Arvada’s Ian Umstead has competed internationally in two sports, first in Europe as a young cyclist aspiring to race professionally, now as an elite ice climber who competes on that sport’s World Cup circuit with stops in Europe, Canada and South Korea. This weekend he finally gets to compete in an international event close to home when the Longmont Climbing Collective hosts the first ice climbing World Cup event held in the U.S. since 2019.
Umstead will be one of 80 competitors from 10 countries competing Saturday and Sunday on walls outside the Longmont Climbing Collective’s indoor climbing facility. The last time the U.S. hosted a World Cup ice climbing event was six years ago at Denver’s Civic Center Park, which attracted an estimated 25,000 spectators according to the Golden-based American Alpine Club and the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation.
“It’s definitely very cool to be able to compete for the U.S. on home turf,” said Umstead, who has emerged as an elite ice climber after taking up the sport only two years ago. “When I was racing, I never really raced on the national team here in the States, but I was able to race in Europe and represent the U.S. as an athlete. Having something in the backyard, on home turf, is extremely exciting.”
Crews were busy Friday at the Longmont Climbing Collective, erecting a temporary 40-foot-tall ice climbing wall. Large ice blocks the size of pool tables were created using refrigeration equipment, then hoisted into place using a crane.
There also will be competition climbing on the gym’s permanent outdoor “dry-tooling” wall. Dry-tooling is a form of climbing that takes place on specially designed walls without ice that accommodate ice climbing tools.
“Dry tooling is a way for ice climbers to practice their technique,” said Aaron Tellier, chief marketing officer and part owner of the Longmont Climbing Collective. “You do it on a regular wall, using your ice ax equipment to put the tip of your pick into holds. What’s really cool about dry tooling is the acrobatics that people perform. They’re jumping from one (placement) to another and they’re swinging by their ice ax. It’s just amazing to watch these athletes perform.”
Tellier’s co-owners, Bryan Hylenski and his wife Shauna, lived for a decade in South Korea where competitive ice climbing is very popular. In 2018 they opened a small bouldering gym in Longmont with the intention of going big some day. When they opened the massive new facility with 60-foot-high walls in October of 2023, they were already bidding to hold an ice-climbing World Cup.
“They dreamed about this for years,” said Tellier, who is Shauna’s brother-in-law. “The climbing community is such a great community, and the sub-community of ice climbing within that is a really awesome, tight community. They really wanted to do something for that (community).”
Umstead has had something of a meteoric rise in the sport. After giving up his dream to be a professional cyclist, he began climbing Colorado fourteeners.
“I started doing harder and harder fourteener routes, got to the point where I needed to start roping up, and found rock climbing,” said Umstead, who grew up in Kentucky. “Having competed at an international level on the bike, I needed something to train for, something to get better at.”
In 2023, some friends talked him into trying out for the national ice climbing team and he made it that summer.
“I was super ecstatic about that, having been so fresh to the sport,” Umstead said.
While he also enjoys climbing natural ice features for pleasure and challenge, the World Cup appeals to his competitive streak.
“I started playing sports when I was 3, and I’m 30 now, so for the last 27 years I’ve been highly, highly competitive,” Umstead said. “Whenever you’re climbing outside for yourself, you don’t get that. You’re kind of competing against yourself, but in competition you wind up with some of the best athletes in the world in our sport, and you’re going to battle.”
The Longmont competition will have a dramatic backdrop — a panoramic view of the Continental Divide and Longs Peak. Events will unfold on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. General admission tickets are free and available online. VIP tickets cost $82 per day or $125 for both days. The weekend will include a community celebration called WinterFest, which will include food trucks, beer, a vendor village and a kid’s zone.