Elin (16) and Ronja van der Lee (14) made an impression last weekend during the youth ice climbing world championships in Liechtenstein. As the name suggests, it is climbing on ice, but in the Netherlands the sisters from Kaatsheuvel train on wooden walls. “It is not the case that our competitors have an ice wall in the backyard.”
Ice climbing is relatively unknown in the Netherlands. Elin van der Lee fell in love with the sport thanks to Mirre Wijnen from Riel, a sport climbing teammate. “Mirre was world ice climbing champion and we took a beginners course. That was really cool to do.”
She was so enthusiastic that about a year and a half ago she chose to combine ice climbing with sport climbing and bouldering (climbing on a shorter wall where you are not tied to a rope, ed.). Her sister Ronja, who is two years younger, followed last year.
The sisters train ice climbing in Tilburg and Utrecht. This must necessarily be done without ice. Elin: “In the Netherlands we train on wood and with grips. We do wear crampons with pins on our shoes and we hold ice axes. In sport climbing we are used to doing everything with our arms. The axes extend the possibilities, it is an extra challenge. And of course it looks cool.”
Last weekend was the sisters’ first youth World Cup. They competed in the two main events. The category lead (where they follow a course and are attached to a rope) was on a wooden wall, but in the category speed they had to climb up a wall of ice as quickly as possible.
Elin: “Ice is very slippery, quite logical of course. But it can also come loose and there are sharp points in it. I trust wood more than ice. How you kick on wood or ice is also very different. Fortunately, we were able to practice in Switzerland a week before the World Cup.”
Ronja came third in the category up to 16 years old lead and ninth at speed. Even though she has only been doing the sport for a few months. “I never expected that I would end up so high,” says the youngest of the sisters.
Her older sister finished one age category higher in fifth (lead) and seventh (speed) and she was proud of that. “Many of our competitors come from countries with winter conditions, but it is not the case that they can easily train on an ice wall. It is quite a challenge to get there and be able to afford it. It is not an Olympic sport and the budgets are generally low.”
“We are working hard to make it an Olympic sport.”
It is Elin and Ronja’s hope that ice climbing will be on the Olympic agenda from 2030. “It is a spectacular sport, but not very well known. We are working hard to make it an Olympic sport, which is our sporting goal for the future.”
The sisters want to continue doing well in the coming years and, especially in ice climbing, they want to be among the best in the world. There is absolutely no mutual conflict. Elin: “We are just over two years apart and are not in the same age category. But we are good friends anyway. I sometimes see that things can be different between brothers and sisters.”
In this YouTube video, Ronja van der Lee is the first to take action in the lead category.
