Extreme Sports.
structured.
Ice climbing is a crucial part of
any mountaineering activity or
training.
Ice climbing competitions are a
sport for a small group of
climbing specialists. But the big
difference of ice-climbing from
other "non mass sports" is, that
it is also very interesting for
spectators and media.
As a matter of fact, ice climbing is a fairly
new Competition Sport. The first known
ice climbing competition was organized in
Courmayeur on the Brenva glacier in 1912.
Ice climbing competitions started in Russia
(at that time the Soviet Union) and have
been held each winter since 1970.
There were three disciplines: difficulty,
speed and speed climbing of a longer route
(100+m) by roped groups where the
lead climber changed every 40m.
The competitions at Courchevel in France
were also famous. The main rule was
to climb as high as possible using
as few hits as possible, with the time limited
annaabi.ee 
