World Cup in competitive ice climbing

UIAA's wish - ice climbing an Olympic sport in the future



With the new year, the World Cup in competitive ice climbing under the auspices of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation UIAA also begins. Competitors will compete in lead and speed climbing, including Slovenians – our best ice climbers, twin brothers Matevž and Jernej Vukotič, and Tjaša Kosič, who will compete in the World Cup for the first season.



This weekend, January 8 and 9, 2011, the first UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup event will take place in Cheongsong, Korea (http://www.iceclimbing.kr/english/). For the first time, a World Cup ice climbing event will be organized in Asia. "This is a welcome event for all Korean climbers. As the first UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup in Asian countries, it will greatly motivate climbers in Korea as well as those in Japan and China," said Lee Injeong, President of the Korean Alpine Federation. "We are very pleased to join the effort to include competitive ice climbing among the sports of the Winter Olympics, which is UIAA's ultimate goal."

Matevž and Jernej Vukotič will compete in Korea.



Koreans are no longer strangers to ice climbing. At the 2010 World Cup final, Shin Woon Seon and Hee Yong won gold in lead climbing among women. "Ice climbing has become very popular among Koreans, and competitions take place across Korea in winter. Ice climbing has become like a national sport in Korea," says Slovenian representative Andrej Pečjak, member of the UIAA Ice Climbing Commission (http://www.theuiaa.org/interna.php?page=ice_climbing_organisation.html&change_language=ENG), who checked the competition venue at the Korean national championships on behalf of UIAA at the end of last January to ensure it meets the technical requirements for a World Cup event and gave the green light.



Yesterday, January 4, international judge Jasna Pečjak, Slovenia's representative on the judging panel alongside Andrej Pečjak, reported from Korea: "Work is in full swing in Korea. The construction is phenomenal, the route setters are already busy. The speed event will be in pairs (two parallel tracks). Organization is also well taken care of for everyone. Over a hundred competitors from 25 different countries will participate in the World Cup event, including interestingly from Mongolia, China, Taiwan, etc."

Jasna Pečjak is also the head of the Subcommittee for Competitive Ice Climbing at the PZS Alpine Commission.



After the Korean event, the World Cup follows in Saas Fee, Switzerland, on January 21 and 22, which will also include lead and speed climbing. More about the WC in Saas Fee: http://www.iceclimbingworldcup.ch/. Matevž and Jernej Vukotič and Tjaša Kosič will participate in this event.



Due to the tragic death in early January of a member of the organizing committee for the event in Italy's Val Daone, the organizers decided to cancel the World Cup event scheduled for January 15 and 16.



The remaining two events out of this year's four World Cups will be in Romania (Busteni, February 5–6, 2011), http://www.iwcbusteni.ro/2011/, and in Russia (Kirov, March 6–8, 2011), http://iceclimbcupkirov.blogspot.com/.

Our competitors will participate in the latter two depending on good prior results and financial capabilities.



List of all UIAA World Cup events 2011: http://www.theuiaa.org/ice_climbing_2011.html.

Last year's World Cup winners in lead and speed climbing were: Markus Bendler (lead winner for 2009 and 2010), with the other titles taken by Russians Pavel Gulyaev (speed ice climbing), Anna Gallyamova (lead), and Nadežda Shubina (speed).

More: http://www.theuiaa.org/ice_results_2010.html.

Our competitors, Matevž and Jernej Vukotič, performed well despite participating in only two World Cup events (Daone, Saas Fee) – older Matevž overall 18th (speed) and 43rd in lead; Jernej overall 12th in speed and 20th in lead. At the second World Cup of last year in Switzerland, they proved competitive to the Russians in speed with Matevž 4th and Jernej 5th.



Sochi, Russia. In its commitment to developing the sport, UIAA plans to expand ice climbing competitions to present ice climbing competitions in the Russian city of Sochi simultaneously with the 2014 Winter Olympics. In agreement with the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, competitive ice climbing will be presented as a "Live event" for the general public.



Global significance: The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation UIAA with 80 member organizations in 57 countries represents more than a million people worldwide. The International Olympic Committee recognizes UIAA as the international climbing organization, also for mountaineering and sport climbing on natural rock.



Our competitors:



Matevž Vukotič from Bled is a 20-year-old student at the Jesenice College of Health Care. He is the older twin brother of Jernej Vukotič, also an excellent ice climber. They have been competing in UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup events since age 16. They are members of ŠPO, AO, PD Radovljica. They coach each other, their training (six times a week) is systematic and based on arm training (average 6 hours per day). They are not only excellent climbers but also popular among peers, relaxed and fun, always grounded. And yes, they climb with heart.

For goals in ice climbing and life in general, Matevž has set: "Be the best in competitions. Be successful in all areas." His motto is: "Enjoy and make the most of life."

Matevž also won the prestigious title of overall World Cup winner in speed climbing in 2008.

More about Matevž on the website: http://www.pzs.si/index.php?stran=Novice&novica_id=5369.



Jernej, a student at a higher tourism school, says about his goals: "Actions will speak louder than words."

More about Jernej on the website: http://www.pzs.si/index.php?stran=Novice&novica_id=5368.



Tjaša Kosič, 22-year-old from Jesenice, is a member of PD Jesenice, Jesenice Sport Climbing Section. She studies at the Faculty of Education, physics – technology major. This season she has her first UIAA international license. As a promising competitor, ice climbers and head of the PZS KA Competitive Ice Climbing Subcommittee Jasna Pečjak noticed her at speed sport climbing events, and her ice talent at the 1st Humar Memorial in 2010. New challenges drew her to ice climbing. And why ice climbing, which seems harder for girls? "If you like something, nothing is impossible," says Tjaša.

She currently has no coach, but the Vukotič brothers and Jasna Pečjak provide a lot of advice. How does her training go? "If the weather is nice, we go to the rock. Two to three times a week, dry tooling on the home wall."

Her motto is: "Mess with the best, die like the rest!" or "Hang with the best, die like the rest!"

More on the PZS website, direct link: http://www.pzs.si/index.php?stran=Novice&novica_id=5367.



Tjaša Kosič will also compete in some other events abroad, as will 17-year-old Janez Svoljšak. Tjaša and Janez competed in Brno, Czech Republic, on December 14, 2010, both taking 4th place (Tjaša in both lead and speed, Janez in lead). During the first UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup event, Tjaša and Janez will compete in the Gail Valley (Kötschach-Mauthen, January 8, 2011).

Janez Svoljšak joined the team later and will compete as B team (without UIAA international license) in local events to gain experience. He is a former sport competitor, enthusiastic about ice climbing, full of energy and training motivation. He competes only in lead.





Our international judges:



Our international judges will also judge at the World Cup events. We have three international judges (couple Andrej and Jasna Pečjak, Žiga Šter) and two trainees (Miha Triler, Branko Ivanek).

Andrej and Jasna Pečjak will judge at the World Cup in Korea, where Andrej will also be the head of the judging panel and UIAA technical delegate.

Žiga Šter will be the head of the judging panel at the World Cup in Saas Fee.

Most likely, the Pečjaks will also judge in Kirov, where one of them will be the head of the judging panel.





At the same time, we inform you about the Slovenian Ice Climbing Cup events.



SLOVENIAN CUP 2011

Presumably two events:

February 8, 2011: 2nd Humar Memorial and open competition,

(reserve dates: February 12 and 19, 2011),

March 12, 2011: bouldering competition in Tržič.