Training on block retaining wall

I am trying to get comfortable with my tools off the ground before my first season of ice, and was curious if climbing around something like this is benificial enough to warrant the wear it produces on my picks before the season even starts...

I have already been doing pull ups with my tools as well as dead hangs, and before anybody says it, I know... I'm gonna die!

You're in Alabama....Any training is good training. Don't give the picks a second thought. Soon, you'll be tuning them like a pro.

Keep your eyes out for steeper walls though.

buy a set of worn-out picks and use those for training. Save the good ones for ice season. I'll bet if you post a "wanted" ad in the Sale forum, someone will have a set for cheap.

Thanks Mark and Kathy. Any other training tips to work on before the season starts? I am only assuming that dry tooling is decent training for actual ice climbing...

Oh, and I am actually in Bulgaria this winter, for those wondering where I was going to find ice in Alabama.

Thanks!

DA

I just looked up ice climbing in Bulgaria and it looks sweet!

Any cardio will help. Your calves will be screaming after a couple days ice climbing so running seems to help strengthen them.

Have fun out there.. Looks freakin awesome!

Daniel - Check out Will Gadd's site. Lots of great info there. One exercise of his in particular I have found useful are the one-handed axe squats. No, not something you do in the bathroom, but easy to do nearly anywhere, nonetheless.

Find a wall or feature that you can place an axe tip at about shoulder height. Put your feet as far forward as possible - If you can be on toes (simulate front-pointing) even better....then do sets of squats and raises, locking off on the arm and reaching up as if to place the other axe higher. At first you'd think this can't be much of a workout, but try it. Several sets alternating arms can smoke you quickly.

Have fun in Bulgaria!

Bolt a 2x4 to a wall just above your head and pound nails into it.
Calf raises.
Pull ups.
Hike around with a heavy pack and boots.
Take a cold shower and have a friend lob ice cubes at you. ;^P

If you do the 2x4 thing that Kathy suggests, put one on the floor for your toes, Then do all the exercises described, add a pack with weights, then when you're good and smoked, hang there and fumble for a screw off your rack, "place" it (I've made fake ones that screw into the t-nuts on a woody) then clip it with a draw and clip rope to it (just need about 10' of old rope to hang off harness), then smoke another set.

Then smash your fingers with a hammer, bash your head into a door, yank out your toenails with a pliers, and knock a tooth loose with your axe....Drink until you pass out, throw-up, or both... have a buddy kick you in balls at 3 am to wake you up while he pisses on you, then go drive for about 400 miles spilling hot coffee in your crotch while throwing fistfuls of $20's out the car window.... then repeat. You are now a fit and seasoned ice climber.

Mark, you are obviously a seasoned ice veteran because you NAILED it. I've experienced all of these things. And yet I return for more abuse each season????

http://vimeo.com/75209674

Captain America wrote:Mark, you are obviously a seasoned ice veteran because you NAILED it. I've experienced all of these things. And yet I return for more abuse each season???? vimeo.com/75209674

oh by the way one of my favorite guide books is Southern fried Ice
An ice climbers guide to the deep south and raids into yankkee territory,by Michalel Crowder
Things one will do when found in GA for a ice season!

Hey Capn. America - if that's your video I have just one question: did it ever occur to you that your belayer was not in a safe spot vis-a-vis avalanche danger? That's some heavy spindrift; where would an acre of windslab have landed?

Mark Pilate wrote:If you do the 2x4 thing that Kathy suggests, put one on the floor for your toes, Then do all the exercises described, add a pack with weights, then when you're good and smoked, hang there and fumble for a screw off your rack, "place" it (I've made fake ones that screw into the t-nuts on a woody) then clip it with a draw and clip rope to it (just need about 10' of old rope to hang off harness), then smoke another set. Then smash your fingers with a hammer, bash your head into a door, yank out your toenails with a pliers, and knock a tooth loose with your axe....Drink until you pass out, throw-up, or both... have a buddy kick you in balls at 3 am to wake you up while he pisses on you, then go drive for about 400 miles spilling hot coffee in your crotch while throwing fistfuls of $20's out the car window.... then repeat. You are now a fit and seasoned ice climber.

I used to train on a 200' long 25' high rock retaining wall near my house in DC that was slowly losing its battle against the upslope so it was very slightly overhanging. I thought it was the best training for ice climbing ever.