Ouray Ice Climbing

The winter snowpack is the worst it’s been in a decade and the temperatures have been well above typical January levels but most of the ice routes in Provo Canyon are looking good. I think this is mainly due to snow melt from above that drips down to the shady north facing cliffs and freezes up. I drive up the canyon about once week to check out the popular routes always expecting to see them all melted out but they’re sticking around.  Good for me and good for the hordes  of climbers that I saw on Stairway to Heaven last weekend. 


Anyone that has any interest at all in ice climbing knows that Ouray CO is one of the destinations you need to visit.  I planned a trip with my pal Rick Miske to spend a couple of days climbing ice in Ouray between Christmas and New Years.  Rick has spent a good amount of time climbing ice in Ouray so he was our guide. For Rick's take on the trip and lots of great photos check out his blog http://climbingfamily.com/blog/2011/12/31/ice-climbing-in-ouray-december-2011/

Schoolroom - Rick kindly offering some mints

I don’t think any of the ice in the Uncompahgre Gorge, the river gorge that makes up the Ouray Ice Park, is naturally occurring. Some enterprising individuals started farming the ice there a few years ago and have expanded the number of routes each year since. All along the top of the gorge are lines of insulated sprinkler pipe hooked to shower heads. Each night the Ouray Ice Park volunteers head out and turn on the water to make more ice. Very cool. 


We got up early the first morning and headed to the schoolroom area. We were one of the first few people to set up a top rope on the anchors at the top of the 80’+ routes.  Since Rick and I normally climb at night it was kind of cool and different to see so many other people drop down and set up ropes to climb. Over the course of the two days we we traded ropes with a few people, making it easy to swap routes and try out some new things without having to pull the rope and set up another anchor. Everyone was really friendly(with the exception of a couple of Brits that decided to take over one of the routes we were going to do).  The 1st pitch of ice that we normally climbing in Provo is around 50’ so the added 30’ or so made the climbing much more sustained and the couple of ledges on the way up offered a very welcome rest.  The route we spent our time on in the school room had about 50’ of strait vertical climbing with some variety to try out the different forms of ice that were found. On one run I decided to move out onto a curtain then continue upward.  My feet had popped a little lower on the route, but my ice tools stuck so I managed to hang on. By the time I’d made it about 10-15’ above the bottom of the curtain my arms were pretty pumped and I had to call for Rick to take so I could get a rest. I intended on hanging on to the ice a little and just having Rick take up some of the pressure, but apparently I was more tired than I thought because when I relaxed my stance a bit I popped off the ice. Then got a surprise when my weight pulled Rick forward about 10 ft. and I continued my downward plunge. Rick managed to get his feet stuck to the ice on the (luckily) frozen stream and stopped my fall. We had a bit of a chuckle about that one. 

Random Strangers in the Scottish Gullies. 

After a few runs in the Schoolroom we headed over to the Scottish Gullies. The Scottish Gullies area offers a lot of variety. The routes are a tad shorter, around 65’ for so, but the cliff face in the gorge meanders in and out with jutting rocks which create some really cool and fun ice formations.  After the route we wanted to climb was snaked by the guys I mentioned earlier we moved over to a fairly low angle climb. Because the obvious route line was lacking in technical difficulty we played around on the walls and ice formations that were on either side.  Finished up the day with around 500 vertical feet of climbing and saved something in the tank for the next day. Rick and I recharged with a giant plate of pasta and chicken. I think we both over ate, knowing that we were probably in a calorie deficit for the day.   After a soak in the spring fed hot tub and we were feeling pretty good. 


The next day we got up early again, knowing that the weekend would bring a lot more people out to climb. We hopped on the route in the gullies that we had wanted to climb the day before. I was surprised to see how much more ice had formed from the sprinkler shower overnight. Everything that had been knocked off the day before had been replaced and then some.  The route, I think it might be called Aye Laddie had 3 main lines and a variety of other options to choose from. Everything from a slopey easy start to a little mixed/thin ice. Steep ice to smooth hard bulges or lower angle blobby ice to hook your tools into.  Except for one climb on a neighboring rope we spend the whole day exploring the variety and options this route had to offer. I literally climbed until my arms could handle no more.  


It was an awesome 2 days in Ouray and I hope to return in in late Feb. to get some more climbing in. It’s a great little town with lots of restaurants and just about the best climbing gear shop I’ve seen. The only problem is that everything is marked up to tourist prices.  I’ll save my money for MountainWorks. 

Ice Climbing - Provo Canyon

Years ago, after stopping to look at a photo of someone climbing a waterfall, my wife asked me if I would ever go ice climbing. I think she was hoping that I'd say no, and that's exactly what I said. But it was more like, "Are you kidding me? Those guys are nuts. They're just waiting for a crampon point to slip or a giant icicle to take their head off."

Fast forward a few years and I'm totally hooked on climbing ice. I'm not sure what it is, but it probably has something do with the fact that you don't need a hold to move up the vertical face of the ice, you make your own. It's almost like being Spider-Man, only Spider-Man is covered in spikes that could sever an artery or tendon if he takes a fall. I'm not sure how I made the move from being scared to death of climbing ice to staring out of my cubicle window at the frozen mountains and wishing I were up there kicking and stabbing the ice.

I'm fortunate to live in a really great area for outdoor recreation. I'm just 10 minutes from Provo Canyon and 15 minutes from Rock Canyon and American Fork Canyon. Three playgrounds full of rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, cycling, mountaineering and snowshoeing. Provo Canyon is probably my favorite, it's not only close, but it seems to have the widest variety of things to do. This is also where you can find a lot of great ice to climb. We have an excellent ice formation that comes in each year called Stairway to Heaven. The bottom pitch is a large thick apron with bolts above for top roping love. It's a great place to hone your skills and get into early season condition for tougher and sketchier ice. Depending on the year and the height at which the ice forms, Stairway to Heaven has the potential to be the longest ice climb in the US, 800 ft.

Along with Stairway to Heaven, there are at least 4 other decent pitches of ice to climb in Provo Canyon. On cold Saturday mornings every inch of ice is covered in climbers, too many for my taste. I usually go climbing after work, which means by the time I hike to the base of the climb daylight is pretty much gone. This means solitude and and no one knocking ice on you from above. A good headlamp is all that is needed, you're only working in an 8 ft. space of ice anyway. Everything above and below is extraneous and not to be thought about anyway. Many times I've been up on the ice and heard cars honking as they drive by on the highway several hundred feet below. It must look like quite a site from below to see an illuminated sheet of ice with some crazy person on the wall like some deranged fly on a wall. I wonder what they think when I take a fall?

I've been lucky to have discovered the joys of ice climbing in the modern times. Ice climbing gear has seen a lot of advances over the last few years. I've recently acquired some new crampons and ice tools(ice axes for technical ice climbing). If you're not in the ice climbing circles then you probably have no idea of the current debate of whether crampons with mono or dual points are better. I went back and forth between the two when trying to decide which to buy for my new set of crampons. I found the solution, local gear innovators Black Diamond have created the Cyborg crampons which can switch from dual to mono with the twist of an hex wrench and a spacer. I haven't switched to the mono yet as we've had warm spells and the ice has been mushy in parts and I've wanted the security of dual points. If we don't get a good cold snap I may just switch to the mono-point when I do some dry tooling or mixed climbing in spring.

I really love these new Black Diamond Cyborg
crampons, especially for the variety of conditions in which I've climbed recently. They come complete with anti-balling plates for glacier use as well as just keeping the snow from collecting underfoot on the trek from the car to the base of the climb. All this gear costs a lot of money it's nice when you get the product and use it and don't wish you had your money back.

Adventure in the Mountains

All of my favorite adventures seem to be in the mountains. My earliest memories of exploring and really feeling alive are from my time in the mountains. From my 8th birthday trip to Yellowstone to the trips to the summit of Willard Peak. I loved the variety of things the mountains had to offer, raging waterfalls, animals big and small. My favorite thing has always been the high overlooks and cliffs where you could see for miles and miles out over river basins and farmland. I recall being amazed that the mountains I could see from my home were not the end but just the start of of the great Wasatch Range. I wanted to see was behind each wave like ridge, what sort of things would I find in the valleys.

I've always loved climbing rocks and boulders. Even as a non-rock climbing adult I often felt like a kid as my family and I ventured out in the area canyons and I soon found myself scrambling up easy 5.3 and 5.4 type walls. Working out moves and holds just always seemed like so much fun.

As I've become more adept at the various types of climbing I've found even more joy in realizing the opportunities that open up because of my new found talent. Mountaineering and heading off into the wooded hills and snow clogged chutes is a lot more fun now that I have some knowledge and experience to back it up. Learning the technical nature of ice and rock climbing keeps my mind working as well as my fatigued limbs.

I hope to be able to chronicle my various adventures and do a better job of getting photographic evidence to share the beauty that is to be had in the Utah mountains and the mountains all over the world.