Ice climbing in Ouray, CO

[Mile High Mania]

Question... has anyone here been ice climbing before? A buddy of mine and my oldest son are going to Ouray in December for 5 days. Doing a guided ice climb and we have a list of things to account for, just curious if anyone here has any experience or guidance for rookies.

Aside from two 50+ year old guys trying to keep up with my 21 year old son and not making complete fools of ourselves, I think it's going to be a fun trip.

[TimeForWasp]

I'm going to do the same thing in Belize.

[DaFace]

Never done it myself, but a buddy of mine is a big climber and goes to Ouray every few years. Let me know if there are any specific questions, and I'm happy to pass them on.

From my perspective, it's a pretty chill place to go as ice climbing goes. The whole area is man made in a sense (water pipes at the top of a narrow canyon). There will be tons of people around, and it'll be highly organized. I have to imagine that help isn't far away if it's ever needed.

[Mile High Mania]

Originally Posted by Otter

Never done but if your buddy is driving in from low elevation tell him to give the vehicle a good tune up before driving in. Especially the air filter.

You see a lot of drivers waiting for triple A with Nebraska and surrounding states license plates.

You getting a guide or gonna go commando?

Have fun!

Definitely doing the guided route, a couple of 1/2 day adventures.

Yeah, we're driving in from Texas... believe we have the best path available and driving a Tacoma TRD 4x4 off road, so we shall see. I'll definitely have everything looked at prior and somebody mentioned putting sand bags in the bed, not sure if that's required or if so, how much.

Originally Posted by DaFace

Never done it myself, but a buddy of mine is a big climber and goes to Ouray every few years. Let me know if there are any specific questions, and I'm happy to pass them on.

From my perspective, it's a pretty chill place to go as ice climbing goes. The whole area is man made in a sense (water pipes at the top of a narrow canyon). There will be tons of people around, and it'll be highly organized. I have to imagine that help isn't far away if it's ever needed.

I think most of our questions have been answered - the guides provide everything with the exception of clothing obviously, but layering is the key.

[Holladay]

Camelback for hydration?

SCUBA tank for air?

Mole Skin for blisters?

Cinnamon Schnapps for lucidity?

Monster for energy?

Depends for...you know, emergencies?

Freedrop Airbags for in case you screw up? That is where the Depends come in handy...

Boy Scout Motto:

[Mile High Mania]

Ok, so last week we spent 5 days in Ouray and we did ice climbing on two of those days. It was a blast, but it was also quite humbling. If you don't trust your feet, you're screwed and it takes some time to get there. My oldest (21) was all over the ice and did an amazing job. If you ever have that itch to scratch, I highly endorse giving this a try. It's not too expensive either and the guides were great.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

Ok, so last week we spent 5 days in Ouray and we did ice climbing on two of those days. It was a blast, but it was also quite humbling. If you don't trust your feet, you're screwed and it takes some time to get there. My oldest (21) was all over the ice and did an amazing job. If you ever have that itch to scratch, I highly endorse giving this a try. It's not too expensive either and the guides were great.

I'm glad you had a good time. Ouray is a sneaky cool town.

As for me, my climbing is mostly concentrated on stairs these days. They're kind of challenging.

[sd4chiefs]

Sounds like fun.

[scho63]

I don't want to run into any Fargin Iceholes!

[ntexascardfan]

When were you out there? My girlfriend and I spent a few days out there in early December.

Pretty great time of year to be out there. The skiing is on the other side of the mountain, so it's one of the few mountain towns that have a genuine off-season. We had restaurants all to ourselves and the hot springs were pretty slow too.

They were preparing Box Canon when we were out there, so I'm assuming you all were a week or two after we were there.

[Mile High Mania]

Originally Posted by ntexascardfan

When were you out there? My girlfriend and I spent a few days out there in early December.

Pretty great time of year to be out there. The skiing is on the other side of the mountain, so it's one of the few mountain towns that have a genuine off-season. We had restaurants all to ourselves and the hot springs were pretty slow too.

They were preparing Box Canon when we were out there, so I'm assuming you all were a week or two after we were there.

Yeah, it was last week (Sun-Friday). Came back for NYE... the park opened on the 24th, I think. They're about to kick off their 3 week ice festival. Great little town. Lots of great food.

Assuming you had a burger at Maggies and maybe a few stouts at the Grumpy place next door? A couple of those places have some amazing breakfast tacos, which were really just huge burritos. Crazy good unless you're on a diet.

[ntexascardfan]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

Yeah, it was last week (Sun-Friday). Came back for NYE... the park opened on the 24th, I think. They're about to kick off their 3 week ice festival. Great little town. Lots of great food.

Assuming you had a burger at Maggies and maybe a few stouts at the Grumpy place next door? A couple of those places have some amazing breakfast tacos, which were really just huge burritos. Crazy good unless you're on a diet.

Totally did! I live in Colorado Springs and we're looking at getting a second home in Montrose to have easier access to Telluride, Durango, and the Black Canyon. I do quite a bit of fly fishing, so having an outpost to some of those western rivers will be great.