Ice climbing is a great sport, but it can be difficult to get into. I’ve written the following guide to tell you everything you need to know about starting ice climbing.

So, how do you start ice climbing? The first time you ice climb, it’s essential to go with someone who knows the sport well. They can help you establish routes, give you pointers on your technique, and provide a belay. You should also look at renting gear the first few times to save money.

The easiest and safest way to get into ice climbing is to go with either a more experienced group or a guided lesson who can help show you the ropes. Ice climbing is a complicated, difficult sport, and having someone who knows what they’re doing is essential. Once that’s sorted, you need to figure out the proper gear and equipment to allow you to ice climb. Finally, there are certain techniques and methods that you can teach yourself beforehand to allow you to learn ice climbing more quickly. All of this is covered in greater detail in the guide below.

How To Start Ice Climbing

So, how do you actually start ice climbing?

In real terms, the only way to really get into ice climbing is to go out there and start doing it. It isn’t a sport where you can progress from a controlled environment first. For example, if someone wanted to learn to rock climb, I would probably recommend that they start of bouldering, and then climbing indoors, and then finally outdoor climbing once they have enough experience and strength.

With ice climbing, you don’t really have this luxury. Indoor ice climbing gyms are extremely rare, and there’s really no way you can substitute the type of movements you’ll need to perform on the ice.

Because of that, the best (and only) way to start is to go outdoors and start climbing some ice. Ice climbing is adventurous at its core, and you need to be prepared to take a few leaps if you want to try it out.

Now, obviously, you need to still do this in a semi-controlled environment, and you need to take the proper steps to ensure your safety. Ice climbing is also incredibly dangerous and difficult, so you need to ensure that you’re going with someone who’s good enough to keep you safe and teach you what you need to know. There are two main methods of doing that:

Guided Lessons

Guided lessons are probably the best way for anyone to learn how to ice climb. The first time I ever went, it was with a guided group who helped show me what the sport was all about.

Guided lessons are often focused on teaching you the basics of ice climbing, which a preference towards real-world experience. You’ll usually have an indoor briefing session that lasts anywhere from 1-3 hours, before your group drives out to the mountains and you begin climbing. The guides will set routes, help you with your gear, and provide feedback on what you need to be doing better.

The pros list of doing a guided tour is almost endless, but a few of the main benefits include:

Expert advice: You should always make sure that you’re going with a legitimate guiding company, who will have trained and certified instructors. This both increases your safety and means you’ll have highly qualified people giving you advice on your technique.
The gear’s included: Most companies will lend you gear when you purchase an ice climbing lesson from them. This will include your axes, crampons, boots, and helmet, and maybe even a harness and belay device. This can save you both money and the pain of trying to rent your own gear.
You’re going with a bigger group: Usually, lessons will have anywhere from 8 to 12 people in them. This allows your group to get established on certain routes and claim them on top rope, meaning you won’t need to wait around as much for other climbers.
You’ll be safer: This comes back to the expert advice category. Having 2-3 fully certified guides around the make all of the important decisions increases your margin of safety. Additionally, you’ll know that all the ropes and anchors are high quality.
Low commitment: With a guided lesson, you don’t need to purchase any gear or take any massive risks. You can sample ice climbing while still having the option to back out if you think the sport isn’t for you.

Now, the downside of a guided lessons is that they tend to be more expensive. A full day will cost anywhere from $100 to $300, which is a decent amount of money, especially if you start taking multiple lessons.

The issue with ice climbing is that you need a ton of experience before you can go on your own. Most people won’t be able (or willing) to purchase 30 lessons so they can become good enough at ice climbing to start going by themselves.

Find a Friend

There’s a long tradition in alpinism around finding someone more experienced than you and making them your mentor. This learning style, while maybe not as good as taking a guided lesson, can still get you the experience you need.

If I had to guess, I would say that most people (including myself) go this route when learning to ice climb. I still took a guided lesson my first time going; however, after that, I stopped paying the company and started convincing my more experienced friends to let me tag along when they went ice climbing.

This is maybe less safe than going with a certified guide, but as long as your friend knows what they’re doing, it should be perfectly fine. You’ll need to worry about bringing your own gear (which we’ll get into later), but other than that, this is probably the best way for you to get the experience required to go from a beginner to a proficient ice climber.

Some of the advantages of this method include:

It’s cheaper: Not having to pay for expert guides means that you’ll be saving a lot of money. Personally, I make sure to always buy my friend coffee in exchange for him letting me tag along, but that’s a lot cheaper than paying for a whole lesson.
You’ll get more laps in: Going with a smaller group means that you’ll probably be climbing more, because the group will be way smaller. Climbing is the only way to really hone your technique, so this should allow you to get better.
You’ll have more hands-on experience: Getting away from the guided tour means that you’ll be in a less controlled environment. While this can be scary, it also means that you’ll get to see decisions happening in real time, under adverse conditions. Watching this happen firsthand allows you to build the knowledge and experience needed to be able to make your own decisions.

If you’re serious about ice climbing, I would recommend trying to find someone who you can tag along with to gain some experience. Online forums and Facebook groups are a great way to find some people. Hanging out at climbing gyms is another excellent way to meet people who will be willing to get you into the sport.

Practicing on your own

Now, before I go too much into this method, I need to give a quick disclaimer: you can’t teach yourself how to ice climb. There’s no way that you’ll be able to learn all of the techniques, skills, and decision-making criteria needed to make yourself a competent ice climber. I don’t care how many blogs you read or YouTube videos you watch.

With that being said, though, there are some ways that you can practice by yourself. I would recommend this method to anyone who doesn’t have a means of going regularly with a more experienced group. If you can only get out once or twice a season but still want a way to improve your technique, this is the way to do it.

So, what does this look like I real terms? There’s really only one way to safely practice ice climbing solo: find a sheet of ice, climb so you’re about 3 feet off the ground, and begin traversing sideways.

Doing so will teach your body how to move on ice, and it will get you used to the feeling of not being secured on top rope. You can also move up and down a step or two, but make sure to not get too high off the ground.

Now, this won’t teach you anything about ice screws, belaying, judging ice, avalanche danger, or the other million things you need to know to be able to safely ice climb. What it will do, however, is teach you the proper technique to climb, which will allow you to tackle more challenging routes when you do have the opportunity to go with more experience people.

This method on its own can’t replace the above two options, but if you’re serious about getting into ice climbing, it can certainly act as a good supplement to your learning.

What Gear You Need

Now that we’ve talked about how you can get into the sport, let’s move on to what gear you need to go ice climbing. So, what gear to you need to go ice climbing? You’ll need the following:

Mountaineering boots: To fit your crampons and give you purchase on the ice, you need a proper pair of mountaineering boots (ski boots will also work, but they’re less common).
Crampons: Spikes you put on your feet that help you kick into the ice. Ice climbing is essentially impossible without a pair of crampons.
Ice axes: Similar to crampons, these help you hold on and actually perform the climb. You need two of them to be able to ice climb.
A rope: This is something that many rock climbers will already have, although it may not be a proper ice climbing rope.
Ice screws: You’ll need 5-6 screws if you want to be able to climb at most crags. Unfortunately, these are hard to rent.
A helmet: Helmets are essential for ice climbing. Any climbing/scrambling helmet will work just fine. Avoid using a bike/hockey helmet, as it’s not rated for the type of impact that you need it to withstand.
A harness and belay device: To hold you in place and allow you to belay your partner. Again, most rock climbers will own a pair.

Now, fortunately, most of this gear can be rented for about $40 per day, do you don’t need to go out and buy it all. As I said, if you go with a lesson, they’ll usually include the gear. If you go with a more experienced friend, they’ll have a few pieces (such as ice screws and rope).

If you’re unsure about what gear you need to bring or how to rent it, ask! Talk to your friend or the guiding company you’re going with and see what they say. Staff at outdoor stores like REI or MEC are also fairly knowledgeable, and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Clothing

In addition to all of your gear, you also need to bring the proper clothing to keep you warm and protected when you’re climbing. I could recommend having:

Snow pants: A pair of waterproof (or at least water resistant) snow pants are essential to go ice climbing. Any old pair of ski pants will work. If you’re really in a pinch, find a pair of nylon rain pants and put them over some sweats to provide insulation.
A warm jacket: When I saw warm, I don’t mean ‘heavy fleece’ warm. I mean ‘I’m going to be standing around for 30 minutes in -20 weather’ warm. That’s the type of warmth you want to bring wit you ice climbing. Most ski jackets will perform perfectly well. If you don’t have one and you don’t want to spend a bunch of money, consider checking out your local Goodwill! They sometimes have older (but still functional) jackets for really great prices.
A lighter ‘active’ layer: This is for when you actually need to start climbing. If you wear your super heavy jacket, you’ll sweat, which can make you wet and actually lower your body temperature. This layer can be a medium-weight fleece, a light jacket, or any kind of active mid layer.
Other sweaters: I would say have 2-3 layers under your warm jacket to keep you cozy and allow you to swap them throughout the day.
Gloves: A good pair of gloves is essential for ice climbing. Nothing sucks more than cold hands, and it can actually impact your ability to climb. A handy system to use is to bring one pair of light gloves to climb in, and a warmer pair of gloves/mitts to wear when you’re belaying (pro tip: leave a handwarmer inside your heavier glove when you go climbing so it’s nice and toasty when you put it on again).

Now, it’s possible to spend a lot of money without really meaning to when you start buying ice climbing clothes. Companies like The North Face, Patagonia, and Arc’teryx charge insane prices for high-quality gear. These pieces of clothing can make your ice climb more enjoyable, but they’re by no means essential.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t buy this stuff. If you have the money and you want the clothing, go for it! I’m just saying that you shouldn’t worry that you won’t be able to go ice climbing because you’re not decked out in the latest R2 Stormtech jacket.

Learn the Basics

Once you have all of your gear sorted and a plan to go ice climbing — whether it’s a guided lesson or a day out with some friends — there are some things you can learn to prepare yourself beforehand.

Belaying

Knowing to belay is an essential skill for ice climbing (also, if you’re going with a more experience group who’s taking time to set up top rope routes for you, a good way to repay them is to be belay bitch for the day). You should be familiar with both top rope and lead techniques.

I’m not going to teach you how to belay here, because I would need an entire article to do that. What I can do, though, is share with you a couple of videos on the subject:

And one for lead belaying:

(Note: just because you’ve watched these videos does not mean you’re qualified to belay. Have one of your more experienced friends, or an instructor, observe you before you’re trusted with anyone’s life)

For those who are familiar with a gri-gri, I would recommend leaving it at home when you go ice climbing. The internal mechanism can get mucked up when there’s ice on the rope, and it’s liable to get jammed. Stick with an ATC or similar device for this one.

Technique

Again, you won’t really know the technique until you get on the wall, but there are a few things you can familiarize yourself with to make your climbing better. First is the different types of footwork:

Front pointing (German Technique): This is a method where you keep your foot facing forwards, toes pointed at the ice, and kick your way in with the foremost spikes on your boots. It’s good for vertical surfaces, but can get tiring and make your toes hurt.
French Technique: In layman’s terms, this is just called ‘walking flat footed’. It engages the lower point crampons on your crampons. Doing so provides a break for your calves and can provide more stability on ledges.
American (hybrid) Technique: A modified method for moving on steep ice. You front kick with your front foot, while doing a French technique with your back foot. This keeps you stable and requires less energy.

For most of the vertical ice you’ll be climbing, front-pointing is going to be the technique you want to use. The other two can be useful on the approach, but I wouldn’t recommend trying them out mid-route. The one exception to this rule would be if you reach a flat section where you can stand normally to give your calves a rest.

Body Position

Proper positioning for ice climbing involves keeping your hands close together and your legs wide apart. When you’re standing up, the shape of your body should form an A, with your legs spread out and the tips of your axes nearly touching.

When it’s time to move up the ice, you want to drop your weight onto straight arms, bring your knees up, and kick into the ice. Bring both feet high until you’re in a crouched position:

Once that’s done, straighten your knees, stand up, and find a new placement for your axes.

Ice climbing is a footwork-heavy sport. A good rule of thumb is that you should move your feet three times for every one time you move your ice axes. This can be a little bit tricky to nail down as a beginner, but keeping this ratio in mind will help hone your skill and prevent you from over-relying on your axes.

Swinging

Finally, let’s talk about your swing. The goal of ice climbing is to swing the axes as high as possible. To do so, stand up tall and extend your shoulder upwards, rotating your body a bit to add some length.

Then, draw back at the elbow about thirty degrees and swing forwards. The remained of the motion comes from your wrist, which you should cock back as you’re swinging. Right before the axe makes contact with the ice, ‘flick’ your wrist forwards quickly.

This will drive the ice axe into the ice. The idea is to perform a quick and precise ‘snapping’ motion, not to take massive overhand swings.

Do You Need to Train?

This is a common question among people who are looking at getting into ice climbing. Ice climbing is a physically demanding sport, and you definitely need to practice if you want to be good at it.

For your first time, though, I wouldn’t advocate for doing a whole lot of training. It’s better to test out the sport first and see if you like it before you embark on a regiment.

However, with that being said, there are a few criteria you should meet before you’re ready to go:

You should be able to walk for at least an hour with a 20-pound pack, up moderately steep hills. This is sometimes required to get you to the ice climb.
You should be able to hang off of a large ledge by just your hands
You need to have enough mobility to be able to perform a deep squat without too much difficulty.

None of those tests are too difficult, but they’re good indicators for the types of muscles you’ll be using when you ice climb.

However, if you go the first time and decide that you love it, training can be a great way to improve your ice climbing skill. I would recommend three main exercises:

Dead hangs, to build your forearm strength
Calf raises, so that your legs don’t get as burnt out when you’re climbing
Crunches or leg raises, so your legs get used to the motion of lifting up into a kicking position.

A Word on Leading

Finally, before I wrap up the guide, I want to say a quick word on lead climbing.

Actually, I want to say three words: curb your enthusiasm.

Seriously, you need to be careful about when you make the jump from top roping to leading. The second time I ever went ice climbing, I knew nothing about the sport and figured I was ready to try leading. A few hours (and three Will Gadd blog posts) later, and I had found the truth about it: ice climbing in lead is insanely dangerous.

Ice climbing is a sport in which falling needs to be avoided at all costs. Because of this, you should avoid leading until you’re positive that you’re good enough to do a route cleanly. To build up this type of skill and confidence takes hours and hours of ice climbing.

Now, when I say hours of ice climbing, I don’t mean ‘oh, I went climbing over the weekend and was outside for eight hours’. I mean that you actually need to be on the ice, dangling from your axes and feeling how your body moves, for hours on end before you have enough skill to lead a route.

Will Gadd, one of the best in the world, recommends that you get 150 laps in before you even think about leading on ice. That’s a lot of ice climbing, but when you consider the consequences of a fall, it suddenly doesn’t seem like that much.

How To Start Ice Climbing: A Beginners Guide