Advice: Ice climbing rack

Advice: Rack for ice climbing

The following is a suggested minimal rack for pure ice climbing, based on our own experience of climbing in the Southern French Alps, on easy to mid-grade multi-pitch routes. Some routes in this area offer bolted or tree belays, with straight forward walk-offs or fixed abseil anchors (trees or bolts), but others only offer ice for belays and runners, and require the construction of multiple v-thread abseil anchors.

It is minimal primarily for baggage weight-saving reasons (to meet airline baggage allowances), but obviously a light rack is also easier to carry on a route, and (especially for those new to ice climbing), it does keep the cost down to some extent. However, be aware that it also offers a minimal amount of protection - using 60m ropes, with 4 screws for belays (x2 at each belay), only 6 screws are left for runners - that’s one screw approximately every 8 meters if you use the full length of the ropes... For routes with intermittent steep sections/difficulties, this is OK, but for routes with more sustained difficulties, pitches will have to be shorter and/or more icescrews and quickdraws will need to be carried.

Per team:
4x 22cm (long) icescrews	For belays. A minimum of 2 good icescrews should be used for ice belays - 3 screws may be needed on poor ice.
6x 17cm (medium) icescrews	For runners. Buy good quality screws with built-in winders. We have found Petzl, Black Diamond and Grivel screws to be particularly good, offering excellent ‘bite’ (making them easy to get started) and very speedy to wind in.
2x Petzl Charlet Iceflute (on bandoleer)	A very user-friendly option for racking screws, offering excellent protection to the screws, protection to clothing and equipment from screws, easy selection of screws whilst leading, and easy swapping of rack when swapping leads. Alternately use several harness or bandoleer mounted ice-clippers (ensure you can easily select and remove screws one-handed). Bearing in mind that a set of 10 good icescrews will cost in the region of £400, we certainly feel it is worth looking after them!
6x wiregate quickdraws	Definitely use wiregates for ice - they’re lighter, easier to clip with gloves, and don’t freeze up. We’ve used 4x 10cm and 2x 15cm quickdraws (using double ropes should negate the need for long quickdraws).
1x ice-theader (e.g. Petzl Charlet Multi-hook)	Essential for making ice-thread abseil anchors. For a DIY option, use a length of coat-hanger wire and make a small hook at one end and a loop (big enough to get a finger through) at the other - make it just a bit longer than your longest icescrew.
Approximately 10m of 7mm accessory cord	For rigging abseil anchors off trees and bolts, and for rigging ice-threads. You will need about 1m for every ice-thread. For lots of abseiling you'll need lots of cord!
2x 8 or 8.5mm x 60m dry finish ropes	60m ropes give the option for longer pitches, and longer abseils. Use top quality ropes with as low an impact force as possible.

Per person:
1x ‘Magic plate’ belay device, 1x compact HMS & 1x standard screwgate.	We have found both the Petzl Reverso and the Black Diamond ATC-Guide to be excellent. Being able to direct belay a second saves both time and effort. If climbing as a 3, 2 seconds can be belayed simultaneously.
2x 120cm dyneema sling & screwgates.	For equalising bolt or 2 icescrew belays, belaying from trees, making a lanyard for abseils, etc.
1x cordelette or 240cm dyneema sling & 1x screwgate.	Fantastic for equalising 3 icescrews, rigging bottom-ropes on ice ‘crags’, belaying from big trees/blocks/boulders. We have found the Wild Country Dyneema Cordelette very good. Otherwise, a self-tied cordelette made from 7mm accessory cord can also be used as spare abseil tat.
2x screwgate.	For rigging belays.
2x large wiregate.	To clip axes to harness for abseils, etc
2x 30cm 6mm prussic loops & 1x knife on a screwgate.	A prussic is essential as a back-up when abseiling. A knife is needed to cut abseil tat - we have found the Petzl Spatha Knife particularly ice-climber friendly.

Load-limiting quickdraws?
We have read and been given a fair amount of conflicting advice about whether to use load-limiting quickdraws (Petzl Charlet Nitros, Yates Screamers or DMM Ripstops), or not. Some climbers use them on every quickdraw, others use none, others use only a couple and save them for important runners (e.g. first after the belay) or for poor icescrew placements. They certainly do reduce the shock-load on an icescrew in the event of a fall, but not by very much. They might make the difference between a screw failing or holding... or they might not... the only reasonable certainty is that a well placed icescrew in good quality ice is incredibly strong (in some tests, the attached carabiners have broken before the icescrew or ice have failed...), but a badly placed icescrew in bad ice is very weak and no amount of extra ‘shock-absorbing’ will help it hold.

Another shock-absorbing option?
So far we have opted instead to make full use of the most important shock-absorbing component in the climbing protection system - the rope. We have used good quality half-ropes with a very low impact force, and looked after them (no bridge swinging, making zip-lines or pulling cars out of ditches). To really maximise the shock-absorbing ability of the rope, we have then used DMM Revolvers - a wiregate carabiner with built-in pulley, which not only reduces rope drag (making life easier for the leader, and reducing wear on the rope), but in the event of a fall will also reduce the impact force on an icescrew (less friction allows the rope to stretch more easily, therefore allowing it to absorb more force). Compared to load-limiting quickdraws, DMM Revolvers are cheaper, lighter, much less bulky, offer additional benefits (less rope drag, self-rescue/hauling applications), and of course can be realistically be used for any other type of rock climbing. You don’t necessarily need a full set of Revolver equiped quickdraws - 2 or 3 will allow you to protect important or dubious screws, and the odd off-line placement.

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Last updated March 1, 2007