hkrhnk11 Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Anyone already have plans to get down to Ouray '09? I was thinking about going solo, but would rather slpit gas with someone. It'd also be nice to climb with someone I already new/ had cragged with before. Thought about flying, but figured airfare+rental car would end up being more than gas (depending on vehicle). Anyone with experience on that? Are things close enough that you get away without a car? -Tyson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genepires Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 If time is scarce, flying could buy you another climbing day or two. the drive is a solid 24 hours with good conditions. The flight to denver and drive to ouray will cost you one day each way. you "could" stay in the vic or any other hotel in town and walk to the ice park easily. The common place to stay is the riverside inn and bungalos but that is a little far to walk every day. If you could find a bus the get from the airport north of ouray (I forget the town but I remember it costing a lot more to fly there) then walking every where is a possibility. But if you have more than 4 days there, it is real nice to get out of the ice park and do some of the other great places. SIlverton comes to mind as well as the many places between. feel free to pm me with any more questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 PDX -> Ouray: 19 hours in ideal conditions. If you're talking about the Ouray Ice Festival I would seriously reconsider especially if you hope to ice climb more than you stand around watching others ice climb. The problem with the OIF is it is so damn popular that you get to share a little ice with a lot of people which sucks for you. Dont get me wrong... the OIF is one big party but at least for me if I am going to spend that much cash to get there I want to climb as much ice as possible! IMHO you will get much more ice climbing in and will drive less if you attend the Bozeman Ice Festival (Bozeman is 12 hours away). I know a few people that will be attending the Bozeman Ice Festival this year (myself included). Less people and more ice and just as many clinics to attend as OIF. As far as flying vs driving to ice climb it comes down to how cheap you get your plane tickets/rental car vs what kind of gas mileage your car gets + how many people you carpool with. Obviously booking your tickets way in advance makes things much cheaper but depending on where you are going you could potentially screw yourself if conditions were teh suck when it finally came time to fly to your destination. I’ve known a few people that booked tickets to Canmore and the week they were there couldn’t really climb any of the routes they had been planning on/hoping for as the avy danger was out of sight. Other things to consider include most airlines have revised their carry on luggage rules and unless you travel really really light chances are you going to have to pay for a second checked bag (price varies airline to airline). As far as renting a car you can roll the dice and go cheap but if conditions are rough you might end up biting the bullet and having to buy chains or worse… not getting to climb at all as your rental car doesn’t have 4x4 and/or AWD. You can reserve a AWD/4x4 car but they bump your total cost. With that said I have flown to Bozeman a few times for 129 one way which is cheaper than driving unless you can get 4 people in a car that gets respectable gas mileage. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScaredSilly Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Ditto with what John said. OIF is really a big social scene. That is unless you walk up the road and do some of the climbs not in the park. And there are some fine climbs to be had. If you want to fly Grand Junction is your best bet as it a 2 hour drive from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 The other bummer about OIF week/weekend is all the motels/hotels bump their prices But yeah: camp bird road has some rad climbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hkrhnk11 Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 Thnks-all the replies were helpful. I had a feeling that Ouray would be more stnding around than climbing, which seems like a sacrifice of my precious vacation time. Is there anywhere to camp at Bozeman for the Ice Fest? Is that a dumb idea("you'll freeze your junk off, kid")? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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