Ice Climbing is the roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water.

Ice climbing is the sport of climbing vertical formations made of ice. Reliable equipment such as crampons and ice axes, are absolutely necessary due to the natural difficulty of scaling ice. Ice climbing can be performed both on alpine ice and water ice, which differ in constitution. Considered an extreme sport, ice climbing should be attempted only after the proper amount of experience has been acquired.

Climb vertical ice formations.

There are no formalized rules for ice climbing. Due to safety concerns, some areas have restrictions on ice formations that can be climbed. There are also different techniques and equipment used to negotiate the differences between climbing alpine ice and water ice.

The sport and recreational pursuit of ice climbing began in Europe in the 19th century. 1908 saw the invention of the crampon, which forever changed the sport. More climbers were able to take up ice climbing thanks to the new level of ease crampons provided. In the 1960's ice axes were developed, furthering the ease of ice climbing. The theme of technology improvements allowing for greater access and participation continued into the 1980's and 1990's, which saw the birth of a series of different global competitions. Today, ice climbing remains a popular extreme winter sport.

Climbing Harness
Crampons
Ice Axe
Ice Screws
Rope System

Ice climbing is a dangerous sport due to the extreme heights involved, and the unpredictable nature of ice. All climbers should proceed with the utmost of caution.

Prior knowledge and experience with rope systems, abseiling and belaying is necessary prior to climbing. Learning these techniques from an expert climber is strongly advised.

Abseiling - using a fixed rope to descend a vertical formation of ice

Alpine Ice - ice found in a mountain environment, made from frozen precipitation; often climbed in an attempt to summit a mountain

Belaying - the practice of controlling the rope fed out to a climber

Crampon - metal plate with spikes fixed to a boot for climbing ice

Water Ice - ice found on a cliff or outcropping beneath water flows, made from frozen flow of water

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/climb/ice_primer2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_climbing