Excellent Will Gadd Youtube Series

Will Gadd recently posted this instructional series on Youtube.

How to climb ice, from one of the best in the business.

Highly recommended.

Will Gadd Ice Climbing

Would love to see a video for old ‘80s ice climbers like me who would like to transition to leashless !

Dick Stonewrote:

Would love to see a video for old ‘80s ice climbers like me who would like to transition to leashless !

You need a video on how to buy new tools??  ;-)

Dick Stonewrote:

Would love to see a video for old ‘80s ice climbers like me who would like to transition to leashless !

Borrow each your friends' tools for a lap or two. You'll know what "feels right".

Dick Stonewrote:

Would love to see a video for old ‘80s ice climbers like me who would like to transition to leashless !

I believe this is what you are looking for.

Another good video

Dick Stonewrote:

Would love to see a video for old ‘80s ice climbers like me who would like to transition to leashless !

Can someone explain to me the desire for leashless? I've never understood it. Dropping a tool seems devastating.

Disclaimer: I stopped ice climbing around 1984 - too uncomfortable, too scary, too too many other things.

Marc801 Cwrote:

Can someone explain to me the desire for leashless? I've never understood it. Dropping a tool seems devastating.

Really easy to shake out, avoid the pump, keep the hands warm. Easy to switch tools. Easy to place screws. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

Can someone explain to me the desire for leashless? I've never understood it. Dropping a tool seems devastating.

Disclaimer: I stopped ice climbing around 1984 - too uncomfortable, too scary, too too many other things.

I also was climbing ice in the early 80s.  

Didn't go leashless for a long time.  I figured it was a fad that would eventually pass.  

Tried leashless for the first time on a trip to Ouray.  Haven't climbed anything over AI/WI 2 with leashes since then.  

Leashless is overall easier.  Placing screws is easier.  Changing hands on tools allows for changing direction easier.  Shaking out is easier.

I still use tethers on multi-pitch climbs where dropping a tool would be a problem.   

Ice climbing today is not very similar to ice climbing in 1984.  The advances in gear (especially screws) has made the whole activity easier and safer.  I was young and strong in 1984, and I'm old and fat now, but the better gear means that I can climb harder now than I could back then.  

I climbed ice in the era of leashes. They weren’t really to prevent drops; I took my hands out of the leash to place screws or at belays. The leashes were for grip. It was way too hard to just hold onto straight shaft tools or even the little baby bends you’d get on like a Black Prophet. So I’d let the leash take the weight on my wrists. Modern tools solve that problem with big angled molded grips instead.

The other thing is that the average level of grip strength / endurance for an ice climber is way higher than 30 years ago. Gyms and sport climbs are everywhere now and pretty much everyone uses them to get strong.

I also started on black prophets and switched to leashless almost as soon as the og quark ergo came out. I flirted back and forth before ditching them completely when the viper with the fang and strike came out. I still kind of want an old pair of prophets to climb with to show these young punks what’s up. 

Hi, young punk here trying to get into ice climbing that'll gladly trade you the old Black Prophets I've got for something my weak noodle arms can handle:)

I started climbing with the clipable leashes that came with BD/Petzl tools in around 2004 or so. Did it for a few years before switching to Nomics and never looked back.

Before I made the switch, I’d spend half my time TRing leashed and the other half leashless. Back then the sentiment was that leashless was harder. It wasn’t until people started really modifying their ice technique (from drytooling) that it became less about grip strength. The pommels on tools like the original Quarks and orange Vipers/Cobras, also facilitated the transition.

Nomics IMO were the first truly modern tool. The Reactors/Quark Ergos/Scuds couldn’t climb ice very well at all. 

Awesome responses … I’ll have to shop for a more modern pair of leashless and retire my trusty ole Trango’s !

Graham Johnsonwrote:

I also started on black prophets and switched to leashless almost as soon as the og quark ergo came out. I flirted back and forth before ditching them completely when the viper with the fang and strike came out. I still kind of want an old pair of prophets to climb with to show these young punks what’s up. 

Rad video series from an awesome dude. I think for pure ice routes Black prophets are actually still pretty decent today, the picks certainly are. I hung on to a pair of leashed Grivel light machines and they swing really nice, not modern nice but pretty damn solid (I’d say Charlet Moser Quasar’s were de rigueur at the time). I don’t miss having the circulation choked out of my hands by hanging in leashes and It’s indisputable that leashless tools have made climbing ice way more energy efficient but imo the reverse curve pick was the real game changer. Having started myself in the mid 90’s, that happened long before my time as an ice climber…but I’ve fucked around on TR enough with straight shafted 70’s relics to say that’s the greatest advancement in tools yet. True hardmen show the young punks what’s up with a Zero Piolet in one hand and a Northwall Hammer in the other. Haha!

I started before Zeros were out with a piolet and an ice hammer. Zero axe and northwall came out and I felt like Superman. Later I got some Grivels with reverse curves and I felt like Superman on steroids. Used leashes of course.

Somewhere along the way I , Superman, got old. Hmm didn’t see that coming.

 I’ve climbed a few times with leashless tools and the new screws. It’s a total joy to use this new gear. Including the boots! Holy shit! What a difference there. There is no comparison to what we used to use. The only constant is that in the 70’s we were using the absolute best tools available at the time as are the new ice climbers of today. No way to see what the future will bring but we know it will continue to change and improve.

Probably the only thing  that was better in ice climbing in the “old” days was that no route was ever picked out. There were so few of us then.

Norm Larsonwrote:

I started before Zeros were out with a piolet and an ice hammer. Zero axe and northwall came out and I felt like Superman. Later reverse curves came along and I was Superman on steroids. Used leashes of course.

Somewhere along the way I got old. Hmm didn’t see that coming.

 I’ve climbed a few times with leashless tools and the new screws. It’s a total joy to use this new gear. Including the boots! Holy shit! What a difference there. There is no comparison to what we used to use. The only constant is that in the 70’s we were using the absolute best tools available at the time as are the new ice climbers of today. No way to see what the future will bring but we know it will continue to change and improve.

Probably the only thing  that was better in ice climbing in the “old” days was that no route was ever picked out. There were so few of us then.

That’s Excellent! When I first started a few of the guys I partnered with were older (40’s!!!)and were still racking Salewa and Chouinard screws (BD Express just came out). Goddam you had to put the tool pick in the eye just so you could lever on the shaft enough to get it to turn!  Seriously it felt like the pick or the screw was going to snap…Every placement was like changing a tire LOL. I’m glad i experienced it but I’m equally glad I missed that era. And the 65 decible sqeaking sound the screws made in super cold conditions? LOL

Kicking it old school: strap-on rigid Chouinard 'poons, alpine axe.

Thanks Kai. That was a great watch. I owned and climbed on so many of those Grivel products. Still have some of them hanging in my gear room. Anyone need old Grivel Evolution picks?

That Grivel video is great. Of course it is from one brand perspective. 

I started climbing ice season 81/82. By the next year i had made a socket for first gen Chouinard screws from a spark plug socket. Saw it in a mag. Some folks felt it was cheating. Those screws did work and a good climber could protect a hard route without going direct on a tool. Chouinard eventually marketed a lightweight ratchet purpose built for the screw. I used them well into the 90s due to low budget/luddite tendancies. Turbo express screws were such a game change though. Huge difference on the time it took to get a good placement. I knew some guys who could place snargs on steep ice, but I always felt the pounding took much more effort than cranking the ratchet.