Ouray - Telluride Trip

     Hello again winter fans. Tyler here, reporting on another spectacular climbing and skiing outing. This time, in the San Juan range in southwestern Colorado. My co-worker Tobin and I had three days off of work and shot like a cannon across the state to get at some ice and snow. Our destinations were icey Ouray, and snowy Telluride. We left Boulder at 5 am on Wednesday, and were planning to spend the next day and a half  climbing ice in Ouray, before heading to Telluride to cut some turns in-bounds style. On Friday, we would head back to town on the other side of the state. Quick trips like these are one of the pleasures of living in a state as varied, but also central as Colorado.

within the ice park, upper bridge area

looking out to some gnarly icicles near the lower bridge area

     Ouray is home to the famous Ouray Ice Park, one of humanity's more creative works. The town of Ouray is encircled by the Uncompagre Gorge, a 100 foot gash in the geography. In the 90's, a local business owner and ice climber thought that farming ice within the gorge would bring a lot of people to the town in winter, when tourism would otherwise be down. Throughout the years, locals have rerouted water to drip over the lip of the gorge, allowing ice to develop over time. The result is more ice than you could shake a pick at. Wall to wall ice through miles of the gorge in good condition is enough to make any ice monkey weep tears of joy.

     The Ouray Ice Park is the premier ice climbing destination in the state. The climbing is strenuous, with most routes tallying in at 100 feet or over. Although I was able to put up one lead on an easier flow, most of our climbing was spent top roping some of the gnarlier ice we could find. The climbing was varied, technical, and very sustained and with generally good quality ice. We put ourselves up in a local establishment, and resigned to studying our guidebooks for more ice. The next morning, we would climb the ice park, then head to Telluride in the afternoon.

heres me climbing in the five-fingers area; the crux is coming up
photo credit: Tobin C.

exploring nearby box canyon falls

day 2: schoolroom area

the great frozen training center; our rope is the blue one hung
 on the right with no one on it

     The weather was clear upon our afternoon drive to Telluride, although skies quickly turned cloudy. Right after we arrived, the snow began. The next morning, we were graced with six inches of wonderful champagne powder. This was my first day inbounds of the season, and I was really able to put my fresh planks to the test. We ripped some aspen glades early on straight off the lift in order to reap the powder harvest, much to our glee. We cruised the mountain for the better part of the day, and met with a few of Tobin's local friends for some turns.  
     Later that day, we packed up and waved goodbye to sweet Telluride and the San Juans. We drove through the waning light and into the night back down the I-70 gauntlet to make it back to town, 70 hours after we had left. And three days and a shotgun trip later, I was back at work. Our trip had gone off without a hitch. We made great time, climbed at skied to our hearts content, and enjoyed ourselves doing it. All within a half-day's drive of the Front Range.

me shreddin' a groomer; photo credit: Tobin's aunt Mary

a moment's clarity on a stormy morning at telluride

Obligatory Disclaimer

Hey everyone. This is my obligatory 'climbing and skiing are dangerous' disclaimer post. 

Warning! Climbing and skiing are inherently dangerous. Serious injury or death may result from the physical demands or falls sustained while climbing or skiing. Individuals and organizations reading posts on Wanders Log bear the responsibility of learning the proper techniques and safety procedures required for safety while climbing and skiing, and assume all risks and accept full and complete responsibility for any damages or injury that may result from their use or misuse of the information contained herein.

Things you may see in my blog can often be very technical, and although sometimes seem simple in principle, can easily be taken out of context or misunderstood. Always use caution in the mountains and be sure to investigate your own systems constantly, and be vigilant of danger to yourself and your team. My own systems are 'works-in-progress', and revision is sometimes necessary.  Be mindful of the risks you undertake.

A Cold Morning's Climbing near the Divide

     January is here and ice season is going strong. I spent this morning near the continental divide, in the Front Range, and it was wind-howling, snow-blowing cold out there. Although the approach was harrowing, the wind nearly abated at the ice flow's location. Nearly. 

fellow ice monkeys hitting it up

     I thought I would be alone at the ice when I started the approach up, but was surprised to see some climbers from Denver hacking away. Our recent snow in the eastern Front Range made for fat ice, and there was much to go around.

my chest-harness setup

     My goal for today was to test out a self belay system. This is a rope system that allows one to essentially belay themselves along as you go creep upwards. A local AMGA guide taught me this system during a self rescue clinic that I took back in September. I put to use a system in which you pull slack through a Black Diamond ATC Guide in "guide mode" as you climb upward. Also, as instructed by a co-worker, I was using a Petzl Mini-Traxion self-jamming pully on a chest harness as a kind of backup. The pulley works by camming the rope as you slide it up. This specialized device is usually used for glacier travel or wall-climbing, but it works great for ice too.

ATC Guide in guide-mode

     You can see the ATC setup in the photo above. The great thing about guide mode is that you can use it to ascend ropes. If you have something attached to the rope above, you can unweight the ATC and pull slack through it. Because of it's orientation, it locks itself off onto the rope, so that if I were to fall, I wouldn't go anywhere. When you get to the top, you clip the lower carabiner on the ATC into your belay loop, and you are on rappel, and can zing back down to the ground.
     The system worked well. Once you got a few feet up, the rope would often feed itself through the pulley device. Although I would still have to rest and pull slack through the ATC, the pulley was often enough security to make a good move or two.
     You can also see  in the photo that I was set up and ready climb in my big belay parka. It was truly a chilly one.

a sweet lead by another local

     I was pleased to get back to the mountains and test out a new system this morning. I even made some new friends. Another fine day in Colorado.