Day 2 in the Ouray Ice Park

The day broke to consistently perfect weather. We chow down to eggs, sausage, waffles, cereal, bagels and whatever Betty has ready for us at the COMFORT INN in Ouray and meet for breakfast at 7am to plan the days climbing. I have yet to see NAZ or Saif. Lee Jenkins and Sir Simon finally made an appearance in South Park. Pete Smithniak and Alaska Karl have been hard at it around the park. The weather has been about in the mid to upper 20s with blue sky and sunshine. WAIT!! Are we still talking about ICE Climbing?

John and I started on an easy route in the school room and moved over to Grad school. He lowered me in about 25m and I climbed back out.. We spent the rest of the day at the New Funtier doing laps on Miller WI4 and beaver WI3.

We "BILED" at 230 i thinking we were gonna do the ELKs Club prime rib gig tonight for $20 at 6pm but that was 3 hours away. We did the usual and got a "SAMICH" at the backstreet Bistro and realized our Ice Park membership discount which comes in handy all around town.

It started to DUMP around 330 and so far has snowed about 8-10". Simon and Lee are headed to Telluride (TA HELL Ya RIDE) for a day of skiing. I didn't bring any ski stuff to make this strictly an ice climbing gig. But there is a lot of stuff to keep you busy and exhausted. The altitude still has some of us sucking air and getting a little winded ( a little lol) just walking around...getting better.

So tomorrow will be another clear blue sunny day here in Ouray. GOD I can't stand this!!

BTW, with all the talk about my new Patagonia Micro puff P/O , i have only worn my usual 2 base layer tops, NO fleece and my shell for the last 3 days. That's it- prefect climbing weather OMG.

Base of New Funtier		"School Room" walk down. Scary shit in crampons and a pack.
The New funtier. "Capt. Godammit WI3"	The river flows

First Day in the Park

The gang began to arrive in Ouray on the 20th to beautiful weather in the upper 20's blue skies.

John Smith , Jason Es and myself headed to South Park early and set up a couple of ropes by 9am. There was a 40% chance of snow today but the sun came out and it was just a beautiful beautiful day climbing with temps in the upper 20's. We hooked up with Kevin Donovan and Hillary, whom we climbed with last year and had a number of ropes going at once! Naz called us and I think she had Lee Jenkins, Saif, and Peter in tow but they never made as far as South Park today and stayed I think at the New Funtier. The river is flowing this year. The park has aluminum ladders across the river and ya have to walk across to belay just like in stuff you see on Everest. The is is great!

Jason who had never seen a crampon or ice tool took to the ice with annoying expertise. The last straw came when Jason climbed SUPER FUN TIME WI4 like he'd been climbing all his life, the stout column at the top was in good form this year and so was jason. Pretty gosh darn GREAT day for a newby! Congrats Jason-your are born again!

Ouray Ice Park Trip 2011

We have nearly 10 people on board for this excursion to ICE Disney in the Colorado Rockie's town of Ouray.

The Ice festival is the weekend of the 9-12th which will be beyond crowded but something I'd like to attend some day.

The following weekend is that of Martin Luther King holiday and I'd anticipate a holiday crowd, so I chose the following weekend. (I will arrive on the 20th and leave on the 28th.)

This is an open ended trip, come for this weekend for sure if you want to get in on a day clinic through the San Juan Mountain guides. The rest of the time you can just top rope to your heart's content with the rest of us. So come for the weekend or stay a week.

Ouray Mountain Sports has gear rentals, but borrow as much as you can to save if you wish.

You can save 20-25% on accommodations while in Ouray simply by purchasing a membership to the ice park for $40. This card gets you 10-25% discounts on meals and much much more!

Here is a list of hotels and motels
Check out the Victorian, Comfort Inn and the Ouray Chalet for their features and discounts.

DELTA flights from the DC (DCA) area fly to Atlanta then on to Montrose, Colorado (MTJ); my RT fare was $296 total. Many hotels offer free shuttle to and from the Montrose airport. You DO NOT need a car rental on this trip! Buy your tickets soon!!! They have gone up about $25 as of Dec.1.

PLEASE READ ABOUT THE 2010 TRIP on this blog- not much has changed. I am using a google document spreadsheet to organize who is going, and what gear, accommodations and flights we all need to know about.  

Well that's all I have for now.

The Cohort

As fantastic as Ouray and the surrounding area may be, this trip would not have been as wonderful for me without my friends from the Potomac Mountain Club. John Oster . . . thank you for being the driving force behind the whole endeavour. Stephen McKay, Lee Jenkins, Bill Dudley, Naz Ahmed & Vincent Penoso all gave me belays at some point. Christy Dudley, what can I say other than to apologize for not having a photo of you. What a good sport you are. Thank you all again!

The Ouray Ice Park Primer

Map from p.18, Ice Fest Feature Article, Vol.14, No.1, Thursday, January 7,2010: WATCHNEWSPAPERS.COM
THE WATCH: Serving Telluride, Mountain Village, Ridgeway, Ouray, Montrose, Norwood and the Western San Juans.

The town of Ouray caters to ice climbers during their slow winter season in a number of attractive ways. The Ouray Ice Park is free, but they sell a $40 membership that I encourage everyone to purchase no matter when during the ice season you will visit. Right off the bat we got a 20% discount at participating hotels which paid for itself. Participating merchants offer 10% discounts of food and merchandise across town!

I flew RT from Washington, DC., the nation's bulls eye to Montrose for $278. We didn't need a car while in Ouray. Food was a pricey affair but the usually very satisfying.

Ice Climbing is what this park is all about and Ouray Mountain Sports has everything you could possibly want for climbing. The also rent gear and bend over backwards to outfit your day.


Ouray Ice Park: Support the park with the park membership of $40.

Accomodations:


There are a number of options in the town of Ouray. We made reservations at the Comfort Inn which is a block off Main street and conveniently located to restaurants and to the climbing. I would walk main street out of town south (Million dollar highway) to the bridge, a pleasant and gradual morning walk that took me 20-23 minutes (YMMV). Most people, I guess, approach by way of 3rd avenue, and skirt box canyon road UP to the bridge (I come home this way since it is a faster down-hill walk).

The comfort Inn affords the ice climber a full breakfast, an accommodating staff and a caring host and hostess, Betty and Ted , who make you feel like you are visiting them instead of the town of Ouray. Goes without saying, the staff is Ice climber friendly because they are ice climbers themselves.

Betty and Ted will make your ice climbing visit very special! Betty's cookies, which live on a bottomless plate at the front desk, come fresh from an oven daily waiting for you as your stumble in from a hard day of swinging picks!

Guests of this Ouray hotel are invited to enjoy many amenities and features, including:

• Free enhanced continental breakfast with homemade Belgian waffles
• Free wireless high-speed Internet access
• Free local calls
• Year-round outdoor hot tub and sundeck
• Pet-friendly hotel (nightly fee)
• Free Shuttle to and from Montrose airport when available.

After playing on the ice or in the snow, imagine sitting in the hotel's outdoor hot tub and soaking while the snow falls around and the mountains tower above. The hotel also offers jeep rentals, half-price entrance into the Ouray Hot Springs Pool and Park and a 20 percent discount for Ouray Ice Park members.

FYI for the next time -- a vacation rental in downtown Ouray: http://www.alpenglow-properties.com/apo.html

Walkable to eats and drinks (IMHO, the restaurants in town are a bit spendy so bring your own groceries and take advantage of the condo's kitchen). Condos sleep up to 8 or 10 (I forget). I'd get a group together and pro-rate the fees, which makes for a very reasonable weekend.

Peter Hsi

With all the food options available to the visiting ice climber, after while you may grow weary of the restaurant atmosphere, wait and prices. The backstreet deli fills this niche for the frugal and the hungry.Open for breakfast and lunch, the back street deli offers a reasonable and delicious alternative to the limited breakfast options. Bagels and awesome coffee will satisfy the picky pallet's alpine start. On Tuesdays, when many of the restaurants are closed, Rob offers an exciting alternative with a refreshing dinner special for $14. which includes3 courses. The Backstreet will being moving a few blocks to the north and will continue to serve the climbers of Ouray.

If chocolate is your weakness, Mouses's chocolate shop offers a wide selection from a local chocolatiers craft. They specialize in chocolate ice climbing sculptures that impress the eyes and quench your chocolate cravings. A wide variety of chocolate sweets make great gifts and make a wonderful after dinner treat.



AIRLINES:

Continental Airlines has such a NON-Southwest Airlines feel to them. From the stiff armed distance their website feel has to it or the impossibility of speaking to a live person on the phone, and the mechanical demeanor of their flight attendants this airline scores a D minus in my travel raiting. If I could I'd fly South West. The only good thing was the reserved seating on this airline.

Remembering Ouray

SPECIAL THANKS: Lee Jenkins

I want to thank Lee Jenkins for all his support on our trip. Lee took great pleasure in prepping our group with Beta in the form of maps and hard intel months before our trip. He also primed us on the Ouray survival book he is writing which covers everything from from routes to Lee approved and rated restaurants in Ouray and the surrounding area. He has done it all! Thanks for shuttling our tired asses around as well Lee, we owe ya!