Leaving Ouray today!

Oh well, it all comes to an end. It has absolutely dumped with snow the past 2 - 3 days. Ouray was amazing, 65+ ice routes climbed, a few days of 'backcountry skiing' on some great peaks, an afternoon of nordic skiing and lots of great people along the way. We even managed to blag a half day skiing at Telluride for free!! Still not sure how we managed that though!?!

Here are some photos of the final few days here:

Sarah's new horny friend!!!

Sarah making her way up through the trees towards Brown Mountain Peak.

Me making my way up through the trees towards Brown Mountain Peak.

Art photo!!!

Skiing in the San Juans, Colorado.

Today was an amazing day. We made a ski ascent of MacMillan Peak in the San Juans off the Red Mountain Pass. Not technical, but just pure fun off piste in the US Basin area. Ascended on skins and came back down in powder of the open US Basin and through the trees. Then we headed up the other side of the pass towards Trico Peak and had some brilliant powder runs on the way back down too.

Sarah ascending the pack trail with an old mine working ahead.

Looking back over to Trico Peak on the other side of the Red Mountain Pass.

Sarah making tracks towards Macmillan Peak.

Sarah descending the trees.

What, more ice?

The last few days we have still been privaleged to be basking in Sunshine and climbing more ice. We headed out for some of the classic routes. Whitt's World, Pic o the Vic, Tooth Decay, Winding, Sunscreen etc.

Sarah on Tooth Decay, WI5

Unknown Climber on the top section of Popsicle, WI5

2 climbers on the classics Whitt's World WI4 (Nearest) and Pic o the Vic WI4+ (furthest)

Sarah nearing the top of Whitt's World

Sarah nearing the top of Pic o the Vic

Tomorrow, we going exploring on Ski from Red Mountain Pass on the Million Dollar Highway to Macmillan Peak, 12800 ft.

More Ouray Ice!

Well, just to keep you drooling at the ice over here, some more photos of Ouray's offerings!

Sarah leading in the New Funtier.

Bridalveil Falls in all its Glory, with a guided party about half way up on the left.

Dave placing an ice screw on the lead in the South Park area.

Unknown Climber on the Classic Pic 'o' the Vic.

Unknown climber on the mixed classic Tic-Tac in the Stonefree area of the Ouray Ice Park.

One of the Local Guides preparing a mixed route for use with his client.

The local Skiing and Climbing Guru, sponsored by Pro-Tec!!!!

Ouray, Colorado - Ice Climbing Nirvana!

The past few days have been spent recovering from a bit of Jet Lag inter mixed with a whole heap of Ice climbing fun. The Ouray Ice Climbing Festival has been in full 'swing' and it is such an impressive set up and place. Middle America is being very cool right now.

It has been blue skies and sunny since we got here, apart from yesterday, when it dumped over 12 inches of fresh powder snow!

Below are a few picks to make you think about all that is available over the pond.

Marc Beverly on Goldline (M10) at the Poser's Lounge Area, Camp Bird Road.

The Ice Fest Gear tents.

Unknown Climber coming out from behind the curtain.

Competitor Josh, on the Route 'Heavy Petting'.

Oscar on Stone Free WI5.

Slackliner above the Stonefree area.

Sarah in the Hot tub after a hard day on ice!

Cwm Idwal Ice

The high pressure lingering over us on Saturday and bringing the return of the very cold snap after a slight warming thaw made the mind tick and after a phone call to Baggy, a plan was hatched. So sunday saw an early start and a quick hike into Cwm Idwal. The night had been cold and there was plenty of ice on the ground, giving good hints of what could be about.

We headed for Central Route as we had heard a few ascents had been made recently, even though it didn't look that fat on new year's day. We Soloed this followed by soloing the Ramp.

After descending back into the Cwm we went to the base of the Curtain and climbed this next, it was a lot more solid than it actually looked! Next followed an ascent of the Screen, a little damp, but well formed, with good bottom and top sections.

Lastly, we wandered over to the Devil's Cellar which gave us the best climbing of the day. Sporting two very good pitches and very good ice, it gave a fitting finale to a great day out.

There were apparently over a dozen teams on the Idwal Stream today and i've had reports of lots of action happening on the South Wales ice too, with folks on the Torpantau Falls and RAC Corner.

Conditions look like they are set to stay with us for the forthcoming week, so happy climbing. However, my tools are packed and i'm heading for Ouray on Wednesday.

Cold Snap

North Wales has been under a very cold weather pattern for over a week now and the ever hopeful climber (Baggy) invited me out for new year's day to check out if anything was in condition and climbable. We wandered into Cwm Idwal having heard reports of folks having climbed on Central Route. At arrival at the head of the lake it was obvious that not a lot was in.

There were the usual ice suspects like Idwal Stream, but even that was looking fairly brittle and thin. Two folks were scrambling 'with axes' on Idwal Staircase which had a smattering of verglas. With not much water around or what is is locked into the ground, things aren't fat. The same is the case in the Pass as well with a few smatterings of hopeful ice, but nothing fat enough to excite.

Never mind, I'm off to Colorado next week for some Ouray Ice action of which it is very fat and there is plenty of it!!!

Pen Yr Ole Wen from Cwm Idwal