I've been climbing ice for about 8 years (on and off) but have only begun to leader harder climbs in the past 3 years. I can currently lead 4s. My problem is: while I'm placing pro, the arm/hand I'm hanging from gets extremely pumped even though I fully hang from the wring loop. There just doesn't seem to be any blood up there.

Once the piece is in, I occasionally am forced to hang from it to allow blood to return to my (usually left) arm. Only after some sort of a rest does my arm recover to the point where I can swing straight again. The problem is compounded because on climbs harder than a 3, I can only place pro well with my right hand, leading to perpetual pump in my left. I have tried lifting weights for general strength, but with little success. Any suggestions? Running it out more is not a good option given my pysche.

-- richard jack (richard.jack@umit.maine.edu), December 21, 1997

Answers

I don't ice climb but I do rock climb, and something that has seemed to work for my weak arms is this: I set up a long bar in my basement so that I can do wide grip chin ups ,they are quite hard at first but soon you will be able to do lots of them, greatly increasing the endurance/strength of your arms. This seems to have really helped my arms from getting pumped on rock climbs.I,v heard some sport climbers can do one arm pullups!

-- Brennan Henderson (brennan4564@hotmail.com), January 08, 1998.

Pull-ups, pull-ups, pull-ups, and climb a lot of ice.

BUT, you can also wear a daisy on your harness and clip it to your tool leash to hang while placing pro. All's fair in ice climbing, as long as you survive to the top. It may seem odd to hang all your weight from your tool, but aren't you doing that anyway everytime you make a placement? Good luck!

-- Steve Waydo (waydo@u.washington.edu), January 09, 1998.

i would suggest a lot of bouldering. i'm no great ice climber, but because i boulder often, i've never had much of a problem with getting too pumped out on ice. the problem with pull ups and other similar exercises is that they work you biceps and not your forearms. your swing control in ice climbing is dependent on forearm strength. bouldering is the best way to strengthen your forearms.

-- Ryan (biff561@hotmail.com), January 29, 1998.

Thanks for your comments, but I think I solved my ice pump problem. For ~6 years I have used a pair of Grivel 2F crampons. These have horizontal front points and aggressive secondary points (that is they point forward at about a 50 deg. angle). Once I started climbing harder water ice, I never improved my footwork to keep up. Santa brought me a new pair of C-Moser grade 8 crampons which allow me to place my feet better and more importantly, the secondary points don't serve as a hinge point and loosen the front points if my heel shifts slightly. With less weight on my arms, and an overall "quieter" presence forearm exhaustion is much less of a problem.

-- Richard Jack (richard.jack@umit.maine.edu), January 29, 1998.