Many rock climbers make the transition to ice climbing eventually, but they may not be aware of the dangers that come with the new sport. I created the following guide to highlight so of them.

So, is ice climbing more dangerous than rock climbing? Yes, Ice climbing is the more dangerous of the two sports. It shares many of the dangers of rock climbing while possessing a few that are unique.

 Ice climbing is more dangerous than rock climbing for three main reasons (which we’ll get into in more detail later): the increased fall danger, the quality of available protection, and the conditions in which the sport are practiced. These three factors mean that ice climbing presents unique hazards that even experienced rock climbers might not be equipped to deal with. Of course, rock climbing is still a dangerous sport in its own right, and it needs to be taken seriously.

Ice Climbing vs Rock Climbing

To understand why ice climbing is more dangerous, it’s important to analyze the hazards that are present in each and understand how they stack up against each other. To do that, I’ve listed some common hazards from each sport below.

The Dangers of Ice Climbing

Some of the main dangers of ice climbing include:

• The risk of falling
• The quality of protection available
• Avalanche and icefall danger
• The conditions surrounding you

Let’s look at these in more detail!

Falling

I’ve written about it several times now, and I can’t say enough: falling while ice climbing is something that should be avoided at all costs.

This is perhaps one of the starkest differences between this sport and rock climbing. When rock climbing, you can fall multiple times per route with little to no consequences. If you search up a video of a professional climber working on their project, you’ll see them take tens, if not hundreds of falls, with little to no consequences.

In ice climbing, however, this is not the case. Because of how wrong an ice climbing fall can go, you need to be sure that you never fall while leading on ice. This inherently makes the sport more dangerous, because any one mistake could lead to a slew of injuries like broken bones and torn cartilages.

Protection

This goes hand-in-hand with the falling part mentioned above. Not only can falls lead to serious bodily injuries, but there’s also the chance that your protection won’t be as solid as you planned.

When rock climbing, the vast majority of people are protected by ‘bolts’, or metal hooks that are drilled/glued into the wall. These bolts are often placed by experts, and are rated to hold a lot more force than you’re going to cause in a fall.

If you’re ice climbing, though, the only protection you have is ‘screws’ that you twist into the ice and clip your rope through. These screws are only ass good as the ice holding them, and ice has a habit of breaking/shearing when placed under stress.

So, not only should you not fall when ice climbing — but when you do fall, there’s less chance that you’ll be caught by your protection.

Avalanche and Icefall

One of the most common causes of injuries for ice climbers is the risk of something falling down from above you and either injuring you or pulling you off the wall from the impact. When thinking about this, there are two major suspects:

• Avalanches, which are caused by large slopes of snow coming loose. These can funnel down the area in which you’re ice climbing (say, a frozen waterfall) and hit you with enough for to either kill you, bury you, or pull you off the wall. For more information, read my article on avalanche risk here
• Icefall, which is when a block of ice comes loose above you and tumbles down the route. This is essentially like having a boulder thrown at you while you’re trying to climb; if it hits you it can break a bone, concuss you or, or cause a fall.

Neither of these components are a major concern for rock climbers (although they do need to contend with rockfall, which we’ll talk about later.

Conditions

Finally, and most importantly, ice climbing is dangerous because of the conditions it takes places in. You’re outdoors in the middle of winter, faced with freezing temperatures and often in an environment where the weather can change rapidly, bringing in storms or cold fronts. You’ll have to contend with frozen digits (which makes climbing more difficult), changing temperatures (meaning you have to carry lots of clothes) and uncertain conditions (which can influence how strong the ice is).

All in all, there are simply more variables to consider when you’re ice climbing. You need to juggle route difficulty, weather, temperature, ice condition, and avalanche risk, all while trying your hardest not to fall.

The Dangers of Rock Climbing

Now, with all of that said, there are still a lot of dangers surrounding rock climbing. These include:

• Rockfall
• Fall Danger
• Protection

Rockfall

Just like ice climbers, rock climbers also need to contend with danger from above. Except for avalanches and ice, though, they need to deal with the danger of sections of the cliff coming loose and falling on them.

Rockfall is perhaps one of the most significant dangers you face when climbing outdoors. Because of wear and tear, changing conditions, and everyday erosion, rocks can come loose from where they’re attached and fall at you when you’re on route. This can cause serious head injuries or broken bones if they make impact.

Additionally, you need to worry about your belayer. If the person who’s tasked with catching you in the event of a fall is suddenly knocked unconscious, there’s very little chance that you’ll be able to make it off the wall unscathed.

Fall Danger

Now, I know that I said you fall lots of times while rock climbing, and I’m going to stand by that statement. However, there is something to be said about learning to fall right, and if you mess this up, you can still injure yourself.

The most common issue to concern yourself with leading on rock is your foot placement in relation to the rope. You want to make sure that your leg is never between the wall and your rope. If this happens, the rope will tilt you backwards as you fall, and you’ll be sent spinning. This can cause you to slam into the fall with a lot of force, leading to some serious head injuries.

For a visual on how this happens, check out the 1:30 mark of this video:

Protection

Finally, although it’s not as big of a concern as it is when ice climbing, rock climbers also need to be concerned with their protection. Ironically, the issue that rock climbers face is almost the opposite of the one that ice climbers do.

As I talked about earlier, the issue ice climbing is that you’re responsible for your own gear placements. This means there’s a chance that you’ll make a mistake — but it also gives you the opportunity to asses each placement.

When rock climbing, you’re trusting whoever put the bolt in with your life. It could be a poor-quality bolt, drilled into bad rock, or rusted beyond repair, but you won’t know until you take a fall on it.

Really, the only way to mitigate this is to rock climb in an area that has a reputable organization, like TABVAR or the RRGCC, who maintains routes and sets standards for bolt placements. Short of that, you’re essentially climbing on faith.

Why Ice Climbing is More Dangerous?

So, we’ve now been over the main dangers of each sport, and we can begin to understand why ice climbing is more dangerous than rock climbing is. Essentially, it boils down to three main factors:

• There are more factors to consider: As I said, ice climbing happens in an extremely dynamic environment, with lots of different elements coming together to determine whether or not it’s safe to climb on any given day. These elements can also change throughout the day, requiring on-the-spot decision making. That means that ice climbers constantly need to be reassessing their safety.
• The environment is harsher: Aside from there being more things to consider, ice climbing just takes place in harsher conditions than rock climbing does. It’s so cold that there’s a very real chance you’ll contract hypothermia or frost bite if you don’t dress properly. You also need to contend with the ever-present danger of avalanches — not just on the climb, but also on the approach and descent.
• There’s less margin for error: Although rock climbers need to contend with the consequences of their falls and the trustworthiness of their protection, these dangers pale in comparison to those in ice climbing. In ice climbing, you can’t fall without risking serious bodily harm. That means that every time you leave the house with your gear, you have the potential to experience a life-changing injury.