Program
Our congress will take place between August 7 and August 10, 2023.
The provisional program is listed below. In addition to the keynotes, up to 50 oral presentations are scheduled (12min plus 3min for discussion) and an unlimited number of poster presentations (accessible throughout the entire congress), plus the external pageIRCRA General Assembly and a side event.
Between 1 and 12 August, the external pageClimbing World Championships will also be held in Bern, with finals especially on the weekend before and after the congress
Panel discussion on Monday, August 7 @ 11:45
How can athletes, coaches, and other stakeholders in climbing benefit from research? We will explore this question in a panel discussion to work out what facilitates and what hampers collaborations with researchers and which aspects of climbing should be studied in the future. Points of view will be presented from the athlete's perspective (by Natalie Bärtschi and Anne-Sophie Koller), from the coach's or national federation's perspective (by Urs Stöcker), from the medical perspective (by Gudmund Grønhaug), from the researcher’s perspective (by Ludovic Seifert) and from the international federation's perspective (by Silvia Verdolini) - moderated by Taylor Reed, who has established the platform external pageThe Beta Angel Project, which translates research into practical application.
Session with coaches: How science and technology support performance, August 7 @ 16:00
The aim of this special session is to better understand how coaches assess, control and regulate performance in climbing and how scientists can support coaches in this assessment and control by providing tools, technologies, apps, metrics, etc. Ludovic Seifert, as moderator, will discuss this with the coaches Alex Wydler, Benny Hartmann, Eva López, and Patrick Matros.
IRCRA General Assembly, August 7 @ 16:45
All participants of the congress are cordially invited to attend the IRCRA General Assembly. It is important to discuss the future direction of our association and to fix the next steps. Among other things, we will clarify the procedure for the election of the next board as well as the organization of the next congress. Furthermore, we have to define the basic framework for competition analyses and the exchange with the international climbing federation.
Special lecture by Petra Klingler, August 8 @ 11:30
external pagePetra has a long and successful career in sport climbing, including winning world championships in bouldering and icefall climbing, and competing in the Olympic Games. And Paris 2024 is also her declared last big goal; in Bern she will compete in the World Championships for the last time. Shortly after the competition, she drops in on us at the congress and gives us insights into her achievements – just at the place where she earned her bachelor's degree in sports science.
Workshop on data acquisition in speed climbing on Tuesday, August 8 @16:00
Within this workshop, we will elaborate for whom what should be measured at speed climbing competitions. We will discuss (moderated by Peter Wolf) how to facilitate measurements, how to process data, how to make it accessible, and how to make it sustainable. We will start with a presentation by Dominik Pandurevic and Pawel Draga, who will summarise current state of the art and present own achievements (you may check their recent external pagepaper).
Side event Climbing & Dining on Tuesday, August 8 @ 17:30
Enough of lectures and sitting? Then look forward to our side event at the O’BLOC. Around 180 routes in all difficulty levels plus a 730m2 bouldering landscape. Perfect for pushing boundaries and sharing ideas. Climbing equipment will be provided by the O’BLOC team, rope partners are surely to be found among us. And those who want to take it easier will enjoy the buffet – which will also fortify the active ones among us for an extra session on the campus board!
Impressions from the O’BLOC
Special lecture on “The Crystal Ship”: First ascent of Pumari Chhish East, August 9 @16:00
In June 2022, French alpinists Christophe Ogier, Jérôme Sullivan and Victor Saucede completed the first ascent of Pumari Chhish East (6850m) in Pakistan. After spending almost a month in base camp looking at the falling snow and trying to acclimatize, the team finally got a good weather spell and made an attempt. What followed was an epic adventure of five days climbing to reach the top. They named their direct route through the mountain’s south face 'The Crystal Ship' (M7, 6b, A2, 1600m). This achievement was recognised worldwide by the climbing community as one of the best climbs of 2022.
Christophe will give insights into this adventure, after an introduction by Prof. Daniel Farinotti, who is supervising Christoph in his current doctoral thesis in glaciology - we can look forward to a highly entertaining lecture about everyday life of a researcher and about alpinism!
Impressions from Pumari Chhish East
Sports
Various sports can be practiced directly at the conference venue, both indoors and outdoors. We will ask you about your preferences during registration so that we can exercise together before or after the scientific part.
