Annual International Ice Climbing Competition in Bulgaria

    The first ice climbing competition in Bulgaria took place in 1992 at the North Gendarme in Stara Planina.  The competition in 1993 took place at the ice falls of Skakavica in Rila mountain.  Since 1994 the annual ice climbing competition has been organized at different artificial ice towers.  In the last 4 years the official general sponsor of this competition was Johnie Walker.  The organization of the competition itself was carried out by the Bulgarian Alpine Club.  The main people responsible for the organization and the preparation of the tower and the routes were Ivailo Ninov and Georgi Georgiev, both experienced ice climbers.
 
Ivailo Ninov  
Georgi Georgiev
    The artificial ice towers used for this competition were approximately 15 meters high.  The length of the routes was between 15 and 20 meters.  The difficulty of the routes was between WI 6 / 6+.  The protection of the routes consisted of ice screws attached with metal rope to the inside metal construction of the ice tower.  The ice screws were placed approximately 2 meters apart.
    The first ice screw is clipped from the ground before the climber starts climbing the route.  There is also a competition for speed climbing.  The route for the speed climbing competition is normally less difficult.
 
    The last ice climbing competition took place at the ice tower in Maliovica between 27.03.99 and 28.03.99. 

    Next year there will be a chain of 5 competitions which will take place at different ski resorts in Bulgaria. 

    The Annual International Ice Climbing Competition is both for both men and women.  Normally the difficulty route for the women is a little bit easier than the one for the men.  There is always semifinal and final which take place normally in two consecutive days. 
 
The official competition rules (in Bulgarian).