As a Member Federation to the UIAA, the American Alpine Club is responsible for selecting the 2019 USA World Cup Ice Climbing Team.
Athletes interested in competing in any of the Ice Climbing World Cup & World Championship events must complete the google form application by 11:59pm MST on September 25, 2018.
The American Alpine Club will make their selections and athletes will be notified by October 5.
USA World Cup Team Selection:
The USA can send up to 8 men and 8 women in each of Difficulty (Lead) and Speed to each World Cup event, including the Denver World Cup in 2019. For World Championship events the quota is 3 men and 3 women.
As the future of Ice Climbing competition is headed toward combined difficulty and speed events, priority will be given to athletes who compete in both.
Since we are working to develop a team, priority will be given to athletes who are competing in more than one World Cup event, and who plan to compete in future years.
Athletes must turn 16 or older before the end of 2019 (born 2003 or later).
We encourage people who are experienced competitors in any form of climbing to apply.
6 spots per gender will be selected based on the following performance criteria:
National ranking from the 2018 season (top 2 spots are guaranteed participation)
Highest rankings in each of the categories (Difficulty and Speed) from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 World Cup seasons
Ranking in previous non-World Cup competitions (e.g. Ouray, Bozeman, Michigan Ice Festivals)
Number of World Cup competitions you are applying to compete in during the 2019 season
Competition experience in any form of climbing
2 Development spots per gender will be selected based on the following criteria:
Historical competition participation
Number of competitions you are applying to compete in during the 2019 season
Current training plan
Competition experience in any form of climbing
National ranking from the 2018 season
In the event that participants are only competing in either Speed or Difficulty (and not both) the AAC will select enough athletes to be able to field a team consisting of 8 men and 8 women for the Speed portion and 8 men and 8 women for the Difficulty portion.
In the event that there are not 6 performance or 2 developmental applicants that are qualified to participate at the international level, the allocation numbers will be adjusted.