Climbing Over Ice Bulges: How to Make These Risky Ice Climbing Moves Safely

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You are at the end of a tough, vertical ice pitch. Your hands are bighting due to them being above your head for so long, limiting the blood flow. One calf is cramping because of that awkward stance you took as you place an ice screw. You are panting just a bit. You are still in control, but aware that you are reaching your limit.

Then, you can see the ice above you start to lay back, angling away from you. It’s almost done. A few more moves and you’ll be moving off of the vertical ice and onto the flatter stuff. You’ll be able to put your heels down. You’ll be able to rest.

… but you are just about to work through what is often the most dangerous part of an ice climb. You need to go from vertical to flatter ice: what is called “pulling the ice bulge.”

As the video discusses, there are some things about the way ice flows form that make this section of ice likely to be weaker and prone to sheering off at far more frequency than anything you have climbed to this point of the route.

And as the video discusses, the physical shape the ice takes forces us to step outside of the routinized flow of our standard ice climbing technique and mechanics.

Just as we are starting to let ourselves think we are coming out of the natural danger that is an ice climb, the reality is that we need to focus in and get through this more risky moment.

Check out the video to understand more about why these transitions from vertical to flat are so challenging as well as how we can work to mitigate some of those risks.

Climbing is a strange game. We intentionally draw ourselves to just about as much risk as we can handle (hopefully without going over). We want enough to have a challenge but not so much that we don’t have the knowledge and skills to manage those risks. That’s why gaining knowledge and skills is such a powerful component of climbing. It’s not that we need those skills to save our own lives. That’s true, but that’s not what makes those acquisitions powerful. It would be easiest to just stay home. No, gaining knowledge and skills is powerful because it opens up terrain. The more we acquire, the more places we can go - the more experiences we can have - that are within the realm of managing a safe return.

That is an expression of freedom.