The UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup rolled up onto the shores of the UK for the first time ever on Saturday 18 February for an action-packed one-day event at the Glasgow Climbing Centre, home to the Scottish Dry Tooling Club. The competition saw 62 athletes from 16 countries descending on Glasgow to participate in the lead-only European Cup event at the penultimate UIAA ice climbing competition of the 2022-23 season.

A strong team of eight athletes represented GB Climbing for the first UIAA Ice Climbing competition on UK soil at the third of four European Cups in the 2022-2023 season.

The qualifying rounds saw athletes tackle two testing qualifying routes. Despite a strong performance from the team, Caitlin Connor progressed to the finals solo. Rory Watson finished in a noteworthy 15th position just in sight of making it to the finals. Despite only being 16 years old, Watson climbed both routes with confidence, coming incredibly close to topping out on both.

Caitlin Connor performed terrifically well in the women’s final, climbing confidently up to the tricky hanging box. After taking a number of attempts to swing up for the second hold, a move requiring strength and incredible precision, Caitlin took a moment to shake off the building lactic acid before finally landing her pick in place and kicked her feet up into the frame of the box. However, when attempting to match she swung out a little too far and one by one lost her feet and then her grip on the axe failed just before she managed to grasp her other hand to the handle – her brilliant effort won her 9th place.

Sam Pratt: UIAA Ice Climbing European Cup, Glasgow

After winning gold in the first round of the European Cup in Zilina, Solvakia, Marianne van der Steen of the Netherlands emphatically bagged her second title of the season after being only one of two climbers to top a route in qualification and capping it off with a virtuoso performance in the final. Poland’s Olga Kisek claimed silver with Maja Sustar Habjan of Slovenia completing the podium.

A fierce qualifying round saw nine athletes topping out, but the final told a different story and victory was claimed by France’s Virgile Davin as the only male athlete to top in the final. Dutch athlete Dennis Van Hoek, winner in Zilina, took silver, and Basile Fetet of France claimed bronze.

Lorraine Brown, Head of Performance said: “We were delighted to support the Scottish Dry Tooling Club to bring this event to the UK for the first time. The opportunity to compete on home soil is always a welcomed opportunity and our team relished with the support of a home crowd. The atmosphere and team comradery was exceptional to see. This event lays the foundations for working with our GB athletes and the ice climbing community for future international events and will inspire success moving forward.”

Watch the replay of the lead finals on the UIAA YouTube channel.

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