Ice-Climbing Arena for Ice Fans

The 12th Annual Ice Climbing Festival will take place January 7-9, 2011 at the Gemmi Lodge in Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland. To kick off the Ice Climbing season, the international ice climbing scene convenes on this weekend for an open competition, workshops with world class alpinists, interesting slide-shows and lots of good climbing on the many ice routes around Kandersteg.

The frozen crag at the Ice-climbing arena worked out perfectly last year for the Contest and the Workshops. The highlight of the weekend is certainly the ice climbing competition with international high-level alpinists from all over Europe attending, just like all the previous years. The qualification routes are graded so that everyone can participate. On Sunday, top-climbers from the World Cup scene offer workshops for both beginners and experienced climbers. The proper equipment supplied by the event sponsors will be on-site for use.

The guest speakers on Friday evening will be the Anthamatten Brothers from Zermatt. Simon and Samuel are both world-class alpinists and will present their slide-show 'Small Climbers- Big Mountains'.

On Saturday evening, Nico Favresse will rock the stage with his mandolin, photos and film footage for his show 'Big Wall Jamming'! With over 500 expected ice climbers, spectators and visitors; the Kandersteg Ice Climbing Festival is the largest international ice climbing event in the Alps. The sponsors are Arc'teryx, Black Diamond, La Sportiva, Julbo, Bächli Bergsport, Kandersteg Tourism, Kandertal Tourism, Town of Kandersteg, as well as 'Vertical' and 'Klettern' magazines.

For further information about the location, event schedule and registration for the Workshops, go to . www.ready2climb.com