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Gear tips for NZ winter ice climbing

dizzy

24-Nov-2007
2:02:09 PM

Hi,
Thinking about heading to NZ next winter for ice climbing and wondering if anybody had any thoughts
about what extra/different gear is needed for ice. I've got bags of summer mountaineering gear and
wouldn't mind hearing what people have to say about things like boots (are leather Nepal Extremes good
enough for winter ice?), glove combos (I figure the leather rigger's I wear in summer won't cut it on winter
ice) and crampon choice for ice climbing (will my 2 part Charlets for summer make the grade in winter?).
Any tips on boots/gloves/crampons will be much appreciated (and any other gear tips for winter ice trips).
Cheers,
Dizzy.

Sally

24-Nov-2007
6:56:48 PM

Hi
Boots-Ice climbing I wear my nepal extremes and they are fine.
gloves- i take Warm Waterproof belay gloves and climb in thinner ones I can clip in. I stuff the spare
set down my front to keep them warm. Take spare climbing gloves for a multi day trip.
crampons- You could use yours but the stiffer the better. heaps of places to hire stuff here though
( Petzl Charlet dartwins rock!)
wear your raincoat all the time to keep the wet out and put the Downie over top for belaying
those Caritool things are awesome for screws and for hanging your tools on while rapping.
go leashless if you can..It is more like rockclimbing and if you shake out alot you are less likely to get
the burn.
lexan drink bottle- good hotie !

skink

25-Nov-2007
8:46:58 AM

Agree with everything Sally said - would add:

Crampons - any Charlet Mosers will do for easy/mod ice up to WI3. If you think you will be getting on to the harder stuff (WI3+ and up) then you will get some benefit from crampons with more ice-climbing specific design - forward swept secondary points are the main thing here in my opinion, so that you get both a front point and secondary point engaged when you drop your heel a bit. Charlet Moser Black Ice and M10 are good, Super 12 less so. Also a heel bail design is best I reckon - strap-ons seem prone to loosening with all the kicking going on, are hard to get tight enough in the first place and you may compromise circulation in your feet, especially in leathers.

Gloves - always tricky - too thick and they are way pumpy to climb in and make placing screws and clipping hard to impossible, too thin and your hands may get real cold, especially climbing in leashes. Going leashless helps I reckon - you can shake out easily which warms your hands, and hanging in leashes has to constrict blood flow to the hands in my opinion. You see people climbing leashless without gloves sometimes! It is hard to commit to leashless if you learn using leashes though.
Best to take some variations along - you will need extra dry gloves anyway and everyone seems a bit different in their glove preferences - I think it is very dependent on how good your circulation is and your sensitivity to cold. Some ice climbing folks here in NZ swear by the insulated leather rigger gloves - you can pick these up for $25 so a cheap option to try. I got by with powerstretch liners and a waterproof shell glove mostly this past season, tho am keen to get my hands on some of the stretchy, sticky, insulated gloves designed for mixed/comp climbing. The search for the perfect glove combo continues...

Waterbottle - insulate it. You can cut up some thin foam mat and duct tape around your 2 litre coke bottle or (better) your widemouth Lexan/Nalgene.

Wire hooky thingy for constructing v-threads (to abseil off the tops of things or retreat)

Ice screws - almost anything works for mountaineering, but for steep ice you would be real dumb not to use express style screws - BD Turbo Express are the standard, about a half dozen 16cm/19cm and some 22cms for belays and building v-threads.

Ice tools - the major difference IMO - modern ice tools are very different to summer mountaineering axe and make ice climbing way easier. Reverse curve pick is a must, curved, high-clearance shaft is almost a must-have also (keeps your hands off the ice more and is great when the ice is all cauliflowered/knobbly). Having the option to drive the tool leashless by adding a pinky hook gives you the option to go leashless when cragging and add the leashes for multipitch/alpine when you can't afford a dropped tool. Quick release leashes are a good compromise if you just can't bring yourself to hang one handed from a tool without the security of a leash.

Snowshoes/Ski touring gear/Helicopter :-) - harder to get around in winter with all that white stuff around

Whew - mega post - sorry I got a bit carried away

PS lots of excellent opinion and gear tips here - http://www.psychovertical.com/

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