UIAA World Cup Ice Climbing - Kirov, Russia
07 - 09 January, 2010

UIAA Youth Championship - Saas Grund, Switzerland
16 - 17 January 2010

UIAA World Cup Ice Climbing - Val Daone, Italy
16 - 17 January 2010

UIAA World Cup Ice Climbing - Saas Fee, Switzerland
22 - 23 January 2010

14 / 01 / 2010

18 / 01 / 2010

18 / 01 / 2010

29 / 01 / 2010

29 / 01 / 2010

29 / 01 / 2010

ICE WORLD CUP 2006 - BUSTENI ROMANIA

The Story of The 4th Stage of the 2006 UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup

By Michael Pupeza, President of the Romanian Alpine Club

MOTTO:

- ……BIG!
- Good?
- Very! (The long dialog a Russian Competitor had with me the first time he saw the Busteni ice structure)

In the fall of 2004, Roger Payne, the then Sports and Development Director of the UIAA called to ask whether we would be interested in organizing an ice climbing event, potentially an international one, sponsored by Kayland who had interest in promoting ice climbing and their name in Romania. This, Roger said, was also in line with the policy of the UIAA to stronger co-involve alpine clubs from former Eastern Europe into the mainstream of alpine sports activities that could in the future become candidate Olympic sports.
Yes, was my answer, we would happily accept the challenge but….there was nil experience in Romania with organizing an ice climbing event. To the probably about 30-40 medium-level ice climbers all together, a few Romanian expatriates were doing our ice and mixed climbs on the weekends in the Alps or elsewhere, there was no proven high-level organizational power within the Romanian Alpine Club (RAC) as we were just rebuilding the club, and definitely there was no general public understanding or media interest for such an event.

Thus began our long and strenuous road to the success we all shared during February 9-11, 2006.
I run the subject through a RAC Board Meeting late in 2004 and everybody was highly excited; and, once unanimous support was given, all had cold sweat running down their spine: a unique commitment was just made. It shall be said, however, that the RAC board is comprised of former/present climbers knowing each other for over thirty years; and we all went together or separately through lots of hardships and accomplishments both in the mountains and in daily life.
A thorough search began aimed at finding the best place for organizing such an event. Considered were: climatic conditions/temperatures (over the last 100! years), potential for local authorities’ support, existing infrastructure, ease of access, beauty and representativeness of location. The choice fell on Busteni, a little mountain resort in central Romania beneath the stunning eastern crags of the Bucegi Mountains - a fortress of conglomerate 2500 m high and the cradle of Romanian alpinism.

At the beginning of 2005 as the UIAA Ice Climbing Commission organized itself we got a representative on the commission. He worked together with other Commission members at re-writing the regulations in preparation for a multi-stage 2006 Ice Climbing World Cup. He and I participated at the Commision’s meeting in Saas Fee during the February 2005 Ice Climbing World Cup there and got a taste of what we were getting into: the level of performance of the athletes was stunning, organization was flawless (however, where can one get such a cold garage in Romania?). I moved on to Val Daone for the Ice Master and got more familiar with the requirements. We then participated at the Commission’s meetings in August in Courmayeur and in September in Val Daone. I saw the “naked” Daone structure and extensively talked to it’s creators, Placido Corradi – the inexhaustible visionary of wooden structures, and Maurizio Gallo - the design engineer. My intense interest and never-letting-go on Placido with bugging detailed questions must have touched his weak cord as he volunteered to come to Romania and help with our structure’s design.
At the end of the Commission’s Daone meeting I committed the RAC to organizing the 4th stage of the 2006 Ice Climbing World Cup. The….ice ball was now rolling and we had to make sure we won’t either let it break or get smashed by it.
In early November, Placido and I went to Busteni to select the structure location, finalize the design and meet with the mayor of Busteni to sign a cooperation agreement.
My close and trusted friend and team mate Eugen Popescu, the General Secretary of the RAC was the keystone of our team. He pressed, pushed and finally secured support from the Municipality and the Local Consortium managing the chairlift facilities, donated part of the materials needed for the structure, worked close with me on refining the structure design to which he had bright solutions, fought off frustrations during obtaining approvals from the Forest Service and the Bucegi National Park administration that delayed construction by more than two months, played the construction site manager for more than one month, sometimes at temperatures of less than -200 C, trying to blindly interpret my over-the-phone instructions and email-sent sketches; while in his “spare time” dealing with sponsorship and media partners contracts.
On January 30 I departed Turin (my present residence place) by car embarking on a 2200 km trip accompanied by Placido’s wonder tool (a hey blower turned snow slush thrower - the key tool for icing up the structure) and collecting on the way to Romania the dry tooling grips from Grivel and the quick draws and ropes from VauDe and Edelweiss.
On February 1st, when I arrived in Busteni the structure was only beginning to take shape. Bureaucracy and bad weather almost brought us to our knees: we had a delay of two months. However, flawless mobilization by the constructor, around-the-clock help from RAC and outside volunteers, Municipality and Consortium support made it possible to rise the wooden structure and 4000 kg metal and plywood roofs in three days, ice up the structure in two more days and give our excellent route setting artists Attilio Munari and Massimo da Pozzo another two days to design the routes. Most of us must have lived through the hardest days of our life as there was no time for mistakes or indecision, and there was no time for relaxing or sleep.
The event was judged a success by our guests and spectators, we had great media coverage, the structure was considered by the athletes to be the most complex on the circuit.
My gratitude goes to all those named above and, equally, to the numerous unnamed that turned this bold challenge into a great success. Most of them did not even have a clear upfront idea of what the result of their effort would look like and their first reward came when Attilio and Massimo started testing the routes one evening close to midnight.
My gratitude further goes to our main Sponsor, Himalaya - the Romanian mountain equipment outfitter, our other sponsors IPSO, Atta, Red Bull, Kayland, VauDe, Edelweiss, Grivel, Mountain Experts, Ipnet and Atlassib; and last but not least to our media partners Terra Sat TV Severin, Radio Bucuresti, 24-FUN, Know, Vacante & Calatorii, Zile si Nopti, Eliberadio and Radio Guerilla.
They all helped us make this event possible, WE ALL made it possible.
While we presently analyze what could have been done better, please enjoy the attached images from the unforgettable days of February 9-11, 2006 in Busteni, Romania.
We are awaiting you next year with a new addition to our climbing structure, better management and….the same enthusiasm, friendliness and desire to make Busteni a place worth of your presence and fond memories.

IWC BUSTENI 2010
4-7 February 2010, Busteni Romania