goatboy Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Trip: SW Colorado - Ouray and Telluride - Many Date: 1/22/2007 Trip Report: SW Colorado is a lovely place to visit, and the Ouray Ice Park in particular is a wonderful place for skill development. I recently spent a week there with my wife and another couple, and worked on all kinds of skills, some of which was refresher, some of which was new. Refresher skills included: leading easy ice (WI2-3), placing screws, top-roping harder routes (WI4-5). New skills for me included learning a bit about mixed climbing (on TR) and making Abalokov's (which I knew in theory but had never actually practiced doing before). Highlights of the trip: 1) Great company 2) Very affordable trip! Under $250 per person for the entire week....unbelievable!!! 3) Fat, fun ice at Ouray and outside of Telluride 4) A fun night in Durango to top things off Ice report: Ice Park is crowded on weekends, but very reasonable midweek. Great ice conditions, the fattest I've seen there. Telluride/Ames area ice is incredibly fat right now, more than I've seen in the past. For example, AMES ICE HOSE is incredibly fat at the moment, especially the cruxy first pitch. We didn't climb it, but we did climb nearby Ames Falls. Camp Bird Mine Road area is also much fatter than usual. See more detailed conditions report at ICE CONDITIONS LINK The reasons the trip was so affordable: 1) Used frequent flier miles to get plane tickets from Seattle to Grand Junction. Got picked up in Junction by friends who drove from Utah. No rental car needed. Bought beer and groceries in Junction (rather than at the absurd Ouray rates for food). 2) Rented a cabin (through the Old Victorian) and cooked all meals there, except for 2 dinners total on the whole trip. We ate like kings. 3) Had breakfast every day either in the cabin or at the free Old Victorian continental breakfast 4) Capped the trip with a great dinner at the Steamworks Brewery in Durango -- fun place, great Imperial IPA and buffalo wings... I have tried twice to upload photos but for some reason there's a problem with the photos at the moment -- so sorry, none at this time -- will try later. Overall review: Really great trip, excellent weather and conditions, and a very good place to build skills and experience AS LONG AS YOU AVOID THE CROWDS (i.e. Ice Fest and Weekends in general) Gear Notes: Exactly what you'd expect. Approach Notes: Be aware of Avy Conditions for backcountry routes -- not an issue at the Ice Park, however Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevino Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Can't wait to see pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blakej Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Heres another good link for colorado ice conditions http://www.jackrobertsclimbing.com/icecond.html as was said colorado ice is super fat this year and many new routes are being climbed and rarely forming routes are looking great. Anyone coming out here give me a shout and I'd be glad to get some ice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.