The Ice Climbing World Cup (or UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour, or IWC) is an annual ice climbing competition organized by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), who has regulated and governed the sport of competition ice climbing since the first IWC in 2002. It is the ice climbing equivalent of the IFSC Climbing World Cup in rock climbing. [1] [2]
The IWC is organized as an annual tour consisting of over three to six events throughout the year (the number has varied over the years), in which men's and women's lead climbing and speed climbing competitions are held. The lead climbing routes are held on largely bolted dry artificial surfaces (with some natural ice features) and thus employ dry-tooling techniques. [3] The speed-climbing routes are on a standardized 40-50 foot wall of solid ice that takes seconds for top roped ice climbers to complete (as per speed rock climbing). [3] [4]
Over the years, the UIAA has increased the regulation and use around competition ice climbing equipment, including the prohibition of leashes on ice tools (so they cannot be used as aid), and increased controls on the use of "heel spurs" while climbing (to counter their use for resting). [5]
| Year | Winner | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 |  Will Gadd | ||
| 2001 |  Daniel Du Lac | ||
| 2002 |  Dimitri Bytchkov  Harald Berger | — | |
| 2003 | Harald Berger | Alexey Tomilov | Dimitri Bytchkov |
| 2004 | no world tour | ||
| 2005 | no world tour | ||
| 2006 | Harald Berger |  Simon Wandler | Markus Bendler |
| 2007 |  Evgeny Kriovsheitsev | Markus Bendler | Alexey Tomilov |
| 2008 | Simon Anthamatten | Markus Bendler | Evgeny Kriovsheitsev |
| 2009 | Markus Bendler |  Park Hee Yong | Alexey Tomilov |
| 2010 | Markus Bendler | Park Hee Yong | Maxim Tomilov |
| 2011 | Park Hee Yong | Maxim Tomilov | Markus Bendler |
| 2012 | Maxim Tomilov | Alexey Tomilov | Park Hee Yong |
| 2013 | Park Hee Yong | Maxim Tomilov | Valentyn Sypavin |
| 2014 | Maxim Tomilov | Park Hee Yong | Alexey Tomilov |
| 2015 | Maxim Tomilov | Park Hee Yong | Alexey Tomilov |
| 2016 | Maxim Tomilov | Hee Yong Park |  Janez Svoljsak |
| 2017 | Park Hee Yong | Nikolai Kuzovlev | Maxim Tomilov |
| 2018 | Maxim Tomilov | Alexey Tomilov |  Mohamadreza Safdarian Korouyeh |
| 2019 | Nikolai Kuzovlev | Park Hee Yong | Yannick Glatthard |
| 2020 | Louna Ladevant | Nikolai Kuzovlev | Kwon Younghye |
| 2023 | Louna Ladevant | Park Hee Yong | Benjamin Bosshard |
* 2017: 2. Pavel Batushev doping
Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains to small boulders. Climbing is done for locomotion, sporting recreation, for competition, and is also done in trades that rely on ascension, such as rescue and military operations. Climbing is done indoors and outdoors, on natural surfaces, and on artificial surfaces
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
Many climbing routes have a grade that reflects the technical difficulty—and in some cases the risks and commitment level—of the route. The first ascensionist can suggest a grade, but it will be amended to reflect the consensus view of subsequent ascents. While many countries with a strong tradition of climbing developed grading systems, a small number of grading systems have become internationally dominant for each type of climbing, which has contributed to the standardization of grades worldwide. Over the years, grades have consistently risen in all forms of climbing, helped by improvements in climbing technique and equipment.
The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, commonly known by its French name Union internationale des associations d'alpinisme, was founded in August 1932 in Chamonix, France when 20 mountaineering associations met for an alpine congress. Count Charles Egmond d'Arcis, from Switzerland, was chosen as the first president and it was decided by the founding members that the UIAA would be an international federation which would be in charge of the "study and solution of all problems regarding mountaineering". The UIAA Safety Label was created in 1960 and was internationally approved in 1965 and currently (2015) has a global presence on five continents with 86 member associations in 62 countries representing over 3 million people.
Glossary of climbing terms relates to rock climbing, mountaineering, and to ice climbing.
Ice climbing is a climbing discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of frozen water. To ascend the route, the ice climber uses specialist equipment, particularly double ice axes and rigid crampons. To protect the route, the ice climber uses steel ice screws that require skill to employ safely and rely on the ice holding firm in any fall. Ice climbing routes can vary significantly by type, and include seasonally frozen waterfalls, high permanently frozen alpine couloirs, and large hanging icicles.
IWC may refer to:
Dry-tooling is a form of mixed climbing that is performed on bare, ice-free, and snow-free, routes. As with mixed climbing, the climber uses ice axes and crampons to ascend the route, but uses only rock climbing equipment for protection; many modern dry-tooling routes are now fully bolted like sport climbing routes. Indoor ice climbing competitions are held on non-ice surfaces and are effectively dry-tooling events.
Competition climbing is a form of regulated rock climbing competition held indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls. The three competition climbing disciplines are lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. The result of multiple disciplines can be used in a "combined" format to determine an all-round winner. Competition climbing is sometimes called "sport climbing", which is the name given to pre-bolted lead climbing.
An ice tool is a specialized elaboration of the modern ice axe, used in ice climbing, mostly for the more difficult configurations. Ice tools are used two to a person for the duration of a pitch, and thus in some circumstances such as top-rope-anchored climbs, a pair may be shared among two or more people, where only one of them at a time is climbing. In contrast a classical "ice axe" is used one to a person for the hours or days a party is traveling across snow or glacier. In communities where it is common to refer to an "ice tool" simply as an "ice axe", classic "ice axes" are often referred to as "traveling axes", "walking axes", or "general mountaineering axes" to distinguish them from "tools".
Mixed climbing is a climbing discipline used on routes that do have not enough ice to be pure ice climbs, but are also not dry enough to be pure rock climbs. To ascend the route, the mixed climber uses ice climbing tools, but to protect the route, they use traditional or sport rock climbing tools. Mixed climbing can vary from routes with sections of thick layers of ice and sections of bare rock to routes that are mainly bare rock but which is “iced-up”.
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the international governing body for the sport of competition climbing, which consists of the disciplines lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing.
The IFSC Climbing World Championships are the biennial world championship event for competition climbing that is organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). This event determines the male and female world champions in the three disciplines of competition climbing: competition lead climbing, competition bouldering, and competition speed climbing. Since 2012, a combined ranking is also determined, for climbers competing in all disciplines, and additional medals are awarded based on that ranking. The first event was organized in Frankfurt in 1991.
Artimes Farshad Yeganeh is an Iranian rock climber who has specialized in both competition climbing, and outdoor sport climbing and bouldering. He has been climbing for 30 years as a professional climber, a member of the Iranian National climbing team for many years, as a route setter in many national, continental, and world cups and championships, and Head Coach of the Iranian National climbing team for 6 years. He also participates in sport climbing and bouldering competitions and is one of the most famous Iranian climbers.
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that involves using any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and in Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly-equipped teams who carry all of their own equipment, and do all of the climbing.
The Ice Climbing World Youth Championships is an annual international competition ice climbing event. It is organized by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, who regulate and govern competition ice climbing and consists of two events: lead climbing and speed climbing.
The Ice Climbing World Championship is a biennial international competition ice climbing event organized and regulated by the UIAA. It is the ice climbing equivalent of the IFSC Climbing World Championships in rock climbing.
Mohammad Reza Safdarian Korouyeh is an Iranian Rock climber and Ice climber. Safdarian has won the first Gold medal in Iran′s ice climbing history in the Ice Climbing World Tour at Rabenestin in Italy, and a Bronze medal in 2018 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour. and a Bronze medal in 2019 UIAA Ice Climbing World Combined championships. and a Bronze medal in 2018 UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup Overall Ranking Lead. The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation named him the "History Boy". He has participated in 27 World Cups, World Championships and Asian Championships since 2013.
This article lists the main ice climbing events and their results for 2019, including the UIAA Ice Climbing World Youth Championships, the UIAA Ice Climbing World Championships, the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup, and the Ice Climbing European Cup.
Mohsen Beheshti Rad is an Iranian mountaineer and competition climber who competes in competition ice climbing, and has been the UIAA World champion.
