Ice climbing for beginners

Maybe you have some friends who won’t stop talking about their weekend ice climbing excursions. Maybe you’re a rock climber looking for a new way to extend your climbing season that doesn’t involve shredding your hands on plastic holds. Or, maybe you’ve just seen some rad photos of people scaling what appear to be monstrous icicles and can’t help but think I need to try that!

No matter what your motivation for getting into ice climbing may be, you’re in for a treat. As long as you understand what you’re getting yourself into and take the time to properly prepare, you’ll find yourself quickly falling in love with a new sport that you just can’t get enough of.

Learn the Ropes

The most important piece of advice we have when it comes to getting into ice climbing is probably also the most obvious: take a lesson! Whether it’s with our Eastern Mountain Sports Climbing School, another guiding service, or even just some well-trusted friends who have been ice climbing for years, you need to spend some time with people who know what they’re doing and can teach you how to climb ice safely.

In addition to learning the tricks of the trade from a professional, taking a lesson also means you’ll save some money on equipment since they’ll provide the boots, crampons, ice tools, harness, helmet, rope, and climbing hardware. If you were to attempt to learn ice climbing on your own, the gear alone would set you back more than $1, 000...and without knowing how to properly use it all, your first ice climbing excursion could potentially also be your last.

Have the Right Gear

While we’re on the subject of gear, let’s take a moment to discuss the equipment necessary for ice climbing. Assuming you’ll fall in love with the sport after your first lesson, you will eventually need to start buying your own stuff (unless you have a friend who has extra gear they’ll let you borrow). Here’s what you’ll need:

Harness and helmet: If you’re already a rock climbing, you probably have these two things, and can use them for climbing ice as well. Just be sure that your harness will fit over bulkier pants and that there’s enough room under your helmet to wear a hat.

Boots: When you take a lesson, you’ll likely be given a pair of plastic mountaineering boots. Once you start shopping for your own boots, though, you’ll have more options. Check out How to Choose Mountaineering Boots to get an idea of what you should be looking for in a boot for ice climbing.

Crampons and ice tools: Like boots, when you take an ice climbing lesson your guide will give you a pair of crampons and a set of tools without giving you much say in the matter. But when you start shopping around for your own, you’ll see that there are lots to choose from. How to Choose Crampons and How to Choose an Ice Axe should help you figure out what you need.

Climbing Rope:Ropes for ice climbing aren’t much different from ropes for rock climbing. They come in a wide range of diameters, and you can climb on single, half, or twin ropes. The only difference is that your rope for ice climbing needs to be dry treated. For more tips on finding the right rope, check out How to Choose Climbing Rope.

Ice Protection: Even if you only plan to climb ice on top rope for a while, you’ll still want to have at least a few ice screws with you. If you’re going to be leading, you’ll need several screws of each length. You’ll also need quickdraws to clip in to (if you already have some draws for rock climbing, there’s no need to buy more).

Backpack: You’ll need a pack that’s big enough to carry your rope, ice screws, extra layers, and crampons. Many climbing packs have convenient tool loops to attach your ice tools to the outside front of the pack, but you can also use the side compression straps to hold them.

Dress for the Occasion

Ice climbing is an incredibly enjoyable way to get outside in the winter. But if you aren’t dressed properly for the conditions, you’re going to be miserable. The key—as with all winter sports—is to have several layers that you can take off and put back on as your body temperature changes throughout the day. For an in-depth look at how to dress for a day on the ice, check out What to Wear Ice Climbing.