It’s been a great winter for ice climbing so far in Ouray!  Ice conditions are awesome—bolstered by a good melt-freeze cycle of cold nights and mostly temperate, sunny days. The lack of significant snow storms has made for minimal backcountry avalanche hazard—meaning we have our choice of climbing in the Ouray Ice Park (a great place to work on skills) or on any of the local backcountry classic climbs.
So far we’ve had fun teaching Beginning and Intermediate Ice Climbing, as well as a great week with the Ouray Climbers Reunion polishing skills and climbing multi-pitch ice routes in the backcountry like Goldrush, 2nd Gulley, and Whorehouse Hoses, and Horsetail Falls. It’s always fun to see friends from past IMG programs climbing here in Ouray! Beyond that, the guides are busy with custom/private climbs—this might be our most popular way to come climb in Ouray: climb on days that work for you, with your own crew.
The season will be winding down in early March. There are a couple of programs with space available still: Feb 19th-20th Intro to Ice, and our 5-day Ice Climbing Seminar, Feb 21-25. Give us a call if you’re interested in climbing with us on one of these, or we’d be happy to set you up with a guide for few days of custom/private climbing.
Happy climbing!
–Justin Merle
Working on climbing technique in the Ouray Ice Park