During the winter of 99 while on break from grad. school, one of my buddies and I planned our first winter mountaineering trip. We decided to drive to Durango CO where we planned to climb Engineer Mountain. Neither one of us was an experienced mountaineer at the time,but we both had considerable climbing, hiking and winter camping experience. We researched the trip exhaustively. We gathered maps, inventoried equipment, and practiced our techniques all from the mountainous regions of Western Illinois.
An Illinois mountain scene taken from Jimmedia on Flickr
The climb of Engineer Mountain is a story in and of itself. Highlights include: one climber with snowshoes and the other post holing to his hip every other step; a drunken moonlight hike to base camp, scavengers in our food stash, a late evening search for a climbing partner who went snowboarding alone, and some Acute Mountain Sickness. It was awesome! Learn More about Engineer Mountain here:
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150328/engineer-mountain.html.
After getting spanked on Engineer, we decided to check out something called the Ouray Ice
Festival we had heard about. After a few hours of driving treacherous mountain roads we arrived to what turned out to be one of the coolest events I've ever been to. We arrived late and poached a campsite in a closed campground. In the morning we went to a coffee shop. While reading a current issue of Rock and Ice Mag., we realized that the guys sitting down at our table were on the cover! We didn't do any climbing during that festival but I would later return to the town of Ouray, more experienced and better equipped.
In 2006, Anne surprised me with an airline ticket that would get me to the beautiful town of Ouray CO via Grand Junction just in time for the Ice Festival. One of my friends, Kelly Webb had recently relocated to Ouray with his wife and daughter. Not only did he pick me up from the airport but they put me up for the weekend. He also acted as my very own private guide in the ice park.
The festival had grown quite a bit since the last time I had been there. It was insane! More vendor tents, more competitors, louder music, more spectators, more media, and more freebies.
Onlookers can stand on the bridge crossing the lower end of the canyon to watch the competitors climbing.
There is also a slack line competition where the bravest, drunkest or craziest climbers attempt to tight rope walk across the canyon. It makes for a great spectacle.
Above all the competition and spectator crazinest is where the climbers will go. Designated a "Crampon and Helmet Zone", steep and icy trails skirt along the edge of the canyon. Although many routes were reserved for classes and workshops, it is a pretty long canyon with a number of fingers and climbing areas. The areas have been given some great names such as South Park, New Funtier and Shit House Wall.
Kelly and I would start our morning off with coffee and a short drive up to the Canyon. We wanted to be on the ice by 7Am to be sure that we got a good route. It was very crowded if you can believe that. In most cases we would pick our route, set up our top roped anchoring system then drop into the canyon by rappelling.
In many cases we were belaying from on top of moving water. In some places, ice fall had broken through and the rushing water was apparent.
Its hard to get good photos when there are only two of you. One person must work the ropes as the belayer while the other is climbing. You can't really yell up to the climber,"Don't fall while I take my hands off the rope to hold the camera?" That's why you will find a lot of "before" and "after" shots as well as pictures of people climbing next to you.
These are some of the images from one of the narrow corridors in which we climbed. These aren't of us but of the folks climbing next to us. I only wished we were climbing with a third person who could have taken these silhouetted shots of our climbs. Maybe out there somewhere these guys were taking pictures back at us and have posted the same.
The canyon falls into a shadow most of the day, but as the sun moves overhead the condition of the ice begins to deteriorate. Larger and larger chunks of ice continue to break off with each climb and plummet to the canyon floor. Everyone in the canyon must pay close attention to their surroundings so that they don't get squashed.
Imagine that as a belayer standing at the bottom of the climb, someone on the cliff side continuously throws buckets of crushed ice cubes on your head. Every time the climber swings his or her ice tool, the ice shatters a little. Occasionaly a larger chunk will break free. You constantly hear people screaming "Ice!!!" or "Rock!!!" as these chuncks come down. Belayers try to position themselves to protect from these falling hazards. The sound of the ice falling in the canyon is much like 100s of glass bottles being shattered in the street.
We aren't just enjoying nature in the Ice Park. As a matter of fact, the ice has been created artificially. For more info see the video at the end of this posting. There is more of a party atmosphere in the air. In the background we hear an eclectic mix of music pumping through the canyon; Red Hot Chili Peppers followed by James Brown, then The Chemical Brothers. It really sets the atmosphere and gets you pumped.
We climbed like this for fours days straight. Kelly and Jen were the most gracious hosts. The Festival never disappoints.
I can't describe the sense of satisfaction I get from spending time climbing with my bros like Kelly. It is always a powerful experience, being in nature, experiencing God's creation so fully, sharing such a close bond with friends, and pushing one's self to achieve.
One of the things I love so much about my wife is that, even though she doesn't share quite so perverse of a love for the outdoors as I, she recognizes how important it is to me. I was unable to make a trip to Ouray in 2007 but thanks to Anne, I will be "Freezing My Ice Off" again at the Festival in 2008. At around 11am today I was on speakerphone with my long time climbing partner and good friend Matt trying to get signed up for the same workshops at this year's upcoming festival. Registration went on line at 11 this morning! This will be Matt's first Ice Festival, Its never boring when Kelly is around, and hopefully this year Jen will be able to join us climbing (as she had a baby in her belly in 2006!)
Just to give you a little taste and get you as psyched about this as I am; here is a little video footage of the Ouray Ice Festival from Youtube. For full effect, turn up the computer volume, turn the AC up, fill two bowls with ice and put your bare feet in and enjoy...
I tried to get Anne to write a post about her new business but she is too embarrassed to write about herself. Once again, I am in awe of my wife. She has started her own massage therapy business and has already made allies with two very successful wellness businesses in town, BEE Green Organic Produce Co-op and Kai Yoga. She anticipates opening the doors on Dec. 1. She was meeting with the fire inspector this morning! Its a very exciting and scary time for Anne so she could use any words of encouragement you may have.
