DryIce: dry tooling for fun

Figfour is an innovative training aid for mixed climbing and winner of the Innovation for Extremes Award. We have been previewing them around the country in a series of fun come and try it sessions called 'DryIce'. The final DryIce session will take place during the Ice Climbing Ecrins festival in L'Argentière la Bessée, France. 8 - 10 January 2010.

What is Figfour?

Figfour is a specialized training aid for mixed climbing. Designed to allow climbers to accurately replicate the actions of mixed climbing indoors, without damaging the resin holds or base panels of existing climbing surfaces with the sharp picks found on traditional ice axes. The design allows climbers to train for dry tooling at their local wall.

Modelled in SolidWorks and output to a 3D CNC machine the unique wooden shafts are cut from a single sheet of plywood, a material chosen for its high strength to weight ratio. A 7x7 wire is terminated at both ends by swaged balls. This wire is bent round into a loop and elegantly fixed to the shaft by a machined aluminium clamp. Figfour designer Pete Dollman will be available during the DryIce event to answer questions about the product as well as demonstrate their use.

Figfour and training

Keen eyed dry tooling devotees may have already come across the Figfour tools featured in Winter Climbing +, an instructional book by Neil Gresham and Ian Parnell and published by Rockfax. Ian has recently started using a pair of Figfour tools to aid his winter training..

"Whilst summer rock climbers have campus rungs, finger boards, rock rings and an endless array of climbing holds and surfaces winter climbers have very few bespoke training aids. Perhaps that is until now. I think that Alpkit’s new Figfours could bring huge fitness gains for those like me in love with the winter game. Like many great ideas the Figfours success lies in its simplicity. Light, robust and with no sharp spiky bits they’re easily portable. Crucially they don’t damage the climbing surfaces and so can be taken to any wall without causing problems, or posing any threat to other users. I’ve used mine mainly on roped climbs, the longer and steeper the better, although they will be equally adept on bouldering walls. The pump you get is very different to traditional rock climbing and much more akin to that hand uncurling ache you get ice and mixed climbing. I’ve already made strength gains using the Fig Fours and would hope by the end of this season with their help to be climbing a good notch harder than I have before". Ian Parnell, 20th January.

A short history about the DryIce sessions

The first DryIce session took place at the Tout a Blocs bouldering festival in France, an event we have been involved with for some 5 years. Off the back of this successful event the FigFour tools made their first UK appearance at the HardRock Festival in Devon.. another regular Alpkit event! It was obvious that people were enjoying getting their hands on the tools and we were getting some great feedback. With this in mind we organised some more UK events at climbing walls slightly closer to home. The sessions will come full circle when we return to L'Argentière la Bessée for TAB's sister event Ice Climbing Ecrins (ICE).

How can you get hold of FigFours?

As soon as the DryIce sessions are over we will be working hard to make the FigFour axes available ASAP. If you are interested in purchasing a set then sign up for our FigFour product update.

Getting into dry tooling

Dry Tooling is one aspect of our sport that most of us will have had little experience of. It involves climbing steep rock, usually bolt protected with ice axes and crampons. Originally these routes were created by climbers who simply could not resist the draw of the long ice climbs suspended in the void, just out of reach, but now a lot of dry tooling climbs exist in their own right, in summer and without any ice in sight.

Here in the UK the opportunity for dry tooling is limited. Even indoors there are only a few walls which will allow you to use ice axes.. the Ice Factor is one. There is a dry tooling competition series in Scotland, however most walls don't really like mixing expensive fragile holds and paying customers with sharp metal objects flying through the air.

The Ice Factor National Ice Climbing Centre
Drytooling UK
Extreme Dream

Innovation for Extremes Award Winner

Figfour recently won the prestigious Innovation for Extremes Award. This award encourages future innovators in the outdoor trade and judging panel member Graham Thompson of Trail magazine commented:

"Without out doubt this is one of the most important innovations in outdoor equipment for many years. I expect every climbing wall in the country to have them available for hire alongside rock boots, harness and helmets in the future."

Innov_ex website.