How to Place an Ice Climbing Screw: Assessing Ice and Appropriate Technique

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Some of you know that I used to be a professional golfer, tying (and only marginally succeeding) at playing tournaments for a living. Never wanting to take myself too seriously, I always found a deep irony in the game. You are trying to get the lowest score possible, right? So, wouldn’t ‘not playing’ be the most effective way to do that?

Of course, that’s absurd. The point, after all, is to do something that is really hard and try to seek improvement.

But the stakes are different when we talk about climbing. The most effective way to eliminate the risks that are inherent in climbing would be to not climb at all. Absurd, again? Well, maybe not absurd when we are comparing a frustrating day on the golf course versus potential loss of life.

And the stakes only get higher for ice climbing. Ice is a difficult medium because it changes so dynamically. Then, we add in the fact that we are carrying serrated weapons in our hands, waving them over our heads, while wearing spikes on our feet, and it can get bad in a hurry during a fall. Maybe that serrated tool above your head hits you? Maybe the spike on your feet grabs the ice as you fall, causing you to blow out your ankle as you whisk by your stuck foot. The point is, in comparison to sport climbing on rock, the likelihood of injury is just much, much higher during a lead fall.

And all of that still hold true even if your ice screws stay solid in the ice.

My point isn’t that ice climbing is crazy or that climbing, in general, is not worth doing. My point is that the best we can do with the risks of climbing are to mitigate them. The only way to eliminate the risks would be to not go in the first place.

When we get into the higher probability (of bad outcomes) environments of ice, we need to be very dialed in on our physical techniques, mental approaches, and - yes - the knowledge necessary to place climbing protection well in that ethereal medium. So, that’s what this video is about: how to we place solid screws to - not eliminate risk but - reduce risk.