The international Ice Climbing Ecrins meeting which was held from the 15th to the 18th January 2015 at L’Argentière-La Bessée met with an enormous success, looking at the number of inscriptions for the event: 300 in total and 87 people on independant climbing parties, making that 430 workshop inscriptions for the 3 days!
The climbers came from all over France, in groups of friends or through their climbing associations, but also from the world over as 17 nationalities were present : Greeks, Chilians, Russians, New-Zealanders, Italians, Spanish, British, Austrians, etc.
A short roundup of this crazy week-end where animations and ice climbing, ski touring and snowshoe trekking workshops followed on from each other !
Ice Climbing Ecrins 2015 di tlcprod
What made the Ice Climbing Ecrins such a special event?
It’s the only event in Europe which brings together at the same time the best climbers of the moment around a dry-tooling competition and which offers to a public of beginners – more and more of them – the possibility to discover the activity with technical accompaniment, transport and to hire equipment at the lowest cost. Education and knowledge exchanges are the priorities of the Ice Climbing Ecrins thanks to the 35 mountain guides present during the festival ! And not forgetting the festive side with every evening some films presentation, concerts and shows.
The Ice Climbing Ecrins for beginners!
Why take the decisive step towards the ice? Perhaps because a friend or a friend of a friend told him or her that the activity was easy and magical, and that during the Ice Climbing Ecrins one might discover the ice universe in all security and pick up progression technics.
On the practical side, different sorts of workshops were proposed this year. The ladies preferred: the Black Diamond workshop, reserved for them and guided by women mountain guides! La Sportiva proposed to show how to progress with crampons. CAMP proposed individual training, and BEAL climbing in the lead and placing relays. Petzl showed demonstrations of ice resistance, and two new workshops were proposed in 2015: ski touring and snowshoe trekking workshops.
And as usual : avalanche victim search, nivology, alpine climbing preparation…
Briefly, no question of being bored during this 25th edition!
It was above all the dry-tooling International Open with lots of prizes and prize money for the three winners which held the attention of the best Ice Climbers. The competition was held at the Toit des Chèvres, a top spot for this activity in the Hautes Alpes, with an incredible show in a very wintery ambiance, under the snowflakes!
On the ladies’ side, Stéphanie Maureau (Adidas athlete), very much on form, got to the highest step of the podium using ‘yaniros’ and high-level climbing technics, followed by Charlotte Barré and Sylvie Drouillat. It was Pierre Alexandre Keller called ‘Pack’ (Salewa athlete) who won the men’s competition, closely followed by Yann Gérôme and Jeff Mercier…
Once more, the club Team Ecrins Hautes Alpes and the organiser of the Ice Climbing Ecrins, Cathy Jolibert, can be proud of having set up a meeting of such high standards, gathering together mountain professionals, occasional climbers, well known Ice Climbers, writers, photographers and artists from the world over.
Don’t forget: before, it’s too early! After, it’s too late! See you next year !!!
INFO: Ice Climbing Ecrins
