the day that The Cliffs LIC officially altered climbing reality, and DRY ICE was proud to be an integral part of the seismic shift...
The Grand Opening of this amazing new climbing gym was this past Saturday, and the event was mindblowing! In addition to the DRY ICE Team, there were several major gear reps on hand as well as reps from local retailers, and EASILY over 2,000 Climbers throughout the day. And the festivities just kept going late into the evening! There were so many people at The Cliffs late on a Saturday that you'd have thought it was a club in the Meatpacking District. Circus performers, jugglers, aerialists, the only indoor high line in the world, DRY ICE Routes, a massage station, and pumping music from Mon Voyage Neon via a sick pro audio sound system made the Grand Opening one that will send ripples of RAD through the climbing scene for years to come.
The Cliffs LIC is the largest climbing gym on the east coast, and it's right smack in the heart of NYC. It offers:
- Over 30,000 sq. ft. of climbing terrain
- Over 125 top rope stations and tons of lead climbing
- DRY ICE Routes for use with DRY ICE Tools!
- The World's Only Indoor High Line
- 16ft Top-out bouldering
- Rappel tower
- Expertly set routes for all ability levels, from kids to pros
- Professional instructors with a passion for climbing
- Private Climbing & Party room
- Full Fitness Gym
Mike Wolfert, Bill Baer and a host of ultra-motivated, ultra-talented climbers opened this gym, harnessing the talent and unprecedented depth of skill of the NYC climbing community. Faced with many construction challenges, its amazing that this place even exists. Ultimately, the amount of things that went terribly wrong were outnumbered by the amount of things that went very right.
DRY ICE was there offering free demos to climbers. Overwhelmed by the interest (thanks to a prime location!), there was LINE for the tools all day, and we actually sold out of our on hand stock! (Fear not, DRY ICE Tools are still available in our store.) Expect to find DRY ICE Tools for rent at the counter at The Cliffs soon, as well as for sale in their retail section.
The opening of The Cliffs is easily the most exciting development in the NYC climbing universe, for reasons to many to count. Just go there and you'll understand. There is so much terrain, so much talent, and so much climbing diversity, including DRY ICE Routes. Before the walls were even finished, it was clear that this gym will pump out stronger climbers than anyone has ever seen. Climbing world take notice: The Cliffs is your new nexus.
-bc
Ice climbing is growing! And with it are several 'mark your calendars NOW' events that bring us climbers together for fun, friends, and ice climbing. Check out the starred events to see DRY ICE in person!
*Bozeman Ice Festival December 11-15, 2013 Bozeman, MT
*Ouray Ice Fest January 9-12, 2014 Ouray, CO
Adirondack International Mountain Fest January 17-19, 2014 Keene Valley, NY
*Smuggler's Notch Ice Bash January 23-26, 2014 Smugglers Notch, VT
*Michigan Ice Fest January 30 - February 2, 2014 Munising, MI
*Mt. Washington Valley Ice Festival January 31 - February 2, 2014 North Conway, NH
Catskill Ice Festival February 7-10, 2014 New Paltz, NY
MEC Canmore Ice Festival January 31 - February 2 2014 Canmore, Alberta, CA
Cody Ice Fest February 14-17, 2013 Cody, Wyoming
*DRY ICE will be there! Make sure to check us out. Follow our Twitter feed for live tweets and onsite info.
Get ready for the biggest thing to happen to the NYC climbing scene since the discovery of the Gunks!
The Cliffs at Long Island City is finally set to open on October 5th, and DRY ICE Tools will be on hand for demos and hands on climber use. Come on in on Saturday, October 5 and celebrate the opening of the largest climbing gym on the East Coast, right here in LIC!
DRY ICE Owner and Co-Founder, Ben Carlson, personally set two routes in the new gym specifically for use with DRY ICE Tools AND he will be there with several demo paris of tools ready for YOU to use. So get in there, get your hands on DRY ICE, and see what happens when the two most revolutionary companies in the NYC climbing scene come together!
In the gym or in the alpine, dropping your tools is simply not an option.
As a follow up to a previous post about leashes and tethers, we go in depth with the two tethering options for DRY ICE Tools and ice tools available here.
The French-made Blue Ice Boa ($39.95) is a flawless synthesis of form and function.
From Blue Ice:
"With the Boa leash system, you get all the advantages of leashless tools, without the risk of dropping them! The leashes are a simple, lightweight way to connect your tools directly to your harness. The updated Boa system includes a separate tether for each tool, so you can use just one or both as necessary. To save weight, the large loops allow you to girth hitch the leashes directly to your tools, without requiring carabiners. The leashes are different colors so you can easily identify your right and left-hand tools. They can also be used to secure a piton hammer, camera, or even a backpack. True to Blue Ice tradition, the Boa leash system offers a compact, minimalist and versatile solution for your boldest alpine adventures."
Ideal uses
Alpinism, mixed & ice climbing
Features
- No carabiners required for attachment
- Elastic webbing
- Two different colors
- POSSIBILITIES FOR TOOL ATTACHMENT
- Over the blade
- With a carabiner
Alpinists and DRY ICErs benefit from separate colored strands that help identify one tool for the other. Weighing in a scant 1.76oz (50 grams) they are the lightest tethering option available. With a little creativity climbers can use Boas in their lightest form, important for those light and fast ascents.
Attaching the Boas to your tools and harness affords a few options however, allowing climbers to choose the method that best suits their needs. You can girth hitch them or carabiner them or use a combination of the two.
At DRY ICE, the best results for use with DRY ICE Tools we have seen is to girth hitch them to the keeper strand on the tools, and then carabiner them to your harness. This allows for easy on/off when swapping between rock routes and DRY ICE routes at the gym.
Blue Ice Boas also are the lightest tethers for your ice tools.
The Black Diamond Spinner Leash ($49.95) is a tried and true choice for tethering your DRY ICE Tools.
From BD:
"For hard, technical alpine climbing where you want to climb leashless but can't risk dropping a tool, the Black Diamond Spinner Leash provides a simple and secure solution. This lightweight elastic tether system stretches for maximum reach and the steel mini-clips keep your tools securely connected to your harness. A built-in swivel ensures tangle-free climbing.
- Proprietary elastic webbing stretches for maximum reach and absorbs less water than nylon
- Steel mini-clip attaches to the tool’s spike or head
- Built-in swivel ensures tangle-free use
- Rated to 2 kN"
They have a clip at the end of each umbilical, and a sweet swivel to prevent the strands from getting tangled. At 4 oz. (120g) they are a little more than twice as heavy as the Boas, but that is due to the Boa's lack of hardware. BD Spinners offer fewer options for attachment. In their lightest form, Spinners girth hitch to the belay loop of your harness, and then clip to the keeper strands on DRY ICE Tools.
For easier on/off, add a carabiner between the harness and the Spinner loop.
For ice tools one can clip to the hole a the spike of the tool or through a hole in the handle.
While neither of these leashes are rated to be used as protection, take a fall, and are never be used in an anchor system. they are both excellent solutions to keeping you tools with you. Both leashes are available here
Tired of watching too many short boldering films? To remedy that, from the geniuses that made Touching the Void, another 'destined to be on my DVD shelf ASA f'in P' climibng feature docudrama.
More about the film on their high budget webite.
BearCam Media and La Sportiva have produced this nice video guaranteed to get you PSYCHED!
Here's the introduction from La Sportiva:
"La Sportiva athlete Courtney Sanders suffered a frustrating ankle injury in the prime of sending season. Did it deter her from staying fit and focusing on the bigger picture? Not one bit. Check out this video by Courtney and edited by BearCam Media for some inspiring footage and ideas for keeping it together when everything seems to have fallen apart."
It has been a (insert cliche of challenge here).
DRY ICE Tools is a new company, and like all new companies, we've experienced some growing pains. The challenge of running a small company that’s centered around a popular boutique product with specialty parts that are difficult to source can be overwhelming. Add to that the frustration of miscommunication from suppliers, poor quality control in parts of the supply chain over which you have no control, cancelled or simply forgotten orders for parts, the heavy costs of R&D and the financial risks therein… The list goes on. It culminates in an intense desire to succumb to the fear and self-loathing that builds from all those single disappointing events.
But at Furnace Industries we did not give in. We stepped up and accepted the challenge, because—as a wise counselor advised us when we were in the thick of it—this is what success looks like.
So after a long, difficult climb, it is with great excitement that DRY ICE Tools are now available with new redesigned straps made of new material, stronger than any other indoor tool in the world. We went back to the core idea of what DRY ICE was about and reinvented it. To demonstrate our commitment to our customers, every single one of our previous customers will receive the new straps.
And we did not stop there! We are also extremely excited about the upcoming DRY ICE Holds. Designed by expert climbing hold designer with just the right amount of counter-cultural influence, Jason Kehl of So ill Climbing Holds, our line of DRY ICE Holds are specifically designed for use with DRY ICE Tools and will be introduced by the end of 2013.
AND, if you thought it was impossible to get excited about tape (in fact, it is!), we are very pleased to offer DRY ICE Route Marking Tape for route setters to help them set a DRY ICE Route in their gyms. DRY ICE Tape is available now in our Store.
Thanks for being part of the DRY ICE experience! We are a very small company (it's just us 2 guys!) with very big goals. Everyone, with positive (and negative) feedback has helped bring DRY ICE to this new dawn, and we hope you'll join us by welcoming the rising run.
Climb Safe,
Ben Carlson, Co-Founder
George Fisher, Co-Founder