I myself am also not a very experienced ice climber, so i cant say much, but at least something:

At least medium level ice climbing is not too dificult, if you are coming from rock climbing. What you should learn/ practice is how to place safe screws, how to set up a belay, and how to do V-threads

Unlike sport climbing, falling (or even jumping) is a big no in ice. Chances are quite good that your axes or crampons will catch on something on your way down, making for a very dangerous, or at least painfull fall.

Thats all i can think of.

qwert

to help with V-threads make a coat hanger V-thread tool (or buy one) and learn how to use it.

they're UBER strong when made properly.

basic tips:

1) for the love of your calves, trust your front pts and KEEP YOU'RE HEELS DOWN! you'll be tempted to raise them up- DON"T. you'll simply pump out faster w/o really adding any stability to your stance

2) don't over extend your swings. the higher you swing the less efficient they are, AND your keeping your hands that much higher than your heart --> COLD FINGERS. would you rather hammer a nail in front of your face or 2 feet above your head? same idea here

3) like everything worth while in life its mainly in the wrists! most of the "stick" will come from a wrist flick at the end and not so much due to a wicked hard swing

4) get the leashes adjusted so that they aren't putting stress on your wrists while swinging yet it only takes the slightest relaxation/extension of your grip to have the leashes take your weight

5) wear glasses and (especially in the beginning) don't really look at your axes. you'll be asking for trouble.

At least medium level ice climbing is not too dificult, if you are coming from rock climbing. What you should learn/ practice is how to place safe screws, how to set up a belay, and how to do V-threads

Unlike sport climbing, falling (or even jumping) is a big no in ice. Chances are quite good that your axes or crampons will catch on something on your way down, making for a very dangerous, or at least painfull fall.

Thats all i can think of.

qwert

HAving a V-thread tool with you belongs to the learning it thing, imho.
But now that we are at it, one bent out of an old bicylce spoke works perfect. Hard but flexible, and easy to sharpen. Just put some tape on the tip to protect yourself from it.

And second the many gloves thing. At least two pairs: a thin and grippy one for climbing, and a thick one for belaying. Maybe even mittens. I always keep the pair that is not in use under my top jacket. They cant fall out of it, as long as my harness is sitting well.

qwert

i would definitely second the recommendation to buy the book; its an amazing resource to have around.

if you want to give it a quick preview though, google books has most of it available (at least most of the 1st couple of chapters, all you'll need in the beginning)

Will Gadd's Ice Technique

My Number One bit of advice: swing from a stable, balanced position. See the "triangle" position in Gadd's book (feet pretty wide, tool above your center of gravity). IME people fall when they don't get stable and therefore rush their swing(s) and hang on something inadequate.

If'n one were brand spanking new to ice, I'd expand that a bit to "Make every placement from a stable position."

That is, if you're going to swing a tool for a new placement, make sure your other tool and both feet are solid. If you're going to move a foot/crampon placement, make sure the other crampon and both tools are solid.

When I started climbing ice, I found that I moved much more slowly than I did on rock. To this day, my first couple days on ice, I still do.

Moving on ice is different than moving on rock. Take your time, be sure of things, and do it right.

Huh, and I was going going to sugest not to get all caught up in the triangle stance. Ice climbing is not rock climbing but you can take a lot of movement principals from rock and apply it to ice.

My sugestion: it takes a while to learn to move on ice. You're likely starting on toprope, so experiment and challange yourself. There are a lot of situations where you will never get three solid points of contact.

Agreed. The swing, swing, step, step triangular technique doesn't really work that well except on really smooth straight-forward ice. Plus it's really slow and forces you to make your tool placements close to each other.

I try to get very stable for placing screws but the movement between them can get quite funky.

Agreed. The swing, swing, step, step triangular technique doesn't really work that well except on really smooth straight-forward ice.

Plus it's really slow and forces you to make your tool placements close to each other.
Ska

Which is exactly what the OP asked about. And the triangle, done well, is more like "stepstepstep-swing, stepstepstep-swing".


Nonsense. It's the key to vertically staggered placements. Newbs move slow when they place axes close together AKA the X position. Going from triangle to triangle eliminates that and voila, they're moving more efficiently.

Agreed, for those with experience moving on ice. My understanding was that the OP was a first time/never has been on ice before ice climber. For that, my feeling is that it'd be more fun to actually MOVE up the ice, albeit slowly, than to flail/struggle by trying "faster" techniques.

If you get a chance to try it, climb leashless. It has many benefits, such as being able to shake your hands out, placing screws is simplified, and you can switch tools. I have found I don't overgrip leashless tools. Have fun! Ice is awesome.