It was well below freezing in the Ouray Ice Park, but in the half-warmth of the winter sun, a gloveless Jeff Mercier climbed through a section of overhanging artificial wall festooned with old-school mountaineering ice axes and dense foam blocks. He alternated between whacking the picks of his ERGO ice tools into the foam, and gently hooking and mono-pointing into the spike holes of the dangling ice axes. 

This January 11-13, climbers from around the country and world will converge at the Ouray Ice Park in Colorado to climb, participate in clinics led by some of the county's best ice climbers, demo the newest, raddest gear, and watch or participate in the mixed-climing competition. Once again, Petzl is proud to support this event, the largest ice festival in North America. 

We just finished up with the 16th annual Bozeman Ice Festival. Now that the crampons and tools have been sharpened, the gloves and boots dried, we finally have time to send off a quick update.

The 64th congress of the International Commission for Mountain Rescue took place in Krynica, Poland, October 2-7, 2012. For the event, more than 400 mountain rescue professionals from around the world gathered to discuss and share techniques, knowledge, and equipment for improving the effectiveness of mountain rescue.

 
Lectures and technical workshops to enrich the profession

I just arrived in the States after a three week stint in South America. There were two plans laid out for this trip, the first being the 10th annual Petzl RocTrip.

Damian Benegas, the famous Argentinian alpinist, has climbed some of the biggest mountains all over the world: in the Himalayas, South America, and Africa. Along with this twin brother, Willie, they have done numerous technical first ascents. Perhaps less well known is the fact that he was the first to summit the iconic 200-meter high Piedra Parada nearly twenty years ago via the route 'Sueno Lento", with his partner Pablo de la Fuente.