Ep. 16 - Onward and Upward: The Scottish Dry-Tooling Club with Willis Morris and Oz Miller

Ep. 16 - Onward and Upward: The Scottish Dry-Tooling Club with Willis Morris and Oz Miller

A chat with the largest drytooling club in the world.

🧊 About the episode

We’re headed across the pond on this episode of Ice Ice Beta. Today, we’re chatting with Willis Morris and Oz Miller of the Scottish Dry-Tooling Club. The club has been called the developmental model of the future, a rolling circus, and bonkers by various authorities.

But what is the organization, how does it work, and why has it been so successful in just a few short years?

A few anecdotes to highlight their success:

  • They are the largest dry-tooling club in the world, with hundreds of members.
  • The GB Youth Ice Climbing Team, who are part of the Club, are one of, if not the, strongest, in the world. Meanwhile, most other national teams have few, if any, youth members.
  • And most importantly — by internal metrics — the psyche is very, very high.

With a rapid growth trajectory and big plans, the future is bright. After listening to Willis and Oz, you’ll likely agree — they’re quite convincing!

"When you see a hundred normal climbers climbing and frothing at the mouth for drytooling, that's the moment where you can go, 'this works.'

Because it doesn't matter how good you are at the top of the pyramid, if you don't have that base nothing else matters.

And I'm 100 percent sure that this is like, if I was to get hit by a bus tomorrow, it won't die. It'll keep going until literally we have taken over the world. And that is what we've built. We've built a system for like world domination in this sport. And I really think we're on the way."

If you’d like to learn more about the Scottish DTC, their Instagram has all the important links. It is @scottishdrytoolingclub.

As Willis mentioned in the interview, the 7th and final round of the UIAA Ice Climbing Continental Cup for the season is taking place in Sunderland, UK this Saturday, February 10. Live streaming will be available for the finals.

You can connect with Willis and Oz:

📸 @scottishdrytoolingclub | 📸 @willismorris25 | 📸 @ozmiller1| 🔗 scottishdrytoolingclub

🧊 Credits

Episode cover photo provided by the Scottish Dry-Tooling Club.

Intro music by Hannah Noelle Enomoto (thanks, sis!).

🧊 Sponsors:

Big thanks to Blue Ice for supporting this show!

Blue Ice: Blue Ice is the best kind of ice, and also my choice when it comes to fast and light ice climbing gear. Their Aero Lites go in like a hot knife through butter and their climbing packs hit the sweet spot between function and lightweight. Designed to get to the point in the alpine, their gear is tested by mountain professionals between the Alps and the Wasatch. If you’re looking to get to the point too — and with a little less weight on your kit, check out Blue Ice’s gear at blueice.com or your favorite local retailer. 

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Written by

Aaron Gerry

Aaron Gerry

Ljubljana, Slovenia
Aaron is the host of Ice Ice Beta and one of the Online Editors of The Cooler.