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Ice Master World Cup Daone

From Friday 19 January to Sunday 21 January the most famous international ice climbing competition in the world, the Ice Master World Cup, will take place in Italy's Valle di Daone.

PlanetMountain

January 2007

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Planetmountain.com

Daone + Ice Master: a meeting (and a bet) which repeats itself
From Friday 19 January to Sunday 21 January the most famous international ice climbing competition in the world, the Ice Master World Cup, will take place in Italy's Valle di Daone. The competition is renowned not only because it now celebrates its sixth edition, but also thanks to what it has given to modern ice climbing. And it's no chance therefore that the UIAA has chosen Daone to "kick off" the international world cup circuit which, after the Daone debut, travels to Switzerland's Saas Fee and Romania's Bustemi.

The competition 2007
Once again two competitions are scheduled in Daone, the Difficulty and the Speed, both of which are valid for important World Cup points. Furthermore, the athletes will contend for the Ice Boulder World Championship title. This will be a sort of competition within the competion which takes place in the Difficulty Final on two special routes set specifically for bouldering (read short and extremely difficult). Talking of Ice Boulder, it is worth remembering that the first experiences of bouldering (famous in rock climbing) with ice axes and crampons were carried out here in Valle di Daone. And those who can still remember the ice mushroom created specifically for bouldering will have to change perspective (and angle) and imagine a horizontal roof... put in other words, the joy and pain of all ice climbers.

The competition structure
The new technique for 2007 (Daone traditionally always experiments with something new) are the special holds, created by Palstic Rock, which will allow for dry tooling up... granite - the very same that can be found in the valley. This, we believe, will make going tougher for the athletes, putting technique rather than brute force in the forefront. Maurizio Gallo - the inventor and driving force behind all frozen Ice Master structures - is convinced this will be the case. With regards to the "torrid" temperatures experienced during this winter-come-spring, Gallo admits that conditions aren't the easiest to "fabricate" the ice. Nevertheless the ice masters have (incredibly) managed to paste an ice layer onto the structure which is now almost ready for use (see photo). In Daone they're ready, regardless of the outside temperature, for a great competition! A competition in which the work of the route setters will prove to be fundamental, and once again the team is comprised of the "veterans" Daone Attilio Munari, Marco and Massimo da Pozzo, joined by Loris Manzana.

Athletes
Never before has Daone seemed so international, and this is due not only to the 5 Japanese ice climbers (2 women and 3 men) who registered as soon as registration was made possible. The 85 male athletes and 23 female athletes represent 15 nations... including Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Croatia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Russia, Czech republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Austria and obviously Italy and the athletes mentioned previously from the land of the rising sun... But the number is bound to rise. It has to be said that, just like every year, the best of the best will compete. And here, it pains to say, our thoughts go to Harry Berger who is remembered by all in Daone. Here in the valley is was always a great key play, both for what he managed to achieve in the competition (an undisputed champion) and as a man... It's difficult to imagine an Ice Master without him.

Not only competition but also Ice Meeting
As usual the Pareti di Cristallo committee views ice climbing as a resource and a "vocation" of the Valle di Daone, often remembered for it's a thousand waterfalls. And so this 2007 edition renews itself with the Montura International Ice Meeting Pareti di Cristallo from 19 to 28 January. Once again this is an opportunity for experts and ice climbing novices to meet in the valley to climb the routes and learn the techniques together with the Friends of Arco mountain guides. More than a hundred people participated in the meet last year and, building on this success, the meet has been extended for the entire week.

Countdown
The competition takes place in less than ten days time, and as usual the race is on for the climax, for the world ice climbing competition. The volunteers of the "Comitato Pareti di Cristallo" will continue ceaselessly to "create" ice and the athletes will now begin to sharpen their axes. In the meantime though there are some who are thinking hard about how to render the athletes' lives just that bit (metaphorically) harder... because a spectacular competition can only be achieved via difficult routes... and the Daone Ice Master has always been synonymous with sporting spectacle, powered by "true" ice climbing warriors.