Ice Mountaineering – Overview

Ice mountaineering is a sport played on icy hills and mountains. Broadly, it can be of two types i.e. mountaineering on frozen water or mountaineering on frozen ice. Frozen water means frozen waterfalls and frozen ice means big mountains. It is one of the dangerous sports as the athlete needs to climb the mountain in adverse weather conditions.

There are three official disciplines of this sport and they are −

• Speed
• Lead difficulty
• Bouldering

In Ice Mountaineering, a World Competition is organised every two years. An athlete has to climb the mountain and to conquer the world title either under Speed or Lead difficulty category.

A Brief History of Ice Mountaineering

Ice Mountaineering got official sport recognition by UIAA (International Mountaineering and Mountaineering Federation) when first world cup was organised by proper rule at Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Austria and Canada.

After these international world cups, European championships were also organised. First common rule for this sport was drafted in the year 1998. Before the commission of UIAA, the world cup was organised by a private German company until 2002. However, Ice Mountaineering can be traced back to 1912, when one ice mountaineering competition was organised in Brenva Glacier, Italy.

Participating Countries

Love of mountaineering has united many nations and continents together for past many years. The sport is all about challenging yourself every time for worst situations and so people love to participate in this sport.

The fever of Ice Mountaineering has spread over many countries. The countries that participate in this sport are India, South Africa, China, Germany, Japan, France, Pakistan, Italy, Sri Lanka, Netherland, Nepal, United States, Iran, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, Malaysia, Argentina, Bangladesh, and Brazil.