I Snapped Pics at a Winter Climbing Festival in New Zealand

I’ve been rock climbing for years, even dipping my toes into alpine climbing, and have somehow managed to combine it with my now full time gig of photography. So when I found out there’s a winter climbing festival held in Queenstown, I couldn’t help but reach for the ice tools, dig out my crampons, and grab my camera.

There’s a festival for winter climbing?

Oh yes, there is! A two-and-a-half-day event dedicated to advancing the sport of alpine climbing in New Zealand.

The Remarkables Ice and Mixed Climbing Festival (RIMF) is an annual event organised by the Expedition Climbers Club of New Zealand. Now in its 13th year, RIMF spans three evenings and two days.

It caters to everyone, from grizzled Kiwi cliffhangers to keen enthusiasts who are still learning the difference between an ice axe and an ice tool.

RIMF offers several clinics over the weekend, from basic alpine movement for novices to skill advancement for seasoned climbers. I attended the ice climbing and mixed climbing clinics.

What’s the difference between ice climbing and mixed climbing?

I had this question once too. Ice climbing is pretty self-explanatory – it’s climbing on frozen water with ice tools and crampons (Google ‘Will Gadd’ if you’re still unsure). Mixed climbing is closer to alpine rock climbing, using crampons and ice tools. You’ll encounter rock, ice, and snow, using key terrain features as your route.

What’s the Expedition Climbers Club?

The Expedition Climbers Club (ECC) is a not-for-profit organisation aimed at nurturing and advancing mountaineering and climbing in New Zealand and beyond. Each year, ECC awards an expedition grant to make budding climbers’ dreams come true.

This year, a group of keen climbers was awarded $10,000 to launch a big wall expedition to Greenland in 2025!

The Clinics

Several clinics are available, each costing $300, and all are led by volunteers of the club to give back to the community. As they’re instructed by volunteers, they don’t come with the usual hefty price tags of guided trips.

If you want to learn snow skills and don’t have mates to show you, this is the cheapest way to do it in this hemisphere.

Get yourself down to a clinic!

The clinics include:

Snowcraft 1: For the average hiker looking to learn basic alpine safety and how to use alpine equipment.

Snowcraft 2: Advance your alpine safety knowledge and start working with rope routes and anchors.

Introduction to Backcountry Ski Touring: Skin up and hit the slopes. Learn avalanche awareness training and how to travel under your own steam off the groomers.

Chicks ‘n’ Picks: An all-rounder for women, focusing on ice and mixed climbing, with additional alpine safety training.

Ice & Mixed: This is for people who’ve rock climbed, are comfortable in the snow, and are ready to push their experience with a full day of ice climbing and a full day of mixed climbing, all top-rope style.

Learning to Lead: For people who are experienced and ready to take it to the next level by leading routes with traditional protection – cams, nuts, hexes… all that good stuff!

If you just want a day out, there are slots available for general climbing. Bring a mate or use the singles table (yes, that’s a thing) at the intro night to find one, then head off on your own.

But I Don’t Have Any Gear

Don’t get me wrong, this is an expensive sport to get into (my Arc’teryx jacket alone cost $600… and that’s a cheap one). However, rest assured, there are plenty of gear suppliers in Queenstown and surrounds to hire from, and the RIMF team will also put you in touch with their preferred suppliers.

Rob from Mountain Journeys sorted me out with all my avalanche gear and even lent me some of his own equipment… legend!

Read more: Packing List for Backcountry Skiing & Splitboarding

What It’s Like to Attend RIMF

Night 1 – Welcome Night

This was a typical registration evening where all us attendees got all the info we needed for the upcoming days of climbing. Sophie, the main event organiser, greeted everyone with a big ‘Kia Ora’ and a T-shirt and directed everyone to the bar to kick the event off.

The room was full of bright eyes keen to jump on the hill.  Every one of them eagerly looked around the room for familiar faces whilst mingling with newcomers. I spent the night introducing myself and talking with the staff about which clinics I planned to shoot.

Next, there was a bit of a formal AGM and club election process, but the crew at Ground Up Brewing made it more exciting with free beer!

After a safety briefing on conditions from the team at The Remarkables ski field, we were off to prep our climbing kit and get ready for the early alarm.

Day 1 – Ice Climbing

With a painful 5am start, I joined the ice and mixed climbing clinic to tag along and shoot for the day. It started with a spritely arrival at The Remarkables Ski Field at 6:30am. Why the early start? Because we had a long way to walk.

We climbed up The Remarkables hill, past Lake Alta, and around Single Cone for a total of 800m of elevation to reach a location called ‘The Fridge’.

Up we go

Here, the instructors gave an intro to using ice tools on a ground-level frozen slab while V-thread anchors were built. (A V-thread is a method where two holes are drilled using ice screws at a 45-degree angle, then the cord is pushed through to make a solid position to hang off.) While the anchors were being built, the team set up a few top ropes, and it was time for everyone to hook in.

We had around four hours at the icy crag, trying multiple routes, working on technique, and getting comfortable with the placement of tools and crampons. I’ve alpine climbed a few times. I started with an introductory course on Aoraki/Mount Cook a few years ago and have progressed to snowy ridges and icy valleys in Scotland, sparkling peaks in the Swiss Alps and high altitude volcanoes in Mexico.

However, even with all that time on the tools, breaking the psychological barrier of a few millimetres of steel keeping you on a wall is always a big hurdle on day one.

It took me a bit to work up to the climb and get comfortable with my feet placement. I tried to relax my hands so that I didn’t grip the tools so tightly and learnt to trust the ice. By the afternoon I managed my way up multiple routes, mostly short but very punchy.

Consider it sent 🫡

While most people were learning from day zero, a large part of the experience for me was practice in placing and weighting my own gear mid climb and building ice anchors to abseil off.

Once everyone had their fill, we made the long walk back to the ski field, wearily jumped into the cars, and headed back down the hill.

Night 2 – Stories of Adventure Around the World

The evening was at a lower tempo, as most people were pretty exhausted. However, the club gathered a few of its members and guests to share stories of adventure around the world.

These were quite the tales, ranging from 7,000m alpine-style ascents (carrying all your own kit and setting your own routes) in the Himalayas to 60-hour epics on Patagonian big walls. Whatever exhaustion had set in earlier was replaced by excitement for the next day.

What was really starting to stand out to me was the people. Everyone was so open and friendly, sharing stories and building off each other’s stoke. And… humble. After just a few conversations I started to realise how accomplished some of these people were.

Take James, one of the mixed climbing instructors. James was one of the members of the Patagonia team. He’s also the only person in New Zealand to climb three different M10 routes.

The mixed climbing grading system runs from M1-M10 (there’s literally only 3 M10’s currently) and he’s working on a project to set New Zealand’s first M11 route. But I didn’t find this out from our conversations (or checking out his Instagram). It came from one of his equally accomplished partners.

A quick pub quiz, a run-through of tomorrow’s weather and safety brief, and the night was wrapped.

Day 2 – Mixed Climbing

7:30am was a much more reasonable start time on this day. Thankfully, the previous day’s three-hour approach was replaced by a 45-minute approach. We set off on a similar route up the hill, diverting into the Remarkables ‘Shadow Basin’ towards Queens Drive, a popular summer hiking route around The Remarkables’ main feature. Halfway along Queens Drive, we stopped to set up for the day.

Similar to day one, we spent a short period bouldering with ice tools to get familiar with the techniques. Then, with ropes still hanging from yesterday, we headed up the walls.

There were six different routes to test ourselves, varying from basic entry-level to serious mixed climbing. The team felt pretty confident from the previous day, and excitement was high, so everyone launched in.

I even conquered a few M4s which I was stoked with.

Mixed climbing is very different from ice climbing. The screech of metal on rock is a slightly daunting and unnatural feeling at first. Throw in cold hands and feet and this is a sport for a select few. But this group was that few.

Everyone loved it, and by 2pm when it was time to turn back, it was hard to get people off the wall.

Night 3 – Closing Event

To wrap up the festival, the ECC had a few final things planned – a talk from Kiwi legend and polar explorer Colin Monteath, voting on the expedition fund recipient, and awarding the Kiwi Alpinist of the Year.

The funding is one of the most interesting parts of the club. Anyone can apply as long as you’re a club member, and by attending the festival, you become a club member. You simply put together an application with at least three other members and pitch your project to the room. This year, there was one application, so they naturally got the cash and are soon off to set new routes in Greenland!

The Alpinist of the Year award, supported by Macpac, went to the team earlier mentioned for their ascent in the Himalayas. Truly remarkable stuff (pardon the pun).

With the night wrapped, Jonno’s (another humble yet extraordinary climber) hilarious 15-minute-turned-hour-long auction completed, and the free beer running dry, we all parted ways from a wicked weekend.

I’m still stunned by the generosity of the ECC and their sheer passion and dedication to growing alpine climbing in our corner of the world. Bloody hell, I’m already keen for next year!

A big shoutout to all the sponsors of the event Macpac, Arc’teryx, Ground Up Brewing, Lowa, Further Faster NZ, Inselberg, Earth Sea Sky, and Mountain Journeys NZ.

For more info on RIMF or the ECC, jump onto the website!