Livestream: Dry Tooling at The Ice Coop With Tyler Kempney
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The Ice Coop, located in Boulder, Colorado, is the first purpose-built dry tooling gym in the world. With a soft opening in August 2018 and an official launch slated for April, the gym allows climbers to hook their tools onto holds and kick crampons into the plywood. Tyler Kempney manages the gym, and just happens to be one of the best ice and mixed climbers in the country. Kempney has impressive ticks to his name, like Saphira (M15-) at the Vail Amphitheater, Colorado, and thin, ephemeral, and dangerous ice routes on The Diamond of Long’s Peak. On top of his outdoor ascents, Kempney consistently places toward the top of the US team pack at ice climbing competitions. We met with Kempney at The Ice Coop for a tour of the gym, to learn more about his background, and to get some beginning dry tooling tips.
Note: Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties and the audio doesn’t sync with the video throughout.