ICE CLIMBING COURSES
Ice! It’s unpredictable, slippery, moody, and makes all kinds of noises. That’s of course what makes it fun and ice climbers from all over the world beeline to Colorado to test their skills on vertical waterfalls of hard water.
Welcoming them is the SAI team of tested ice climbing veterans to introduce a new medium to intrepid rock climbers or present experts with new challenges. Ice climbing brings some of the same techniques from the rock climbing world, with a different tool set of ice axes, ice screws, and crampons. Our guides are all highly experienced and trained to lead you in an unforgettable day of scaling enormous icicles.
Ice climbing generally falls into three categories:
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Alpine
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Waterfall
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Mixed.
Alpine ice climbing is just that; ascending an ice/snow mix up the side of a mountain. Waterfall climbing entails methodically picking your route up a waterfall frozen in place. Mixed ice climbing is simply climbing ice and sections of exposed rock on a specific route.
Three levels of ice climbing courses take you into the thick of it, at treasured locales including Secret Waterfall, Little Eiger in Clear Creek Canyon and North Table Mountain near Golden.
Lead Ice Climbing Course
You've taken the intro to Ice climbing, learned some technique, now it's time to learn to lead...it's time to get out on the sharp end of waterfall ice! We will walk you through the type of protection, and work through placement while on ice. Proper ice protection is crucial as you move up to multi pitch routes here in Colorado, in Canada or even Nepal. Learn what you need to thrive in the vertical ice world on the sharp end of Ice climbing!