13 January 2011

12th Ice Climbing Festival - Kandersteg

Ice Climbing Festival -- Kandersteg 2011

Patrick Aufdenblatten celebrate his win (c) Andrea Badrutt
The 12th Annual Ice Climbing Festival in Kandersteg took place last weekend in the Ice Climbing Mecca in the Bernese Oberland with climbers from all over the world and over 600 spectators. Workshops, Slide Shows and the Competition offered icey good times for all. For the second year in a row, The Festival took place on the crags of the Kandersteg Rope Park, just across the street from the Gemmi Lodge.

Approximately 90 contestants, 21 of whom were Women, competed in the Dry-Tooling Contest on Saturday, and even though the temperatures were a bit warm, the enthusiasm remained high. The spectacular Finalé under the lights on Saturday Night was won by Patrik Aufdenblatten of Zermatt, who has been on the podium in this event numerous times. Nikolai Primerov from Russia finished 2nd and Gatean Ruyman took 3rd.  Ines Papert of Germany, who has many World Cup Ice Climbing wins under her belt, returned as the Champ in Kandersteg, and last year’s winner, Petra Müller from Switzerland, took 2nd place. Albert Leichtfried and Kurt Astner were responsible for the Route-Setting, and the entire event coordination crew was stoked to see the enormous growth in the number of young ice-climbers involved.

The workshops took place on Sunday, with over 50 enthusiast participants learning tricks of the trade from Ice pros such as Samuel Anthamatten (CH), Kurt Astner (IT), Neil Gresham (GB), Dodo Kopold (SK), Petra and Jack Müller (CH), Ines Papert (DE), Klemen Premrl (SI) and Matthias Scherer (DE).

Two pair of climbing brothers offered the exciting slide-shows on Friday and Saturday Night at the Congress Hall in Kandersteg, where about 300 spectators were entertained on each night.  Simon and Samuel Anthamatten, from Zermatt, Switzerland, thrilled the crowd with their show “Small Climbers- Big Mountains” on both evenings.  And then Nicolas and Olivier Favresse from Belgium rocked the house with Mandolin, photos and film footage.  Their show, “Big Wall Jammin’” had the entire crowd on their feet.  And the legendary after-party at the Gemmi Lodge rounded out a perfect evening.

The Ice Climbing Festival in Kandersteg is the largest event of it’s kind in the Alps and is known as a meeting spot for international ice-climbers and is renowned globally as a ‘must-attend’ event in the ice-climbing scene.  The main sponsors were again Arc'teryx, Bächli Bergsport, Black Diamond and La Sportiva. And as local Partners, the Hotel Gemmi Lodge, Gemmi Tavern, Kandersteg Tourism, Kandertal Tourism and the Town of Kandersteg were again supportive of the event in their own neighborhood. Media partners were the climbing magazines ‚Vertical‘ and ‚Klettern‘.  Julbo, Sterling Rope and Petzl also contibuted gear and support as event partners.

Click here for Photos to view and/or Download at:

http://www.blackdiamond.eu/press/Ice Climbing Festival Kandersteg 2011/

All photos were shot by Andrea Badrutt, from Chur (CH).

Final Results - Ice Climbing Festival Kandersteg 2011

Men

Rank

Start-number

Name

Country

Semi-final

Final

1

46

Patrik Aufdenblatten

CH

Top (2:46)

Top (4:08)

2

43

Nikolai Primerov

RUS/CH

Top (3:18)

Top (5:09)

3

34

Gatean Ruyman

Top (4:46)

15+

4

47

Samuel Anthamatten

CH

Top (2:57)

13

5

27

Christian Ledergerber

CH

Top (3:35)

3+

6

57

Michael Wohlleben

DE

Top (4:34)

2

7

67

Ron Michel Koller

CH

Top (4:55)

8

2

Pavel Dobrinskiy

RUS

Top (5:20)

9

35

Jeff Mercier

FR

Top (5:35)

10

20

Erwan Le Lann

FR

15 -

11

60

Thomas Steinbrugger

AT

10

11

36

Jack Müller

CH

10

13

19

Klemen Premrl

SI

6

14

32

Etienne Grillot

FR

5

14

12

Dejan Koren

SI

5

16

45

Joachim Feger

3+

Women

Rank

Start-number

Name

Country

Qualification

Final

1

87

Ines Papert

DE

Top (2:19)

Top (3:45)

2

86

Petra Müller

CH

Top (3:11)

Top (4:28)

3

79

Christina Schlesener

DE

Top (3:18)

17

4

95

Anne-Aylin Sigg

CH

Top (2:22)

9

5

84

Karin Schaffner

CH

Top (3:17)

5+

6

83

Cindy Schallbetter

CH

Top (3:10)

5

7

92

Petra Klingler

CH

Top (3:24)

8

91

Rebekka Stotz

CH

Top (3:46)

9

90

Noemi Dupertuis

CH

Top (4:29)

10

85

Natalie Bärtschi

CH

Top (4:58)

11

94

Anna Egli

CH

Top -

11

93

Tanja Lanz

CH

Top -

13

99

Rahel Roth

CH

14

13

80

Gabi Forlin

CH

14

15

81

Karin Hedman

SE

13+

16

98

Sonja Schade

DE

13 -

17

97

Charlotte Barré

FR

12

17

82

Laure Baioz

FR

12

19

88

Manuela Ramensperger

CH

7

19

96

Camille Girardin

FR

7

21

89

Marillia Anthamatten

CH

6

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