My Ice-climbing Experience

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In February, I went ice-climbing with Sanirang for the first time having wonI a free lesson through Korea4Expats.com It was supposed to be an outdoor trip, but due to the sudden warm weather change, most of the ice had melted. As with any extreme sport, safety is a big issue, so we used an indoor ice-climbing wall instead. (I don’t think any of us wanted to risk dying by melted ice.)

Our meeting point was an outdoor rental shop and that was where I (re)met Peter. I had taken a rock-climbing session with him before and I know that he takes safety very seriously. Before we got dressed in our gear, he briefed us on the different kinds of ice-climbing equipment.

We had to walk in our ice-climbing books to the indoor ice-climbing facility a few minutes walk away, something much easier said than done. We trekked down the road and descended the stairs to a small room with a door that literally resembled a meat freezer. We put on the rest of our gear and stepped inside. Much to my surprise, the small freezer door led into a huge room with really high ice walls.

Peter gave us more instructions and allowed us to solo practice some of the ice-climbing techniques with the ice-climbing picks before letting us loose. However, I found it so cold inside that I had to take a break and leave the room before I had even started climbing. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I was happy for the coffee machine outside that warmed up my hands.

Once I started climbing, I found the easy walls quite simple and worked my way to the intermediate walls. In my opinion, ice-climbing is not as difficult as rock climbing, but it does require a different kind of agility. Each time I hit the ice with my ice pick, pieces of ice flew at me. I had to coordinate my legs with my hands and when I became uncoordinated, I fell. It wasn’t dangerous because I had belayers, but it did get frustrating after awhile because with each fall, I lost a lot of height due to the elasticity of the ropes. In addition, when I lost my grip on the ice picks during my falls, they became stuck in the ice of my original location, forcing me to either choose between giving up or trekking back up using only one pick to retrieve it, a very difficult task. I wasn’t very happy when I ripped a couple holes in my pant legs due to the sharp clamps on the ice-climbing shoes, something that Peter warned us about during our initial briefing.

I did about five climbs and then called it quits after a couple hours. (Others had given up after just one or two climbs.) Although I had taken probably 5 breaks, my hands were not looking so great due to the cold. They were purple with a few completely pale white fingers, not to mention that I had lost feeling in some of my toes. I think I was the only one, though. I have a poor blood circulation condition that causes my fingers to swell when I go into room temperature after being exposed to near sub-zero temperatures. I was definitely the most cold-sensitive person of the group. I had to do a lot of breaks because I felt like I was experiencing frostbite.

My ice-climbing experience with Peter and Sanirang was a good one, but I probably would not do it again. Even though the cold was just too unbearable for me, if you have never done an ice-climb before, I highly recommend it because it’s something that I think adventurous people should try at least once. Everyone’s done rock-climbing, but who can say they’ve done ice-climbing?! Just be prepared with warm clothing and warm gloves, something especially important for those sensitive to cold like me. Get your climb on!

Get more information on Sanirang and SAN Beginner rock climbing classes.

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