Ice Breaker Open, Ratings and Conditions & Prize Money

I've been getting a few questions about the Grivel North America Hyalite Ice Breaker on Saturday, December 1st. I'll try to fill you all in here as best I can but remember this is the first year and I'm making this up as I go so give me a break okay. There are a number of people looking for partners. I suggest those doing so post something here and hope for the best. I'm not really in a position to try and deal with pairing people up. And even if I was, I'm the last dude you want trying that. Nor do we want an odd number of people signing up. Although a "competition" this is being designed in the spirit of traditional alpine and ice climbing between two partners. It is not a spectator sport. It's not unlike the "Fabulous Mint 400" in that regard. That is, we'll see them start, we'll see them finish, we might see them as they make a lap through the parking lot but otherwise the rest of us will "be in the bar" with the aligators and polar bears. Ask me later about the reference if you need too. The Comp and the Ice Fest all take place in the Main Canyon only. So those of you climbers getting out your own, you can avoid the festival activities by climbing in the Flanders and East Fork Drainages for the weekend. Palisade Falls is one of the best single WI 3/4 pitches in the state while Rock & Hoar Picture Show, Slight of Hand and Horsetail Falls are some of the most underrated routes in all of Hyalite. Of course, everything in the Flanders drainage is worthwhile. Back in the main canyon there are also a handful of good pitches like Long Walk to Freedom, Monkey Ass Wall and Strong Persuader that are beyond the Dribbles area and will be a sure bet for avoiding crowds. After some back and forth, the Invite division of the comp takes place on Thursday the 29th. It was the only day we could do it since there are clinics on Friday, Saturday and Sunday that the various out of town athletes and many of the local guides will be teaching. I'm just starting to finalize the route scores which are based on a combination of difficulty, length, approach and other intangibles. I'm working on scores for most of the routes but then it'll have to be tweaked last minute based on conditions and what's formed or not. I'll post them soon after we go through them again and it seems baked enough. In the end there should be about 50 routes to chose from that will be separated into 4 main areas. You'll have to climb in at least two of the areas. In other words, you'll have to be efficient, pace yourself, hike up to hour between areas, make decisions on what routes to do and what routes not to do, watch the time, use your judgement, and so on. Sounds kinda like real climbing doesn't it? That is the entire point. We are designing this a positive, get stoked, high energy and burly event: HYALITE STYLE! I want people crawling back to the parking lot they are so wasted. Read through the "Official Rules" on the flyer that you can download from www.bozemanicefestival.com. Read them closely and most everything should make sense. There is a MANDATORY MEETING for all Open Competitors at Barrel Mountaineering, 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm on Friday, November 30th. And absolutely NOT going to fix draws on anything....

ChillDawg ? Thanks for the note and interest in our climbing community. The natural beauty of Hyalite, which we all share, is something to cherish. Very rare indeed. Yes ? the Chef Boy-Hardee is a good way to describe the old ratings. Keep in mind prior to the Vail Cave Routes pioneered by Jeff Lowe, mixed climbing was given a rock rating. For no other reason to give one an idea of the on sight level needed to keep one out of the hospital. The routes pioneered by Alex and brethern are traditional in nature ? before the advent of Sp(ort) Ice {Spice} Climbing took hold and bolts were accepted as part of the mix. We have to hand to JoJo for taking the initiative to get a comp organized. [b]Thanks[/b] for getting Grivel to pony up the prize money. Much as we don?t want it to be a ?competition?, having over $3000 on the barrel makes it competitive. My own 2 centavos would have been to have badass rodeo style buckles (replete with Grivel logos and a lariat design) and a couple of cases of Bozone beer. Money will fill our gas tanks, buy dinner for our dates and not much else. A full-on buckle ? now that?s bragging rights that will last a generation or two. Anyhow ? on to the comp. Given that this is a new type of competition ? half hiking and half climbing it has a unique feel to it ? one that we will have to be there to experience and evaluate afterwards. We are all climbers and safety is of primary importance hence dropping ice on each other probably won?t be much of an issue. Perhaps more of an debate is how do 10 eager teams sort who gets what pitch in a limited venue in what is turning out to be a thin year. Bottom line: we?ll have good fun on the routes, share the energy, communicate clearly and have a good day out climbing. So? being a local and having climbed a portion of the routes available to climbers I?m offering some insight as to how the routes could be scored. This is in no way the word of comp organizers, rather an invitation to discussion. Each route has the potential of scoring 15 points in total. Of the 15 points they are broken into the following categories: [b]Difficulty[/b]: maximum of 7 possible points [b]Approach[/b]: maximum of 5 possible points [b]Value[/b]: Maximum of 3 possible points Difficulty: obvious. Using the standard of Joe?s fine guide gook, [u]Winter Dance [/u]the more difficult a route is the higher it would score. Approach: The longer and wilder the approach, the higher the rating. Any approach over 1.5 hours involving scrambling would merit a five. Walking in the woods on an established trail would rank less. Value: The wild card. Given the transitory nature of ice and the dubious nature of Hyalite protection these points could be at the discretion of the judges. So with this in mind, lets look at a couple of scenarios: Route_____________D_____A____V______________ Winter Dance----- 7 whole climb----- 5 ----- 3 5 first two +2 for freeing the second Upper Mummy (IV)----6-------- 4-------- 3 Dribbles------- 4-------- 3 --------- 2 Above------- 6 both pitches ------- 4.5 ---------3 Twin Falls-----2------ 2.5-------1 Cleo?s ----- 4.5 ------- 2.5-------- 2 Elevator-------2 -------- 1.75 -------1 Fat One-------- 2------- 1.5-------- 1 Thrill is Gone------ 4 -------1.5------- 2 Bulldog World------5 no dogging ---- 1.5 ----- 2 Black Magic ------5 ------- 1.5-------3 Get It------6-------1.5--------3 Responsible-------4.5 ------- 4--------2.5 G 2------- 3 ------- 1-------- 1 (Apologies with the format - something got lost in translation.) With these standard climbs as benchmarks one can extrapolate ratings for climbs similar nature. My personal caveat: difficulty is the most important rating in the matrix. So ('8)')the most perfect score for a very fit team: Winter Dance all three pitches freeing the second 17 points Upper Mummy both pitches 13 points Climb Above Dribbles 13.5 points 43.5 total This would be, hands down, a burly day. For a more relaxed (':D')feel: G2 5 points Fat One 4.5 points Twin Falls 5.5 points 15 total These are just ideas ? the more we can help JoJo with the comp the easier his life will be and the better experience we will have. Speak up ? we can either moan or ?git western?. So any route with draws hanging is off limits for the comp? Good call. I?ll be out there on Saturday for the open comp. Should be a blast! Best, Conrad[list][/list:u]

Conrad, Thanks for the support. I've been working on a system not unlike what you are proposing. I'll have to look at your suggestions more closely and see how they fit in. I can use some help with the scoring system for sure. I have a tentative list of routes and scores finished and will be published in the Official Program. I think they are very close but some are definitely up for debate and I reserve the opportunity to change the scores last minute. This is based partially on not having them completely baked yet (this is more of a problem with the harder routes) since I needed to have something out there to put in the Program to hit the printing deadline. Secondly, I thought I'd tweak them some based on conditions next week. That is, some things might be a few grades harder (or easier) depending on what happens. It's the first year so I figure all reason is out the window until we see how it plays out. Also, there are some etiquette standards and other official rules that are designed to help keep things under control as best we can. The rules can be found on the flyer that posted at www.bozemanicefestival.com. They are also found in the Official Program that is available for download at www.firstascentpress.com (on the home page on the left). The main thing is for us all to be safe, have a wicked good time, share in the spirit of Hyalite and climbing with good friends and crawl back to the parking lot in exhaustion after climbing and hiking our tails off. Onward, JoJo

Right On! We're all for the fun! ~c

ATTENTION ALL CLIMBERS! After some discussion (and finally getting around to it after all the rest of everything I've been doing), it has been decided that up to [b]$1,000 Prize Money will be awarded in the OPEN DIVISION[/b] of the Grivel North America Ice Breaker on Saturday, December 1st. That's right, you can win your $20 entry fee back and then some. The final purse and number of cash prizes will be dictated on the number of team that compete. There are still a raft of additional prizes and gear to give out to all the contestants. So mark your calendar and find a partner and sign up at www.bozemanicefestival.com. Registration closes at 3:00 pm on Friday, November 30th. Remember, you MUST be registered to compete and be eligible for cash and prizes. [b] There is a mandatory meeting Friday night 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm at Barrel Mountaineering.[/b] Also, after some help from others with more experience in Hyalite than I, I have been working the scores a little bit and will update them next week... Or maybe you'll just have to wait until the meeting the day before. I'm working on making them as fair and reasonable as possible depending on various scenarios but either way they are pretty close as published in the Official Program (download from www.firstascentpress.com).

Hi and thank you for signing up for the inaugural Grivel NA Ice Breaker open division. After a bit of discussion with all of the parties involved in the Ice Breaker the organizers of the Bozeman Ice Festival have decided that this should be a free rather than a pay event from now on. So in the next few days I will refund your $20.00 unless you would like to donate it to the Khumbu Climbing School http://www.alexlowe.org/kcs.shtml in which case we will make a donation to them in your name. You still need to register or otherwise show up at Barrel Mountaineering on Friday November 30th by 6:00 pm. The decision was made to make this a free event to try to get more people involved in the future and because we all felt like we needed to have a free part of the festival, mostly for the college students who will not participate unless things are free. $20.00 does not go as far at the bar or in the car as it used to. There are various gear prizes for competitors and Grivel will still offer a cash prize for the winning team but the amount has not been nailed down yet. Thanks for your patience while we sort out the logistics and details of this new event. Bozeman Ice Festival Organizers