A Colorado Weekend: Ice and 14ers

Over President’s day weekend in mid February 2010, capsule I joined some friends for some ice climbing in world famous Ouray Ice Park. It was a great time with perfect weather and nice ice.

Ouray is famous for man-made ice and the annual Ice Festival held every January. Ouray is a small mountain town in Southwest Colorado. A longtime favorite summer destination, it is nestled in the high Rocky Mountains. Ouray, once a mining town, might have disappeared or slowly dwindled away if an accident had not occurred. A leak in the fresh water pipe running along the top of a river gorge created a long ice fall one year … and the rest was history!

From the Park’s website:

Located in the Uncompahgre Gorge in Ouray, Colorado, the Ouray Ice Park was opened in 1995 as the world’s first park devoted exclusively to the sport of ice climbing. Climbing in the park is free. A small band of volunteers developed the Park utilizing a unique set of assets found perhaps only in Ouray. An unprecedented number of climbers visiting from around the world has lead to the formation of a nonprofit corporation to manage the Park. Thanks to a $5,000 donation from the Access Fund, a $7,000 donation from the Ouray Chamber Resort Association, and a $20,000 anonymous donation; the Ouray Ice Park now has a reliable and constant source of water and a brand new plumbing and delivery system.

There are now 14 different climbing areas roughly split by a 2 lane bridge crossing the river. Access is incredibly easy with most climbs no farther than a 15 minute walk from your car or even hotel.

Routes ranges from easy Water Ice 2 (WI2) in the School Room to WI5 in South Park to mixed climbs to 5.15b rock climbing. In other words, whatever you want. Most routes can be top roped but certain areas are designated for lead only routes.

I am a novice ice climber so I appreciated the variety of routes.

We climbed in South Park the first day before moving to the bridge near the famous Pick O’ the VIc WI4 climb at the end of the day. We were quite surprised when the spigots turned on at 4:00 PM encouraging us to pick up the pace!

We stayed at the Ouray Victorian Inn and took advantage of their free breakfast each morning and the hot tubs each night.

The next day, Saturday, was very crowded with every route taken. We found a couple of open routes as we arrived about 8:15 and set our top ropes in the School Room area. We spent several hours on WI4+ and some easier routes as well. Joel took advantage of a rock wall shielded by a canopy of ice to do a little dry tooling – nice job Joel!

In spite of the crowds, we had another nice day with temps in the 20’s and protected from the wind since we were deep in the river gorge.

One climber combination caught my view – a young man with his son tied into his harness. They were about 20 feet up a route and the kid was having a great time. Later he sat in his father’s lap as they belayed their partner. I talked to them for a few minutes and the 5 year-old has been climbing since age 2 and had climbed 5.11b rock! Man, I felt old.

As we were leaving that afternoon, the Kids Climbing Wall was full of action. It was amazing to see physically challenged adults teaching kids how to ice climb. They are the future of this sport.

That night we attended a fund raiser for the Ice Park with a viewing of the movie North Face, about the Eiger in the 1930’s. I highly recommend this film about these brave climbers. The story line was well done and the cinematography excellent.

As I headed back home, I stopped just south of Breckenridge to climb the 12 highest mountain in Colorado, Quandary Peak at 14,270′. It is a straight forward climb at 6 miles roundtrip with a vertical gain of 3,370 feet. But the -13F air temp at 7:00 AM got my attention and even more so as I approached the summit when the winds gusted to over 40 mph. This was my third summit of Quandary.

I was prepared for the weather with layers, down, double plastic boots and heavy mittens so I was not too uncomfortable.

The views were nice, as always, and the trip well worth the detour.

Here is a video from the summit where I am trying talk about how windy it is 🙂

A great few days in Colorado!

Climb On!
Alan