Nation’s tallest ice climbing trainer wall opens at Millcreek City Hall

The new dry tooling wall along the side of Millcreek City Hall. Photo: Millcreek Communications

MILLCREEK, Utah — Dry tooling is a form of ice climbing practiced without ice, and it now has a towering new home in Millcreek. The 65-foot-high ice climbing simulator opened Saturday at Millcreek Common on the side of the Millcreek City Hall. It’s believed to be the tallest facility of it’s kind in the United States.

Millcreek Common partnered to design and build the wall with The Scratch Pad, Utah’s only dry tooling gym. The facility offers training for competitive ice climbers to hone technical skills for the sport, especially during warmer seasons. The wall is also open to the public and those wanting to try their hand at dry tooling. 

This dry tooling facility is available Fridays and Saturdays from 11: 00 a.m. – sundown. Access to the wall is $7 with an equipment rental of $5. Those using private equipment must have tethered axes, crampons for climbing on the kick-wall or climbing shoes for the non-kick wall and a climbing helmet.

“It awesome having a world class dry tooling wall so accessible with such a great community of climbers,” ice climber Emmet Olsen told TownLift. “Especially given the slow start to a season we have had.” 

Olsen is a Salt Lake City resident and has climbed extensively in Colorado. He is one of a growing group of ice climbing enthusiasts utilizing Utah’s multiple adventure areas. 

Members of the U.S. Ice Climbing Team have been training on the wall and giving climbing clinics. They train in Utah and are holding their next camp in Colorado. Their next competition will be in Minnesota.

Tooling ticket times may be booked by clicking here.

The Scratch Pad has availability in their dry tooling youth camps and adult classes.