What clothes to wear ice climbing? In this ice climbing video I will answer that question! And if you watch the video to the end I will provide you with a short bonus tip that people often forget, when choosing their ice climbing clothes! First of all, ice climbing is both a very active, but also a quite passive sport! You will produce a lot of heat, while ice climbing, but once you belay you can get cold very quickly!
First of all, my ice climbing clothing baselayer is a 200 gram merino Smartwool shirt and Icebreaker 260 gram merino tights. Keeping a warm base is really important, but it is also important that it can breathe, so you don’t start sweating. I use merino as it is really soft and transport moisture quite well – and then it doesn’t smell!
My ice climbing clothes midlayer is a Black Diamond Coefficient Hoody Polartec fleece or an Arcteryx Konseal fleece. It should have a tight fit for you to stay warm while ice climbing, but flexible enough for you to work. The midlayer is crucial for you to keep warm during your climbing, so be thoughtful, when choosing your midlayer. I think Polartec works great!
As an ice climbing outer layer I use the Arc’teryx Gamma LT softshell. This is super stretchy and wind and water repellant. The Arc’teryx Gamma LT has a hoody that fits over my climbing helmet. And if it is really windy or I know the ice climbing route I will be climbing is going to be super wet, then I will change to my Arc’teryx Alpha FL hardshell instead. This is made of GoreTex, and eventhough is much much better at rejecting water and wind than my softshell, then GoreTex doesn’t breathe as well, so my body easily becomes moist as I cannot transport my heat away, and then I will start sweating. I also sometimes wear my Black Diamond Alpine Start, which is probably more a windbreaker than a shell, but it is super lightweight and is great if I am climbing a warm day – or do alpine climbing, where I am not really in direct contact with ice
On my legs I wear the Arcteryx Gamma LT softshell pants. This piece of ice climbing clothing are super stretchy, and I can really move around without feeling restricted. For legs, I would also try to avoid GoreTex as it just doesn’t breathe that well
I use the Scarpa Phantom 6000 that are super stiff and really warm. These ice climbing boots are really nice and really good built quality. So, for easier stuff I actually tend to go with my La Sportiva Cube, but these does only fit semi-automatic crampons, not full-automatic crampons as the Scarpa Phantom 6000
So, when I am done ice climbing and I have to belay, I need to stay warm! So, my ice climbing clothes need to support that. For that reason, I pack a down jacket that is rather large, so I can just take it on as a top layer. For warm days, say above -5 degrees Celsius I just pack my Arc’teryx Atom LT. This is a really lightweight, super compressible fiber down jacket. For colder days I pack my Arc’teryx Cerium LT, and for super cold days, say below -10 degrees Celsius I pack my Black Diamond Belay Parka. And on colder days I actually keep my Arc’teryx Atom LT on as a midlayer, when ice climbing.
I always carry three pairs of ice climbing gloves. I use the Black Diamond Arc for ice climbing and the Black Diamond Punisher for belaying. On super cold days I actually ice climb with the Black Diamond Punisher and carry a pair Hestra Alpine Pro mitts.
Another essential ice climbing clothing is a beanie or a balaclava. I also wear a North Face Balaclava under my helmet, and on warm days I just wear a Black Diamond beanie.
MY COMPLETE ICE CLIMBING WORDROPE
(I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY OF THESE BRANDS – I JUST LIKE THEIR STUFF!)
BASELAYER
- Smartwool 200g merino shirt
- Icebreaker 200g merino tights
MIDLAYER
- Black Diamond CoEfficient hoody polartech fleece jacket
- Arc’teryx Konseal polartec fleece jacket
OUTER LAYER
- Arc’teryx Gamma LT softshell jacket
- Arc’teryx Alpha FL GoreTex hardshell jacket
- Black Diamond Alpine Start windbreaker
LEGS
- Arc’teryx Gamma LT softshell pants
FEET
- Scarpa Phantom Guide
- La Sportiva Trango Cube
- Icebreaker Mountainner mid calf merino socks
ACCESSORIES
- Black Diamond Arc gloves
- Black Diamond Punisher gloves
- Hestra Alpine Pro Heli Ski mitts
- The North Face Underballa balaclava
- Black Diamond Dome beanie
- Black Diamond Frontpoint GTX gaiters (optional)
MUSIC:
Light by KV
Leaf by KV
Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0
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#IceClimbing #IceClimbingVideo #ClimbingVlog
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