Ice/Mixed Plywood and other Training Setups!

For those of you that use some type of plywood setup does it damage your picks? I have been getting into ice climbing the last few years and just got my first set of tools. I would like to train on some kind of plywood setup in preparation for this season but also am leary to damage my picks before they even have a chance to touch ice. 

No.  If plywood does anything to your picks, you need to get different picks.  Give 'er!

It would be nice if we could get some ice making weather around here.

Yeah, a very bad year so far for ice farming here, too.  I'm hoping it'll improve a bit in the near future.

Our dozen or so years of ice towers here near Frankfort IL, came to an end a couple winters ago. The guy who ran it retired, and moved to Oklahoma.  Meanwhile, we are again entering a very poor start to winter here, and another doubtful season of ice at Starved Rock.  Even if it gets frozen up late, as in February,  the park has often chosen to close ice climbing just as we finally get it good enough to be fun.   No set dates to close is old history.  The norm now is that park is done by Feb. 28th , no matter how good it is.  Just the way things go. So I hope the home  built freezers keep trying and stretch our Midwest season.  Our ice wall froze and melted, fell down, and was refrozen 7 times in one of our first seasons, so it just takes attention and work. 

Can someone walk me through how you attached this to the tree? I would like to attach it without drilling into the tree if possible. If this setup up required still walk me through it, please! I have a 12' place that my dad made during my move to VT and I am eager to get it up. I designed it so it can be disassembled and put into the back of a Honda fit LOL. I am stumped on the best way to attach to the tree while still being able to modulate the angle.

Brine Jennifer M wrote:

Can someone walk me through how you attached this to the tree? I would like to attach it without drilling into the tree if possible. If this setup up required still walk me through it, please! I have a 12' place that my dad made during my move to VT and I am eager to get it up. I designed it so it can be disassembled and put into the back of a Honda fit LOL. I am stumped on the best way to attach to the tree while still being able to modulate the angle.

You can just tie rope around a tree and then use a pulley system off that to change angle. However, drilling into a tree is much less damaging to it than having a rope around it, as any arborist will tell you.

Sam Bedell wrote:

You can just tie rope around a tree and then use a pulley system off that to change angle. However, drilling into a tree is much less damaging to it than having a rope around it, as any arborist will tell you.

Hey Sam, thank you so much. I looked into this more and you are correct. I think I am feeling a little nervous that I am building this myself. Any chance you could give me some beta on how to attach it to the tree? What hardware would you use? How big does the tree need to be at the base? Etc. 

Brendan Blanchard wrote: Pictures, pictures pictures. We had a snowstorm a week from now last year in the NE, who's getting ready, and how? Post up pictures of your ice/mixed training setups. Today's finished product: (Design roughly follows Will Gadd's setup shown on his blog) Jointed, and adjustable about 10-15 degrees +/- vertical. Here's the joints in action, keeping it at vertical. Stable, and the bottom can be lifted and moved 3 feet in either direction to adjust the angle. Material list: (1) 2x8 sheet of plywood (2) 2x16' -vertical support (1) 2x12' -brace and joint arms (5) 3/8"(?) strips (8) 3/8" bolts, washer and nut set (2) 1/2" lag bolts,with washers (1) Box of screws, 2" exterior. Probably used 100-150 screws. Easily made for under $80 at Home Depot or comparable hardware retail. In use for the first time:  Looking forward to seeing others as well! -Brendan

I am not sure I understand how it is attached to the tree. Can you provide some more details on your set up?

Plywood garage setup. 

Dallin Carey wrote:

Plywood garage setup. 

Cool! Are the holds mounted onto a small piece of wood then held with the hinge pins to the wall?

For the outdoor ice setups, what are you doing to prevent the hoses from freezing? I suppose I could treat it like a snow gun and remove it from the spigot to let it gravity drain?

Who am I kidding anyway? I live on the Seacoast of NH and even if it does freeze, it’ll melt and fall down the next week anyway

Shawn John wrote:

For the outdoor ice setups, what are you doing to prevent the hoses from freezing?

I use pipe heat trace cable and foam pipe insulation, all covered in a nylon hydraulic hose protector sheath.  That all helps, but the real key is to keep a little trickle of water on at all times, unless you prefer to pull the hose into a heated garage and drain it (repeatedly), but that's a real PITA.  I made it through a -49C cold snap without freezing up, rather surprisingly.  I just hang the dribbling hose off a guywire to the side, out of the way, until I'm ready to put the water back on.  I'm lucky to have a treed slope where some ice buildup isn't a problem.

The scratchpad in Bountiful UT just opened.

https://www.climbthescratchpad.com/