Athletes from the following countries – Canada, Czechia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United States as well as from host country, Finland – took part in the Continental Cup, organised by FINICE in partnership with the Climbing Club of Oulu.

On the line were the final Continental Cup medals of the season as well as the Continental titles.

Medal winners in the women’s event (l-r) Ilona Serrer, Aneta Louzecka, Weronika Wieczorek. Credit: Karim Pinter/FINICE

Women: A silver medal in Finland following a gold and two bronzes, granted France’s Ilona Serrer the Continental title. The 21-year is one the emerging talents on the circuit. Fittingly the gold medal went to Aneta Louzecka of Czechia. Louzecka, reigning world champion in speed, has featured in almost every world and continental level event this season. Across an impressive campaign she has won two World Cup silvers and two bronzes in speed as well as a Continental silver in difficulty (lead). This also guaranteed her second place in the Continental Tour ahead of World Tour champion Marianne van der Steen who did not compete in Oulu. There was also time for a new medallist, Weronika Wieczorek from Poland. The 24-year crowning her debut season on the circuit with a bronze.

Men: There was no surprise in the men’s competition. Like Louzecka, Spain’s Jorge Veiga Rodriguez, has been one of the most active climbers on the World Tour. A brilliant season for the 20-year has seen him take his first World Cup medals (two silvers and a gold) as well as dominate the Continental series. After starting the winter slowly, he has now claimed four straight Continental gold medals. Silver in Oulu went to another stellar talent in Liechtenstein’s Linus Beck. More notably a speed climber (two World Cup golds in 2026), this performance showed his versatility. An incredible season for Team Liechtenstein was sealed both with the bronze medal going to Samuel Eberle and the Gantner brothers, Andreas and Florian, finishing on the Continental podium.

Final Continental Season Rankings 
Women: (1) I Serrar (FRA) 348 points; (2) A Louzecka (CZE) 341 pts (3), M Van der Steen (NED), 317 pts;
Men: (1) JV Rodriguez (ESP), 431 points; (2) A Gantner (LIE), 268 pts; (3) F Gantner (LIE), 250 pts

France won the team ranking ahead of Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Details on the calendar for the 2026-2027 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour will be communicated in due course.

Further Resources

Results
Event programme
Registered athletes
Photos

Main photo: Credit: FINICE / Mikko Tolonen

Action takes place on Saturday 7 March. The event programme sees the full senior competition in difficulty (lead) take place alongside youth categories. Athletes from the following countries are expected to take part – Canada, Czechia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United States as well as from host country, Finland. The event, FINICE, is organised is partnership with the Climbing Club of Oulu.

Livestreaming will be available from the finals, taking place at 16:15 local time (EET). For the full programme please click here. Subscribe to the UIAA YouTube channel to receive livestream notifications and reminders.

On the line are the final Continental Cup medals of the season as well as the Continental titles.

Women: Of the athletes set to compete, Illona Serrar of France is the top ranked continental athlete. She has taken two bronzes (Utrecht, Zilina) as well as a gold last time out in Sunderland. She is currently a few points behind, Netherlands’ Marianne van der Steen, who last weekend sealed the World Tour title in Edmonton after historic back-to-back World Cup gold medals. The women’s competition will be bolstered by the presence of speed world champion Aneta Louzecka. She has medalled at a number of competitions this season but has yet to claim a gold medal. Could this be the weekend?

Men: The breakout start of the World Cup season, Spain’s Jorge Veiga Rodriguez, will seek to seal the Continental title in Oulu. He won his first World Cup gold medal last weekend to earn overall second place on the World Tour and has dominated the Continental season. Liechtenstein’s Andreas Gantner, currently in second, will also compete in Finland. His best performances came with bronze medals in Zilina and Utrecht. Young brother Florian, who has both Continental and World Cup medals from this season, will also make a charge for the the final Continental Tour podium. A strong Liechtenstein team includes Linus Beck, winner of back to back World Cup speed gold medals. Can he demonstrate his versatility on the lead wall?

Current Continental Season Rankings (after six rounds)
Women: (1) M Van der Steen (NED), 317 points; (2) I Serrar (FRA) 309.5 pts; (3) A Louzecka (CZE) 288 pts
Men: (1) JV Rodriguez (ESP), 349 points; (2) A Gantner (LIE), 268 pts; (3) JA Brown (SUI) 245 pts

Further Resources

Live Results
Event programme
Registered athletes

Main photo: Jorge Veiga Rodriguez climbing to gold at the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup in Edmonton. Credit: UIAA / Slobodan Mišković

Continuity and evolution will be at the fore. The opening three stages of the World Cup will take place in venues familiar to athletes. All three offer contrasting experiences. Set in the secluded Korean mountains and organised by the Korean Alpine Federation (KAF), Cheongsong always offers highly technical routes and will additionally stage the Asian Championships.

For the 25th year in a row, the Swiss resort of Saas-Fee hosts a UIAA-sanctioned event, an impressive feat for the organizers, supported by the Swiss Alpine Club. Saas-Fee is a unique venue, where a very partisan and sizeable crowd are able to follow the action from many different vantage points.

The second and final European stop is in Champagny-en-Vanoise, supported by UIAA member association FFCAAM. Champagny is often referred to as a ‘winter wonderland’ and with the French Alps hosting the 2030 Winter Olympic Games, it presents an opportunity for competition ice climbing to showcase its potential in a future Olympic setting.

The World Tour concludes in North America. Over the past decade, visits to North America have become more frequent. Colorado, from Ouray to Denver, has become a favourite stop. This year the honour goes to the town of Longmont, located in the Boulder and Weld counties. The event will provide the perfect opportunity to showcase the burgeoning development of US team supported by the American Alpine Club. The AAC will host the event in partnership with the Longmont Climbing Collective.

The hosting of UIAA ice climbing events have not been confined to mountain regions over recent years. For the third time, the World Tour will visit a downtown urban area with Edmonton, Canada following on from its hosting of last year’s World Championships with the final World Cup of the season, combined with the North American Championships. The event, set against the city’s business district, is supported by the hosts Offbeat Entertainment and the Alpine Club of Canada and expected to draw a huge public.

2024 UIAA Ice Climbing World Youth Championships in Champagny-en-Vanoise (France). Photo: UIAA / Julia ROGER-VEYER

The World Tour format is relatively simple. At each of the five World Cups, medals are granted to the top three male and female athletes in the lead and speed disciplines. The World Tour winners are the athletes who accumulate the most points across the five World Cups. The defending champions are: Lee Younggeon and Woonseon Shin of South Korea in lead and Mongolia’s Mandakhbayar Chuluunbaatar and Aneta Louzecka, Czech Republic, in speed. A number of UIAA member associations have made a significant commitment to the development of their ice climbing teams. This year a sizable contingent of athletes are expected from the following countries: France, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mongolia, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

There have also been some seminal changes to the organisation of competition ice climbing. At the 2024 UIAA General Assembly, a dedicated Operating Unit ‘World Ice Climbing’ was created. The newly formed World Ice Climbing comprises a board of elected specialists supported by two athlete representatives.

“The approved new structure of ice climbing is going to enable the people who are experts in this field to work with a greater degree of independence. This is a major step in allowing the sport to develop.”
Peter Muir, UIAA President

Full details on the creation of World Ice Climbing are available here.

Another key moment of the season is the annual World Youth Championships where athletes across U16, U18 and U20 age categories will compete for world titles. The 2025 edition takes place in Ouray, Colorado from 7-9 February. This is the first time that the Youth World Championships has been hosted outside of Europe. Furthermore, the Continental Open season is already underway with four events having taken place in Europe in November-December 2024 and the final two competitions of the season scheduled for Ouray, USA in late January and Sunderland, England, in early March.

“What a season we have lined up! It’s taken a lot of hard work to build the World Tour back up to where we were in 2019 – but the 2025 season will be amazing, with events on three continents. We are really looking forward to using this season to develop the sport in terms of bringing in new athletes, federations and fans of the sport. It will be a seminal season for Ice Climbing especially with the creation of World Ice Climbing to lead the sport forward towards a bright future!”
Rob Adie, UIAA Sports Events Coordinator

Assets for Media and Fans

The semi-finals and finals of all lead and finals of all speed competitions will be livestreamed on the UIAA YouTube channel. Please subscribe to receive reminders about streaming times. Livestream details for most events are now available.

The UIAA documentary series On Thin Ice, tracking the best moments of the 2024 season and offering a behind the scenes perspective of the sport, is available to view on the UIAA YouTube channel. Five episodes have been released.

Short-form content, highlights, podium posts and updates will be available on the UIAA social media channels, notably Facebook and Instagram.

Event photos will be available on the UIAA Flickr channel.

A selection of ‘best of’ photos for media, prepared for the 2024-2025 season, can be found here.

Press releases will be available for all World Cup events, both previews (-3 days before) and reviews (day +1). Please subscribe to receive press releases directly to your inbox.

Please visit iceclimbing.sport for all event information, details on event programmes and timings, athlete registrations, live results and more.

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Main photo: 2024 UIAA Ice Climbing World Championships in Edmonton (Canada). Credit: UIAA/Slobodan Mišković

Proving top performers in the lead-only competition was Team Liechtenstein who saw 18-year old Lorena Beck take the gold medal to add to the World Cup victory she achieved in the speed discipline last weekend. It has been quite the start to 2024 for Beck who also won the U20 lead and speed titles at the recent UIAA Ice Climbing World Youth Championships. Andreas Gantner secured Liechtenstein’s second medal by taking bronze in the men’s competition.

Gold in the men’s event went to another 18-year old. Spain’s Jorge Veiga Rodriguez secured his second senior gold at Continental level having triumphed in Zilina, Slovakia in November. Some more experienced athletes completed the podium. Pauli Salminen, 42, from the host country took silver in the men’s event while Eimir McSwiggan, Ireland, and Marianne van der Steen, Netherlands, both on the circuit for over a decade completed the women’s podium.

As with most Continental Open events this season, there was also a youth component to the competition. Here athletes from four countries – Finland, Great Britain, Liechtenstein and Spain – claimed the medals. In winning the senior titles, Beck and Rodriguez also took the U20 crowns. With such precocious talent on the circuit, the future is clearly very bright for competition ice climbing.

A replay of the livestream from the event can be found here:

The concluding round of the European circuit takes place in Sunderland, England on Saturday 10 February.

In terms of the series ranking, van der Steen’s fourth medal in five continental events takes her to 392 points guaranteeing overall victory. Aiming to make the final podium are Haruko Takeuchi (277 pts), Aneta Louzecka (274), Olga Kosek (254) and McSwiggan (186).

The men’s competition is a little tighter. Spain’s Javier Cano Blazquez, seventh in Oulu, leads on 313 points. Great Britain’s Will Morris (277) will seek to make the most of his home European Cup next week while Rodriguez now sits in third on 261 points.

The UIAA thanks FINICE for its excellent hosting of another competition in Oulu.

Photo credits: Marko Kerola and Tapio Alhonsuo.
Additional photos here.
Results here.

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The finals of the competition will be live streamed from 16:45 local time. Please refer to the event programme for further details. The YouTube stream link is available here:

The weekend could be decisive for the overall European series standings. Only one round of competition remains which is a first visit to Sunderland in the north east of England next weekend, 10 February.

Registrations currently come from the following countries:
Czech Republic (1), Finland (19), Great Britain (8), Ireland (1), Japan (3), Lichtenstein (5), the Netherlands (2), Poland (7), Romania (1), Slovakia (1), Spain (4), Switzerland (1), United States (4)

Of the top five female athletes, three are in attendance. Marianne van der Steen (327 points) with two golds and a silver to her name from four events will seek to maintain her significant lead. Her nearest competing rival is Haruko Takeuchi (222 points). The Japanese athlete has podiumed once this season and performed impressively at last weekend’s World Cup in Saas-Fee when reaching both the lead and speed finals. On 203 points, Olga Kosek of Poland has two second places in the Continental Open to date.

In the men’s competition, and in terms of the European Tour series, with only two of the top five set to feature in Oulu it is likely that either Spain’s Javier Cano Blazquez (270 pts) or Great Britain’s Will Morris (226) will take the series. Blazquez has two podiums (a gold and a silver) while Morris will seek to build on a silver and a bronze.

However, many more athletes will have their sights on European Cup success in Oulu.

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Following three World Cups, four European Cups and a World Youth Championships, the biggest season since 2020 comes to an end. Organized in collaboration with the Finnish Climbing Association and the Climbing Club of Oulu, this weekend’s event, in biting subzero temperatures, featured both the concluding round of the European Cup season and the World Youth Championships. Athletes from 18 countries competed.

A full review of the 2022-23 season will be published in due course.

European Cup: The final round of the UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup season went to form. After three rounds in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Scotland, Virgile Devin of France and Marianne van der Steen of the Netherlands lead the standings. They were the dominant athletes in Oulu and secured European Tour titles.

In the men’s competition, Devin was the clear standout athlete, topping in qualification and then in the final climbing significantly higher than his rivals. Indeed he was just one clip away from topping the route. United States athlete Kevin Lindlau took second place and Dennis van Hoek third. With the scores adjusted for European-only athletes, van Hoek was upgraded to silver and Lichtenstein’s Andreas Ganter the bronze. Van Hoek finishes the season in second place having podiumed at three of the four European Cup events.

van der Steen was almost certain of the European Tour crown ahead of the weekend in Oulu thanks to two golds and a silver in the three events held to date. The women’s competition proved tighter than the men’s with five athletes – van der Steen, Enni Bertling (Finland), Haruko Takeuchi (Japan), Mira Alhonsuo (Finland) and Celina Bosshard (Switzerland) all topping. It was van der Steen who proved the most nimble though, winning by 48 seconds. Olga Kosek (Poland) finished second in the European Tour with Anna Louzecka (Czech Republic) securing bronze. In Oulu, silver went to Bertling and Alhonsuo the bronze with scores reset for European athletes only.

U19 & U21 Lead Finals (including European Cup)

World Youth Championships: The annual World Youth Championships offer an opportunity for a significant number of the next generation of ice climbing talent to compete on the global stage for the first time. In Oulu, events were held in both lead and speed and across U16, U19 and U21 age groups.

Lead U21: Switzerland’s Celina Bosshard took gold having topped the route. Caitlin Russell-Connor (Great Britain) and Johanna Tuuri (Finland) claimed silver and bronze. In the men’s event, gold went to France’s Milan Pellissier ahead of Hungary’s Erno Robert Seregi and Spain’s Henoc Garcia Montoya.

Speed U21: The same three female athletes contested the speed event with Russell-Connor’s climb of 20.09 winning gold ahead of Bosshard (21.07) and Tuuri (27.31). With a time of 14.47, Seregi added a gold in speed to his silver in lead. Pellissier, 17.39, claimed men’s silver and Finland’s Lauri Tuppurainen, bronze.

Lead U19: Lichtenstein’s Lorena Beck claimed gold. Already an elite level athlete, she saw off local climbers Tilda Kuikanvirta and Vilja Helin. In the men’s competition, Jorge Veige Rodriguez of Spain claimed gold, reward for the Spanish federation’s continued commitment to developing ice climbers. Tim Ziegler of Switzerland won silver and Lichtenstein’s Konstantin Wille took bronze.

Speed U19: A World Cup medallist this season in Champagny-en-Vanoise, Beck (17.42) took gold in speed as well, the only athlete to win both disciplines. Lena Edith Dolf (22.24) of Switzerland won bronze and Kuikanvirta (28.07) claimed another medal with a bronze. Wille was another athlete to medal in both disciplines, dominating the speed event with a winning time of 11.93. Mongolia’s Batzorig Munkhbaaatar (12.25) won silver and Ziegler claimed the bronze in a time of 14.03.

Lead U16: It was joy for the host country with 13-year old Lili Boijer-Spoof taking gold ahead of compatriot Lumi Pellikka. Maite Vila Lopez of Spain won bronze. 15-year old Robbie Gorn (GBR) won the men’s lead climbing two seconds faster than the defending champion, USA’s Landers Gaydosh. Suho Niho, Finland won bronze.

Speed U16: Pellikka won gold with a climb of 19.68 ahead of Boijer-Spoof. No other athletes completed their climb. Climbing in 14.36, Gaydosh won gold adding to his 2022 lead title from Saas-Fee. Switzerland’s Lars Erik Dolf (14.61) won silver and Matyas Lienerth (16.31) secured the Czech Republic’s only medal of the weekend, claiming bronze.

Speed Finals

Results are available here (European Cup , World Youth Championships). Full European Cup results can be found here – Men’s, Women’s.  Combined and Team Rankings available here.
Event website 
Photos from 2023 UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup in Oulu (Photo credit: UIAA/Jukka_Holappa or UIAA/Marko Kerola). Please visit full album here.

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It will be a true festival of ice climbing, organized in collaboration with the Finnish Climbing Association and the Climbing Club of Oulu, with both the concluding round of the UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup season and the annual UIAA Ice Climbing World Youth Championships taking place.

Oulu has become a regular host of UIAA Ice Climbing events having previously hosted both European and World Youth level events.

“It is great to back in Oulu for the last event of the season, the organising team always do an amazing job of putting on a great show and the athletes always have a good time,” explains UIAA Sport Events Coordinator Rob Adie. “Yet again they have stepped up by taking on not one but two of our standout events this season. We are looking forward to a great competition and an amazing season finale!”

European Cup: As per the previous three rounds of the European Cup season held in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Scotland, this will be a lead only event. Athletes from 17 countries are expected to participate with the qualifications to be held on Saturday 25 February and finals on Sunday 26 February (livestream details below). Among the star turns are the two European Cup Tour leaders, Virgile Devin (France) and Marianne van der Steen (Netherlands).

A competitive team from Finland features World Tour regulars Enni Bertling, Mira Alhonsuo and Pauli Salminen. Other leading World Tour-level athletes in attendance include Eimir McSwiggan (Ireland), Lea and Lorena Beck (Liechtenstein), Dennis van Hoek (Netherlands), Olga Kosek (Poland) and David Bouffard (Romania). At least four athletes will represent the following countries: Czech Republic, Finland, France, Great Britain, Liechtenstein, Poland, Spain and the United States.

In terms of the standings, van der Steen is almost certainly guaranteed to win the women’s European season crown. Kosek, currently in third will seek to overtake Maja Sustar Habjan in second. The latter is not currently registered to compete in Oulu. The men’s contest is closer with van Hoek lying just five points behind Devin. Another French athlete, Basile Fetet, has an outside chance of winning overall and currently sits in third.

Sunday 26 February, 1400 local time (1300 CET)

World Youth Championships: As is tradition, the World Youth Championships will be divided into U16, U19 and U21 categories with both speed and lead events. Qualification starts on Friday 24 February and all finals are on Sunday 26 February (see livestream details below). Traditionally these events are wide open and provide the opportunity for many athletes to taste their first experience competing in a world level environment. Currently 11 national teams have registered youth athletes with a number having already featured in World Cup events. With six athletes Switzerland is offering an opportunity to its next generation of climbers having seen a number of athletes make the successful pathway from youth to senior events in recent seasons. Likewise, the emerging team from Mongolia has six athletes registered. Equally impressive is the representation from Spain (7 athletes) and host country Finland (16 athletes). Liechtenstein’s Lorena Beck is the only athlete to have podiumed at a World Cup event. She finished second in the speed competition in Champagny-en-Vanoise in January.

Sunday 26 February, 1100 local time (1000 CET)

Sunday 26 February, 0800 local time (0700 CET)

The event programme for Oulu can be found here.
Live results will be available here (European Cup , World Youth Championships).
The registration list can be found here (European Cup, World Youth Championships).
Event website 

Photos from 2022 UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup in Oulu (credit Oskari Pajunpää)

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Expertly organised by FINICE, the weekend saw the parallel running of the sixth European Cup event and the standalone European Championships and European Youth Championships. The event organisers also made significant strides with their sustainability programme becoming a model for future events hosted under the UIAA umbrella. Further details can be found here.

The European Cup series in lead is built around a six-event competition in a league table format. The first five rounds were held in Switzerland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Lichtenstein. The European Championships are a one-off event, where the winners on the tower in Oulu took the titles.

Women: Bertling and Tolokonina rise to the top

In the European Cup series, local climber Enni Bertling headed the rankings after five rounds. Her main concern was holding off nearest rival Marianne van der Steen. The two athletes made the final eight in Oulu ensuring the contest went to the wire. The Dutch athlete was first to climb but after a composed start she succumbed after the ninth quickdraw. If Bertling climbed higher, the European Cup crown was hers. This she did with great aplomb. Her performance was good enough for fifth overall. Poland’s Olga Kosek took fourth to seal third place in the European Cup season rankings.

In terms of the European Championships, athletes from Russia dominated proceedings with Maria Tolokonina climbing higher and faster to defeat compatriots Ekaterina Vlasova and Daria Glotova.

Unlike the European Cup, the European Championships also saw a speed format. World champion Natalia Savitskaia (photo above) stole the show in a time of 12.79 ahead of Irina Dubovsteva (13.50) and Iuliia Filateva (14.09).

Men: Spoils shared

Three podiums across six events, including two first place finishes, propelled France’s Virgile Devin to top of the leaderboard. In Oulu, his qualification for the final eight all but assured him of the European Cup title with nearest rival Dennis van Hoek failing to qualify. Despite a spirited effort from Switzerland’s Nikolai Primerov, fourth on the weekend, a fifth place ensured Devin of a hard-fought crown. Primerov finished second in the seasonal rankings and van Hoek third.

As in the women’s competition, Russian athletes posted a strong performance. Georgy Duplinskiy and Nikolai Kuzovlev (above) shared the lead title, both topping and finishing the route in the same time. Vladim Malshchukov claimed bronze.

In speed, former World Tour winner Anton Nemov (above) returned to his best form winning in a time of 10.19. In-form Danila Bikulov claimed second in 10.32 and Pavel Shubin third in 10.36.

In parallel, the UIAA Ice Climbing European Youth Championships were held with athletes from five countries – Finland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom – earning podium finishes. Results can be found here.

The UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour will host its concluding acts in early March with back-to-back World Cup events in Russia – Tyumen (4-6 March) and Kirov (11-13 March).

Results from Oulu can be found here.
Photos can be found here.
All live streams from the weekend can be found here.

All photos credit: Oskari Pajunpää

After five rounds of the European season, following lead discipline competitions in Switzerland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Liechtenstein, Oulu will crown the overall winners of the season and in parallel the European champions.

Nearly 80 athletes from 15 countries are currently registered. In the women’s event, local climber Enni Bertling (358 points) leads the European Cup rankings after five rounds. The only climber in a position to deny her the seasonal crown is Marianne van der Steen of the Netherlands (327). The top five ranking women from the European season are all in attendance. Joining Bertling and Van der Steen are Aneta Louzecka, Czech Republic, fresh from starring at the UIAA Ice Climbing North American Championships, was well as France’s Juliette Bergman and Poland’s Olga Kosek.

However with the winner in Oulu also being crowned European champion, competition for supremacy will be intense. The presence of the likes of Maria Tolokonina, Ekaterina Vlasova and Iuliia Filateva will add significant depth to the field.

In the men’s competition and in terms of the European season rankings, France’s Virgile Devin (355 points) will seek to finish ahead of Dennis van Hoek (278 points) and Nikolai Primerov (260), the only challengers for the title. However in terms of the European Championships, decided by the winner on the weekend, the likes of Alexey Dengin, Nikolai Kuzovlev, Pauli Salminen and Jonathan Brown bring extra quality to the field.

Oulu will also host speed competitions, European Championships only, and welcome some of the fastest vertical ice climbers on the circuit including Anton Nemov, Ivan Loshchenko, Danila Bikulov and Nikita Glazyrin in the men’s competition and in the women’s event the aforementioned Tolokonina and recently-crowned World Champion Natalia Savitskaia.

Finals for all events take place on Sunday 20 February.

In parallel the UIAA Ice Climbing European Youth Championships will also be staged with 90 athletes expected to compete.

Details on livestreaming can be found below:

The event programme can be viewed here.

A list of registered athletes can be found here.

Live results will be available on the UIAA Ice Climbing website.

The headlines in Oulu are not only about the competition. FINICE, the event organisers, have aligned with the UIAA’s sustainability plan for competitions. Over recent seasons, in close cooperation with the UIAA Mountain Protection Commission and as part of the wider IOC Sustainability Strategy, the UIAA Ice Climbing Commission has established guidelines for the hosting of more sustainable competitions. This is in response to the UIAA’s signed commitment and participation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Sports for Climate Action.

FINICE has been one of the close adopters of this approach, using the UIAA’s carbon footprint calculator as part of its environmental plan for the event.

The FINICE sustainability plan aims to:

• Evaluate each decision the organisers make from sustainability point of view
• Review old practices – the way things have always been done
• Invent new practices where they are needed
• Develop FINICE competition to be even better each year
• Educate organisers – we all learn while making the plan and doing the planned actions

Full details on FINICE’s impressive and robust sustainability plan can be found here.

Further details can be found on the UIAA website.

Photos: Credit: FINICE/UIAA/Markus Kerola (from FINICE 2020)

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