OURAY ICE PARK 2017-18 by Barbara Kondracki

GUIDE 2017-18

23 ouray ice festival RD

ANNUAL

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O U R AY I C E PA R K . C O M

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A Great Place to Relax, Sleep and have fun!

Ridgway-Ouray Lodge & Suites is near the intersection of Highway 550 (The Magnificent San Juan Skyway) & 62 at 373 Palomino Trail

970-626-5444 or 800-368-5444 P.O.. Box 608 • Ridgway, Colorado 81432 • Fax 970-626-5898 www.RidgwayLodgeAndSuites.com • Reservations@RidgwayLodgeAndSuites.com 51 51 BOOK ON OUR WEBSITE FOR GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICE. USE CODE PROMR10 PRESENTATION | FEATURE | SCHEDULE | SPONSORS & BUSINESS PARTNERS | MEMORIAM 3

7 WELCOME 8 ABOUT OURAY ICE PARK 10 ABOUT OURAY 12 ICE PARK ETIQUETTE 14 WHAT’S NEW AT THE OURAY ICE PARK 16 THE FUTURE OF OURAY ICE PARK 18 PROFILE: VOLUNTEER MARTA MILES 19 ICE FEST RUNS ON VOLUNTEER POWER 20 PROFILE: ICE FARMER XANDER BIANCHI 22 MEET THE STAFF 24 MEET THE BOARD 26 MAP

29 FESTIVAL CONTENTS 54 IN MEMORIAM

COVER ART BY MIXED MEDIA ARTIST KELLIE DAY I like the way words mix with images, and often add Chinese take-out containers, chocolate wrappers and torn pages of books to my paintings that can be serendipitous to the viewer. If you look closely, you’ll find all kinds of surprises. All of my paintings are original mixed media pieces. I often begin a painting with collage because it adds so much texture and depth to the canvas. I love to allow the collage to peek through the painting. You might find part of a sufi poem, or a saucy romance novel, in the leaves of a tree or a mountain top. To learn more about my art and my story, visit me at kelliedayart.com.

P HOTO BY DAN C H E HAY L

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20% DISCOUNT FOR ICE PARK MEMBERS RESERVATIONS MUST BE MADE DIRECTLY THROUGH THE HOTEL TO RECEIVE DISCOUNT

191 5TH AVE., OURAY, COLORADO • OURAYCOMFORTINN.NET • (970) 325-7203

P HO T O B Y DAN CHE HAY L

Welcome to

Ouray Ouray Ice Park! T and the

his year marks the 23rd annual Ouray Ice Festival. I recall attending the very first Ice Fest in January, 1996. There were well under 100 in attendance. That year’s Ice Festival featured Duncan Ferguson on the sharp end of the rope, dancing up what would be later dubbed Duncan’s Delight. We all marveled at his precision, balance, and cool head as he tackled a climb in very anemic conditions (see: unprotectable). Duncan’s climbing demo was a precursor to the future climbing exhibitions and competitions that have become part and parcel with the Ouray Ice Festival. Nostalgic reflections also bring me back to later that same year when a tightly knit band of volunteers - fresh off installing the original wooden boardwalk in the Schoolroom prior to the 1996-7 season - decided to form the nonprofit entity Ouray Ice Park, Inc. The Park needed a more structured arrangement to manage the development and maintenance of the facility, as well as tackle fund raising. We took a straw poll to determine who wished to be an officer, etc. and then we went back to work stringing pipe, installing anchors, and putting our collective mark on what would arguably become the finest recreational ice climbing facility in all the lands. They were the best of times. The Park not only changed the dynamics of Ouray as a community, but it changed the sport of ice climbing as well. Ice climbing used to be a fringe activity. One that was only pursued by masochistic climbers with a perverse appetite for avalanche-prone terrain and sketchy anchoring

options. But as the sport grew in popularity, the equipment improved – dramatically! And the Ouray Ice Park played a big role in this development because we made ice climbing reachable for the masses, in a less hazardous environment. The Ouray Ice Park was built by climbers for climbers. And despite the passage of time and generational changeover, the number one reason people come to Ouray in the winter is because they want to sample the ice climbing. However, increased popularity coupled with a challenging climate has conspired to make it more and more difficult to find adequate ice to meet the demands. So please do your part. If you see someone hopelessly seeking out a route on a busy day in the Park, ask them to join your party. Share the terrain, put a debit in your climbing karma bank, and make some new friends. When you make your way around Ouray and the Ice Park this weekend, please make it a point to do the following: pay a visit to the Ice Festival vendors and thank them for their support of the event; thank an official staff person for their presence – just about every single one of them is a volunteer; and please abide by all rules and regs as they pertain to alcohol and behavior befitting a gentleman (usually the ladies aren’t a problem). Welcome to the Ouray Ice Festival and thank you for visiting Ouray!!! Mike Gibbs Vice President, Ouray Ice Park, Inc.

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About the

Ouray Ice Park N

ow in its 24th year, the Ouray Ice Park is one of the premier ice climbing venues and training grounds in the world. For three magical months each winter, it echoes with the sound of myriad languages and accents, and countless picks swinging into ice. Located within walking distance of downtown Ouray, Colo., the Ice Park offers three vertical miles of ice and mixed terrain in over 200 identified routes equipped with dozens of fixed anchors and access points, all concentrated within a one-mile span inside the Uncompahgre Gorge. Shaded cliff faces, a gravity-fed municipal water supply, sub-zero overnight temperatures and a tenacious crew of ice farmers conspire to create the frothy ribbons of steep blue ice that attract up to 15,000 guests each winter. The Ice Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovative gravity-fed plumbing

system has improved exponentially since the 1990s, when locals first cobbled together a system of hoses, valves, shower heads and sprayers along the rim of the Gorge. Today, using more than 7,500 feet of pipe and 235 spray nozzles, over 270,000 gallons of highly pressurized spring water are sprayed and dribbled on the canyon walls on a typical winterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s night, creating a wonderland of billowing blue glacial curtains and drippy frozen chandeliers that beckon to ice climbers of all abilities. The Park remains free and open for public use. It is jointly owned by the City of Ouray and a mix of other private and public landowners, and managed by Ouray Ice Park, Inc. (OIPI), a non-profit organization that relies solely on memberships, sponsorships, and donations to maintain this unique world-class attraction.

P HO T O B Y DAN CHE HAY L

There’s no other place like the Ouray Ice Park in the world. So take a moment to chillax. Shake out your arms. Enjoy the view. Breathe. Then belly up to a slick wall of ice and begin your climb. GATHER WITH THE TRIBE Affectionately described as an annual “gathering of the tribe”, the Ouray Ice Festival is the Ouray Ice Park’s biggest event and most important fundraiser of the year. The eclectic gathering of ice climbers, gear manufacturers and ice climbing enthusiasts convenes over a long weekend every January, and is widely recognized as the preeminent event of its kind. Each year, familiar faces return to climb, socialize, test out the latest equipment, and watch the pros power their way up the latest competition route, all the while generating more than half of the annual operating capital needed to run the Ouray Ice Park. During daily vendor exhibitions, Festival attendees have the opportunity to demo the latest ice tools, apparel, and gear from the outdoor industry’s leading retailers. Hundreds of spectators line the top of the Uncompahgre Gorge to watch the world’s best ice and mixed climbing talent battle for the prize. And, with over 100 interactive and educational climbing clinics to accommodate every skill level, Festival participants are sure to

have an experience to remember. Nightly events include multimedia presentations by leading climbers, music, food, dance parties and a live and silent auction overflowing with screaming deals on the latest outdoor gear. Mark your calendars – the 23rd Annual Ouray Ice Festival is scheduled for Jan. 18-21, 2018. ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP Although the Park is free to climb in, it is not free to maintain. Thousands of man hours go into the preparation and operation of the Park well before it opens in mid to late December. As the season progresses our dedicated staff and volunteers work both day and night to ensure that climbers from all walks of life have the experience of climbing in the Park. Become a member or renew your membership today and support your ice climbing venue! Membership is available at several levels. Members enjoy numerous benefits, including discounts on clinics at the 2018 Ouray Ice Festival, and tons of good climbing karma! For more information about how to become a Ouray Ice Park member please visit: ourayicepark.com/ membership.

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About

Ouray

uray, the self-declared “Switzerland of America” and “Outdoor Recreation Capital of Colorado”, nestles like a little jewel in the heart of the San Juan Mountains with world-class winter adventures beckoning in all directions and soothing natural hot springs to greet you when the day is done. Ouray was settled by miners in the 1870s and

takes its name from the Ute leader whose people frequented the area’s “sacred healing waters” for hundreds of years. As unpretentious as it is charming, the entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places thanks to architectural landmarks like the recently renovated Wright Opera House and Beaumont Hotel, both dating back to the 1880s.

WHERE TO SOAK

WHERE TO PLAY

Ouray Hot Springs Pool & Fitness Center – Ouray’s municipal outdoor hot springs pool has recently undergone extensive renovations, expanding the hot soaking section considerably. $18/day for adults, $12/day for kids 12 & under. Open Monday-Friday (12 p.m.-9 p.m.) Saturday/Sunday (11 a.m.-9 p.m.) Fitness Center open from 10 a.m.9 p.m. seven days a week. (1230 Main St., Ouray; 970/325-7073; ourayhotsprings.com)

Backcountry Ice Climbing – Beyond the Ice Park, the surrounding San Juan mountain range is home to one of the greatest concentrations of water ice climbs in North America. Steep relief and deep shady gorges provide a superb venue for backcountry ice climbing. Old mining roads carved into the sides of mountains provide access to that terrain today.

Orvis Hot Springs – This small, clothing-optional facility just south of Ridgway offers a variety of indoor and outdoor soaking areas, including a natural outdoor pond where geothermal spring water bubbles up out of a meadow under the shadow of 14,150 ft. Mt. Sneffels. Try the “lobster pot” if you dare! Open daily 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Overnight lodging and massage available onsite. Overnight guests have 24-hour access to the pools. (1585 County Road 3, Ridgway; 970/626-5324; orvishotsprings.com) Wiesbaden Hot Springs Spa – The Historic Wiesbaden Hot Springs Spa, on a quiet side street in Ouray, sits directly over the emanation points of several natural hot springs ranging in temperature from 78-128 degrees. Enter the spa’s underground vapor cave and soaking pool for a dark, steamy, otherworldly soaking experience. Outside, enjoy a small hot springs swimming pool with pure untreated water, and the “Lorelei,” a secluded outdoor soaking pool available by reservation only. Overnight lodging and a full range of spa treatments are offered. (625 5th St, Ouray; 970/325-4347; wiesbadenhotsprings.com) 10

Ouray’s backcountry climbing scene begins at the Skylight area near the Camp Bird Mine up County Road 361, several miles past the Ice Park. The road is plowed throughout the winter, and open to the public (conditions permitting) as far as Senator Gulch, where there is a gate and a public parking area. The Skylight climbs are a short walk up the road from there. Be sure to check for avalanche conditions before you go. Last winter, a series of workshops explored parking congestion at Senator Gulch which has gotten worse in recent years as the area has grown in popularity. Independent climbers, guides, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, Ouray County, Ouray Silver Mines and the U.S. Forest Service participated in this collaborative group. The workshops aimed to resolve congestion, move parking away from an avalanche zone, and improve information flow regarding avalanche mitigation work. This winter, parking has been expanded next to the road, below the historic parking area, and a new gate with an information kiosk has been added. A ride shuttle service to Skylight is also available through Western Slope Rides. gowsr.com

P HO T O B Y S AMAN T HA WR IGHT

Backcountry Skiing – The most accessible terrain in Ouray County is found on both sides of US 550 at the top of Red Mountain Pass. For a lift-served taste of backcountry bliss, head on over the pass to Silverton Mountain with its advanced and expert only riding, no groomers, no clearcut runs, and one chairlift perfectly located to deliver you to the goods silvertonmountain.com Nordic Skiing – Seven miles south of Ouray on US 550/Red Mountain Pass, Ironton Park offers a free, well-maintained Nordic trail system on relatively flat terrain that winds through a ghost town and old mining ruins. Closer to town, the 2.5 mile Ouray River Trail system is also often groomed for Nordic skiers, conditions permitting. Top of the Pines, near Ridgway, has spectacular vistas of the Sneffels Range and five miles of winter trails groomed for Nordic skating and classic flat-track skiing (small user fee required). ouraynordic.org, topofthepines.org, ouraytrails.org Winter Hiking – The Ouray Perimeter Trail creates a loop around Ouray, taking in Ouray’s most scenic attractions such as Cascade Falls, the Amphitheater, Ouray Ice Park and Box Canyon Park, while providing beautiful vistas of the town and surrounding peaks. Much of the trail remains boot-packed (or even snow-free!) and accessible throughout the winter season. There are numerous access points along the trail, so the entire five miles or so does not have to be hiked all at once. It is easy

to take in one or two segments at a time, or if you have the time and energy, do the entire loop. The Ouray Ice Park trail, typically accessed from Camp Bird Road (County Road 361) just up the hill from the upper bridge across the Uncompahgre Gorge, has been incorporated into the Ouray Perimeter Trail system, and offers an insider’s glimpse of the Ice Park, no crampons required. ouraytrails.org/cityouray-trails/perimeter-trail San Juan Hut System – Five backcountry huts dot the northern flanks of the stunning 14,000 ft. Sneffels range from Ouray to Ridgway to Telluride, offering access to a network of over 60 miles of backcountry and Nordic trails. Hit one hut at a time, or connect the dots in a tour that can cover between four and 11 miles per day. sanjuanhuts.com Alpine & Heli Skiing – About an hour’s drive from Ouray, the highly acclaimed Telluride Ski Resort offers mountains of fun for skiers, snowboarders and backcountry enthusiasts, with over 2,000 acres of beginner, intermediate and advanced skiing terrain with a vertical drop of 4,000 feet. Revelation Bowl offers lift-served backcountry skiing, while the Surge Air Garden is a snowboarder’s playground of berms, banks, tabletops, pyramids and a competition-sized halfpipe. Telluride Helitrax and Silverton Mountain both provide Heli Skiing and Heli Boarding adventures in the San Juans. tellurideskiresort.com, helitrax.com, silvertonmountain.com

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P HO T O B Y X AN DE R B IAN CHI

Ice Park Etiquette BY DAN CHEHAYL OURAY ICE PARK EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

ust like on the ski slopes or your local biking and hiking trails, there are some basic steps you can take here at the Ouray Ice Park that will make your experience and that of everyone around you a better one and fair for all. Following the Ouray Ice Park rules is the perfect place to start! The Park doesn’t open until 8 a.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. on weekends, and it always closes at 4 p.m. Always wear crampons and a helmet in climber only areas and while in the gorge, and please remember that there are no dogs allowed in the gorge. There is no reserving of anchors and there are no unattended ropes allowed. Basically, if you are not climbing on a rope, or using an anchor, even for a couple of minutes, you should take it down so that others can enjoy that climb. Closed climbs and areas are closed for a reason, so please respect these closures at all times. Closed areas are clearly marked with bamboo, poly rope and signage. Please set up only the number of routes you can efficiently use. For example, a party of two should only have one rope set up at a time. You should be moving onto a new route at least every three hours. If you are planning on leading a route, you should have the anchor at the top of that route occupied so other climbers know that you are below and climbing. If you see an anchor with no rope on it, there is a potential that someone is leading the route below it. Soloing is discouraged. For your own safety, it is a good idea to always be alert and aware of climbers near you. Keep your head up, and never turn your back to the ice. Belayers should always position themselves in an area where they are out of the line of fire from falling ice. While you are climbing, whenever you knock loose a piece of ice you should be yelling “ICE!” to alert all of those around you to the potential danger, and never throw the ice to one side or the other. Instead, let it drop below you. Knocking ice down for the sake of knocking it 12

down is frowned upon. The ice farmers are working hard to build that ice and get it to connect to the rest of the climb. Another thing to keep in mind is the proximity of yourself to other climbers. If someone is way up on a route and your rope is nearby, you should probably wait until they return to the ground until you start your ascent to minimize the potential of you getting hit by their ice chunks. This is also true when a climber is down low on a route and you are in the same proximity as them, where you will be lowering from the top; wait until they get back up to avoid knocking ice down on them. Often times climbing side by side is a convenient way to address the previous two situations. There are many different styles of climbing, belaying, and setting anchors - if someone is doing something different than you are used to, that doesn’t mean it is wrong. If you are very concerned for their safety either contact the Ouray Ice Park staff or politely have a conversation with them. Please use the outhouses and porta-potties to relieve yourself. If you do take a pee in the Park, kick some snow over it and do so away from the ice, anchors and any other Park infrastructure. Smokers, please be aware of and respect those around you. There is no weed smoking allowed in the Park. Parking is only allowed in town, at the turn on county road 361 between the rescue barn and the upper bridge, or at the large parking area located inside the big turn on U.S. Highway 550 across from the Five Fingers area. Drop-offs in any area other than the two parking lots are not allowed; the ice farmers and staff need this clear access to the Park. The only exceptions to this are for handicap access and with special permission from Park staff. Remember you are in Ouray and we are all at the Park to enjoy and challenge ourselves. Be happy, say hello, and watch out for each other. Together we can make everyone’s experience one to remember for a lifetime! #getyouraxeingear Here’s to winter!

FOR LIFEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S UPS AND DOWNS THE MUTANT SERIES Ephemeral drips, lofty heights and the beer that comes after. We all climb for different reasons, but no matter your discipline, you need a partner you can trust. The Mutant carries your ice tools, helmet, ropes and more to help you along the way.

What’s New at the

Ouray Ice Park? ADAPTING TO A WARMING CLIMATE The Ice Park tapped out for the season a full six weeks earlier than usual in 2017, partly due to unseasonably warm weather in late January and early February that caused the ice within the park to deteriorate to the point where conditions became unsafe, with an extended forecast of continued warm conditions that offered no hope of recovery. It was a heartbreaking and incredibly difficult decision to close the park so early – disappointing to the ice climbing community and devastating to the local economy – but obviously the right thing to do, as rotten ice was pealing off the cliffs and crashing into the gorge below. This year, we’re going into the 2017-18 season doing everything we can to ensure that there is enough water for us to build fat ice when conditions are nice and cold, so that we stand a chance of enduring more warm-ups which will almost certainly be coming. The changing climate here in southwestern Colorado has got us thinking about our vision of what a sustainable Ouray Ice Park looks like in the future. We want to hear from the tribe. Please share your thoughts! WHERE’S THE WATER? Warm temperatures were only partly to blame for last winter’s early closure. The other problem was that the City of Ouray only granted the Ice Park about half of its traditional water allotment from the municipal water supply, leading to thinner, less resilient ice formations that simply could not withstand the warmer temperatures. The City’s concern was that the water wasn’t coming into the municipal tanks fast enough to replenish what was being used at the Ice Park. Unfortunately, this led to several situations throughout the winter where the Ice Park wasn’t given any water at all, or was told to shut it off while we were running the sprinklers overnight, leaving the ice farmers to wonder what had happened to the once-reliable and copious water supply we used to enjoy four or five years ago.

P HO T O B Y X AN DE R B IAN CHI

Over the past summer and fall, the City and OIPI have worked together to address the issue of the water shortfall. Leaky municipal water pipes may be partly to blame, but fixing them has been rather a whack-a-mole project. The City has discovered – and fixed – a lot of leaks in its water main, but this in turn has created more pressure in the system, which in turn may be creating more leaks. In the meantime, OIPI has been vigorously pursuing other solutions to augment its winter water supply, including storing more water in an old municipal reservoir located in the park. (More on that below.) “It’s really important to get the water we need this season, and moving forward we need to find answers to these questions,” said Ouray Ice Park Executive Director Dan Chehayl. “We can’t do it without water.” TAP-IN CONFERENCE Chehayl had the opportunity to pitch the Ouray Ice Park’s water woes at a Western Slope water forum event called TAP‑IN: Play & Protect, held in Grand Junction in October 2017. This pitch event featured entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders from the outdoor industries and watershed health fields presenting real-world water challenges in search of

community-driven solutions from leading water professionals in Colorado. Some great partnerships have already come out of this collaboration. Water engineer Drew Ruderman of RB Innovations Inc. in Montrose volunteered to evaluate the old Ouray Ice Park Reservoir, and determined that with some improvements, it would be capable of holding enough water to provide for all of the water needs in the north end of the Park. Steve Berwanger of Summit Sealants, the largest sealant company in Colorado, donated all the money and materials and then some, then worked with the ice farmers to execute these improvements, sealing the lining of the reservoir so it can hold more water. We’ll see how the new system works this winter! “It was great to realize that we have the resources out there to tackle some of our biggest challenges,” Chehayl said. “These problems the Ice Park has are challenging but their solutions are not unattainable. We just need to put our heads together and figure it out – especially when it comes to the water supply.” ICE FARMER UPDATE In spite of the numerous challenges the Ice Park has faced over the last few years, OIPI has awesome employee retention, with the same Ice Farming crew as last year, plus one. Justin Hoffman is our new addition; he volunteered at the Ice Fest last year and wanted to stick around. We were happy to put him to work! Read all about OIPI’s excellent staff and volunteer board members on pages 22-23. COWBOY-UP WALL & SPAGHETTI WESTERN Just in time for this year’s “Wild West”-themed Ice Festival, we’ve added a new climbing area at the Ouray Ice Park called the Cowboy-Up Wall, which will hopefully help to alleviate some of the overcrowding issues we have encountered in recent years. The Cowboy-Up Wall is located in a sunny part of the Uncompahgre Gorge right above the lower bridge, so climbing will be condition-dependent, but if you have a chance to climb there, be sure to check out the flagship route, a free-hanging pillar with a slabby W13 base called Spaghetti Western. TIMBER REMOVAL UPDATE Beetle kill is a never-ending problem in the Ice Park these days, as a fir engraver beetle epidemic continues to kill off white fir trees

all around Ouray. To deal with the situation, OIPI has recently been awarded a Cornerstone Conservation Grant from the American Alpine Club in order to contract with an environmental consulting group next spring to analyze the property and develop a comprehensive Ouray Ice Park Ecosystem Assessment and Stewardship Plan. “The goal is to know more about our forests and soils, ultimately developing a bullet-point list of objectives for us to tackle over the next several years, giving us a healthier forest,” Chehayl said. MORE INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS We have been doing lots of trail building up at the Ice Park this year, providing safer and easier access to the School Room climbing area, New Funtier, the Kids Wall and Scottish Gullies. We have also sunk lots of time and money this year into upgrading our plumbing system. The goal is to be able to isolate different parts of the Park to deal with our new reality, which (at least for now) is less water. Our infrastructure ages quickly because it’s so exposed to the elements. Eventually, we hope to have the revenue to have two full time year-round employees up at the Ice Park that can consistently repair and replace our infrastructure to keep things humming along smoothly once winter sets in. SAFETY FIRST OIPI’s ice farmers have been working with the locally based organization Rigging for Rescue to improve the Ice Park’s companion rescue capabilities, using different devices like gris gris, micro-tractions and other systems to descend and ascend the canyon walls. At the same time we have been talking about developing standard operating procedures for when someone gets hurt in the park. We are also developing protocol to maximize safety and minimize risk when conducting routine maintenance tasks on ropes, such as devegetation, snow removal and chopping daggers. And we are working on breaking some of our own bad habits and evolving beyond the cowboy mentality of the past. HUT HOURS OIPI’s headquarters up at the Ice Park will be open from Friday through Sunday throughout the 201718 season. We will be selling memberships, coffee and cocoa and swag. Be sure to check out our new t-shirt design!

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SEEKING SUSTAINABLE: THE FUTURE OF THE OURAY ICE PARK BY THE OURAY ICE PARK INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

tarted by a rough and tumble (some would say crazy) group of volunteers 20 years ago, Ouray Ice Park Inc. (OIPI) is the nonprofit 501(c)3 tasked with operating the Park and putting on the Ouray Ice Festival. These twin missions involve thousands of hours to make the ice, and year-round fundraising to operate the Park, put on the Fest, and conduct capital improvement projects. OIPI also plays a significant role in suggesting rules and policies to the City of Ouray for climbers, guiding operations and groups. In short, OIPI’s projects and responsibilities over the past 20 years have been varied and substantial, and we can all agree on one thing: OIPI wrote the book on ice farming and we are darn good at it. On the operations and administrative side of things, OIPI is now primarily a staff-run organization. But for the majority of our history, most of the work was done by volunteers. Many of those volunteers are – or have been – on the Ouray Ice Park Inc. Board of Directors, collectively putting in what amounts to nearly 100 years of volunteer work since OIPI was founded in 1997. These board members are responsible for the success and growth the Park has seen over the last 20 years. But the volunteer-driven model of management and funding is simply not sustainable going into the future. That is why a transition is currently underway to bring the management of the Park and OIPI to its next modality. The first step of this process was to make OIPI a staff-run organization, but more changes need to be made – and not just on the OIPI side of things. We can all agree that the elephant in the room is the warming trends we are seeing in the fall and spring. But that is not the only major challenge OIPI faces when attempting to operate a successful Park each year. OIPI does not have full control over all of the aspects of the Park. We do not own the land. We do not have any guarantee from the City that we will get the amount of water we need. And we do not have ultimate authority over guiding operations, group use and public use within the Park. We have been tasked to do a job that is becoming increasingly difficult, without all the tools we need 16

to do it. With the overcrowding we have seen over the last couple years, warm temperatures and the exponentially increasing lack of water, frustrations have been running high throughout the community and within our organization. Last year, OIPI’s Board of Directors made an attempt, perhaps shortsighted, to relinquish control of Park operations to the City, to see if we could get everything under one umbrella – the City’s. Not long into this attempt, a couple things became clear. First, the Park is not a turn-key operation. There is no operations manual for many of the tasks we do. Rather, knowledge has been passed down from one generation of ice farmers to the next. And these are just a couple of examples. The second thing that became clear was that the City’s ability to successfully absorb Park operations was going to be impacted by several other factors – the most obvious being that the City’s number one focus was the pool renovations. The City also had no ready way to fund Park operations, and lacked an organizational structure such as a special recreational district into which the Park’s current operations staff could be placed. Moreover, the City itself was going through a key transition as it sought to hire a new City administrator. Getting down to the last minute, the City of Ouray and OIPI signed an extension agreement at the end of September 2017 for OIPI to continue operating the Park as we always have. This agreement expires May 31, 2018. An effort is still underway to determine the best direction for Park operations, and for OIPI itself. The City of Ouray has formed a steering committee of local citizens, business owners, climbers, the Ice Park Operations Manager and an OIPI board member. This committee is tasked with the difficult duty of looking over all of the factors in play, and will ultimately make a recommendation to the City of Ouray by May 31 as to the best path forward for the Ouray Ice Park. OIPI supports this process and hopes for nothing other than the short-term and long-term success of the Park, and the continuation of the spirit of climbing upon which the Ouray Ice Park was founded.

CO U RT ES Y PH O T O

VOLUNTEER PROFILE

Marta Miles: Dean of the Kids Climbing College BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

arta Miles is a familiar figure at the Ouray Ice Festival – you’ve probably seen her up at the Kids Climbing College and the adult walk-up climbing area, where she works as volunteer coordinator. But her dog is more famous than she is. Sherpa – a lovable, friendly, pink-tutu-clad St. Bernard – is in charge of keeping small humans company at the KCC as they get outfitted with boots and crampons, drink hot cocoa and wait for their turn to climb. “She is my sidekick,” Miles said fondly of her canine companion. “She is really a fun, sweet, socialized girl. She helps warm up the kids and gets to be in a lot of fun photos. People really enjoy her.” Sherpa is not just another pretty face. Like every other volunteer, she has an important role to play at the crowded KCC base camp. “We often get quite a big queue, and it’s nice to have a little side attraction to keep the spirits up,” Miles explained. The KCC and adult walk-up climbing area, located at the Kids Wall climbing area near the Ice Park’s Upper Bridge and Memorial Gazebo, is one of the busiest places in the Ice Park during festival weekend. The mission here is simple. “We introduce people of all ages to climbing. We give them the opportunity to climb for free, and provide a safe, lovely environment,” Miles said. The execution of that mission requires lots, and lots, of moving parts – and 50- 75 volunteers over the course of the festival weekend to keep things running smoothly. First, the area has to be set up – from tents to gear to ropes and belay stations. Once the Ice Festival gets underway, that’s when things get really busy, with up to 100 “customers” taking advantage of the KCC and adult walk-up climbing each day. “We have participants (or their parents) sign waivers and make sure they know they are going to be safe. Then we outfit them with boots, a harness, crampons, and a helmet. We give them ice tools, and

a little background on how to climb, and we have ropes already set up. We assign them to a belayer and we then give them the opportunity to climb!” Miles explained. “It really is the busiest attraction every year. We get a huge number of people.” Miles is a lifelong winter sport enthusiast who works in the pharmaceutical industry and lives in Evergreen, Colo. She started volunteering at the KCC several years ago and eventually was charged with running the show in coordination with San Juan Mountain Guides. And she adores the assignment. “It’s so fun to see the kids have a spark to learn, see them come back year after year, and to think that could be a future athlete,” she said. “A lot of them might be thinking that maybe they are not strong enough, but everybody gets an opportunity. It’s really an enjoyable, lovely thing to give people the opportunity to climb.” Miles’ advice for first-time climbers? “Come prepared. Be mindful it is the mountains. Have a hat, gloves, good warm clothes, and really just be prepared to have fun. Have a great experience and enjoy. We will take good care of you. And say hi to Sherpa!”

It Takes a Village Ice Fest Runs on Volunteer Power BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

he Ouray Ice Festival is quite the production. Just like an alpine expedition, it takes vision, passion, meticulous planning, lots of lead time, and a whole lot of teamwork to make it happen. A core team of Ouray Ice Park board members and employees do a lot of the heavy lifting before the fest gets underway. But the event itself could not succeed without the help of the 140 or so volunteers who show up every year, without fail, often in awful weather, to make it happen. The Ice Fest has lots of moving parts, and happens in lots of different places all at once, so volunteers are deployed throughout the Ice Park and Ouray. Setting up the vendor area is especially timeand-labor- intensive. It involves putting up tents, tending to specific vendor booth needs, and shoveling lots, and lots, of snow. Around the Ice Park, volunteers also help belay at the Kids Wall, serve food in the concession area, drive shuttles back and forth from town, and patiently answer questions or process gear cards at the info booth. Local volunteer climbers and guides rig all of the routes for the 80-plus clinics at the Ice Fest each year, and help the ice farmers make sure everything’s ready to go. Belaying the competitions is a particularly highstakes volunteer job. These heroes are down in the pit of despair (i.e. the narrow river bottom of the Uncompahgre Gorge), with no sun, where it’s cold all day, making sure the competitors are safe and dialed into what is going on. As night falls, the volunteers are at it again, working the door at the evening presentations, pouring beer, and checking IDs to make sure you’re 21 or over before you guzzle it. For their efforts, Ice Fest volunteers get some swag, and the satisfaction of helping make the Ouray Ice Festival the best event of its kind on the planet. Plus, it’s a lot of fun! “A lot of folks come back year after year,” said OIPI Board President Lora Slawitschka, who herself volunteers countless hours of her time to the Fest each year. “They love the event and are part of the climbing tribe.”

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ICE FARMER PROFILE

Dancing with Gravity BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

ander Bianchi grew up in the cornfields of Indiana, but he has always had a thing for gravity – seeking out mountains, rock faces and ice falls wherever he could find them, and finally heeding the call to become an ice farmer in Ouray. A mechanical engineer by training, ice farming is a job that perfectly blends Bianchi’s skills and passions. “It’s open-ended problem-solving,” he explained. “If you can think of a way to do it, then it’s probably an option.” Bianchi started climbing as a college student in Indianapolis. A couple of winter trips out to Ouray got him hooked on the sport of ice climbing. At the time, he was still on a traditional path, pursuing a mechanical engineering degree. “But I shelved this idea in the back of my mind, that I would be so lucky if I could ever live in this place,” he said. When Bianchi graduated from college, he headed out west to Colorado and spent a few

wintery months living in his car in Boulder before landing a real engineering job, working for a company that builds gravity instruments. He spent the next three years building the instruments and conducting gravity research around the world – especially the Middle East – and climbing in Southeast Asia, Europe and North Africa. “It’s kind of ironic how gravity has been woven into my life in so many ways,” Bianchi reflected. “Climbing really doesn’t exist without gravity pulling back on you. That’s the dance.” Two years ago, Bianchi had quit his job and was living the life of a dirtbag climber in the Sierras, when he saw a job posting on Facebook. The Ouray Ice Park was hiring some new ice farmers. “And that little thing that I shelved in my mind on that first trip to Ouray, I remembered it,” he said. “I remembered where I put it. And I grabbed it, and thought, there has never been a better time.” Bianchi got the job, and has been working as an ice farmer ever since. It’s a complicated, challenging, and sometimes dangerous dance – often done in the cold and dark – which suits Bianchi just fine. “Anytime the water is running and the pressure is on, there’s no time to have any fear or hesitation about what you are doing because it only holds you back from getting it done,” Bianchi said. “That’s kind of cool. That kind of focus is addicting.”

AARON MULKEY

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MEET THE OURAY ICE PARK STAFF DAN CHEHAYL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OIPI Executive Director Dan Chehayl is no stranger to the Ouray Ice Park. This is his seventh season working here, beginning as an Ice Farmer and graduating to Park Manager and Operations Director before assuming his current position. Chehayl first came to Ouray as a college sophomore with a group of friends from Sterling College in Vermont. He came back as often as he could over the next couple of years and eventually moved to Ouray in 2007. That first winter, he worked at Mouses Chocolates and climbed ice obsessively. Then, after a year in Telluride and a brief stint back east, he came back to Ouray for good, winning a job as an Ice Farmer with former Ice Park Manager Kevin Koprek. These days there is not much Chehayl doesn’t do to keep things running smoothly at the Ice Park and behind the scenes. Besides climbing the ice he farms, one of Dan’s favorite things about working for the Ouray Ice Park is watching the ice grow and take shape throughout the winter. “It’s like the cliffs in the gorge come to life; every day is magical out here in the park!” he said. NICOLE CHEHAYL FESTIVAL AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Nicole has worked for the Ouray Ice Park for six years. She graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in Environmental Studies and a concentration in Sustainable Business. She has worked for a variety of nonprofits in the outdoor industry in various capacities, and especially enjoys working with the small but committed staff and board at the Ouray Ice Park. She loves watching the organization continue to grow and the impact it has on Ouray and the greater climbing community. 22

REBECCA DOLL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Becca, a Kansas native, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology and Ecology from Western State Colorado University and worked as a seasonal temp with Wildlife Conservation Technician for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife for a couple years before abandoning these pursuits in favor of skiing and climbing full-time. She moved to beautiful Ouray in 2014 where she enjoys the small mountain-town lifestyle and her amazing, supportive community. In addition to working for OIPI, Becca is currently pursuing a nursing degree at Colorado Mesa University. LOGAN TYLER ICE PARK MANAGER Born and raised in Ouray, Logan began climbing at a young age, experiencing all that the San Juans and their surrounding environs have to offer while developing himself into a gifted climber. He has competed in the Ouray Ice Festival Elite Mixed Climbing Comp and at Vail’s Teva Mountain Games, often as the youngest competitor in the field. Logan has transferred his climbing skills and passion to all aspects of his life, coaching students on the Ridgway Secondary School’s climbing team and serving as a foreman on a midwestern cell phone tower crew. This is Logan’s fourth season working for the Ouray Ice Park and he is honored and beyond stoked to be leading the ice farmer crew again this year! Logan is also the founder and co-owner of Red Mountain Riders, a company manufacturing high-quality handcrafted longboards. XANDER BIANCHI LEAD ICE FARMER Born and raised in the corn fields of northwest Indiana, Xander first explored Ouray in 2010 on a road trip through Colorado. It was here in the shadow of the San Juans that the seed was planted for many more journeys westbound. After scraping together a mechanical engineering degree in 2012, he threw a sleeping bag in his car and set out for the

mountains. His next few years were painted with a mosaic of nomadic brush strokes, until at last he shelved his engineering career and moved to Ouray in 2015. Since then, Xander has focused his energy on a different side of life – one full of white velvet mountains, rusty desert canyons, and worn-out soles. LUCAS CARRION ICE FARMER Lucas moved to Ouray in August 2014 after finishing his fourth summer working for a non-profit pack outfit in the Sierra Nevada backcountry. It was there that he developed a love for mountain life and climbing. Lucas swung his first ice tools in New Hampshire, and further developed his climbing skills on rock and ice in Ouray and the deserts of southeastern Utah. His favorite ice climbs are La Ventana in the Ouray Ice Park’s Five Fingers climbing area, and Whorehouse Hoses near Silverton.

JUSTIN HOFMANN ICE FARMER After years of intermittent work weaved with nomadic tendencies chasing rocks and sunsets, Justin has made base camp here in southwest Colorado. His journey began in the Front Range, where he discovered the freedom of the hills as a teenager. It didn’t take long before stories of deeper canyons and higher summits lured him further west, and places like Indian Creek and the Winds soon became seasonal homes. A chance encounter involving a sticker-plastered Subaru, a note on the windshield, and a complete stranger led Justin to a wintery Ouray for the first time 5 years ago. Since then, he’s found much more than just frozen water in this tiny box canyon - he’s found his community, his family, and his new home.

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MEET THE OURAY ICE PARK BOARD OF DIRECTORS The OIPI board of directors is comprised of these six volunteer members who devote well over a thousand hours throughout the year to fulfill OIPI’s mission. Although the ice climbing season at the Ouray Ice Park runs from roughly mid-December to late March, OIPI is hard at work planning the next season shortly after the Park closes each spring. LORA SLAWITSCHKA, PRESIDENT Lora moved to Ouray when she was nine months old and her parents purchased the Ouray Chalet Inn on Main Street. She has lived here for most of her life (except for those erroneous years in Florida) and took over the family business when her parents retired in 2001. She loves Ouray with all her heart and could not imagine living and working anywhere else. RALPH TINGEY Ralph joined the National Park Service in 1965 and worked as a climbing ranger at Jenny Lake until 1981 when he transferred to Denali National Park in Alaska. Over the course of his career, he worked in many of Alaska’s parks, and served as Associate Regional Director from 1994 to 2006 prior to his retirement. Ralph has been an avid climber most of his life. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Alpine Club, and as Chairman of the Alaska Section of the AAC. Ralph raced a dog team for many years, including three times on the 1000mile long Yukon Quest from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. Ralph now lives in Ridgway, Colo.

BILL LEO Bill moved to Purgatory Ski Area in 1982 to pursue his love of skiing, climbing and kayaking. His company, Unordinary Adventures, put in one of the early backcountry ski huts in the San Juans. An avid telemark skier, he did several first descents of local plum lines during those early years of backcountry skiing. He has also been a Class V commercial raft guide doing Upper Animas trips in those early days as well. Bill has lived in Ouray since 1996. He is the owner of Ouray Mountain Sports and is a past president and board member of OIPI who recently rejoined the board. He brings a wealth of knowledge of the history of the Ice Park and a passion for the continuing success of the park as well. In his spare time, Bill gets out on a specialized snowmobile and grooms the Ouray Nordic Council’s system of cross-country ski trails at Ironton Park on Red Mountain Pass. MIKE GIBBS Mike began volunteering for the Ouray Ice Park in 1995 and was one of the seven original founding OIPI board members. He has served as both president and vice president of the board of directors, recently rejoining to serve on the board once again. Mike is the owner/operator of Rigging for Rescue, a technical rope-work training organization.

P HO T O B Y DAN CHE HAY L

TOM KAVANAUGH Tom developed his love for the outdoors as a professional rafting guide in Colorado. It was during this time that he was introduced to climbing and mountain biking. Over time, both sports turned from an activity to an obsession. The Ouray Ice Park brought him to southwestern Colorado and will forever anchor him to this community. With a new home and wife in hand, Ouray County is where he calls home. These days, when heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not managing the Ouray Hot Springs Pool, on a backcountry call with the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team or volunteering as an EMT, you may be able to find him in a remote area of the state either suffering up an ice climb or barreling down the finest alpine singletrack.

JOHN WALKER After adventurous growth in the upper Great Lakes and downtown Detroit, John Walker was eager to make Colorado his primary spot for life. An artist by nature, John self-made an early career in the Aerial Adventure Course industry, with a specific concentration in designing and operating ambitious canopy tours. He likes the trees, and he is fascinated with efficient systems and high quality design. For three years, John has called Ridgway home. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been mountaineering since high school and designing adventure courses for 15, so Ouray County is a no-brainer. John will continue to enjoy our lovely mountain hinterland here in western Colorado with visits to the desert, the ocean, and the deep city, in search of all the interesting edges.

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Canyon Access

Ladder over Penstock

Winter Toilet

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SOUTH PARK

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Canyon Access

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Winter Toilet

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NEW FUNTIER

Canyon Access

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THE OURAY ICE PARK IS 100% DONOR FUNDED Visit online to become a member and help us keep the Ouray Ice Park free! OurayIcePark.com

School Room Emergency Ladder

Ice Park Office

TRESTLE & MIXED ALCOVE PIC O’ THE VIC LEAD AREA

Upper Bridge

Lower Bridge

361 Camp Bird Rd. Canyon Access

LOWER BRIDGE

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KIDS’ WALL

Get a sneak peak of the

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IN YOUR LOWAs? (Besides the Ouray Ice Fest, that is…) The Latok XT, designed for vertical ice and lower altitude expeditions, exemplifies our 90+ years of boot-making expertise. It’s loaded with performance features for comfort and security on the mountain, including a waterproof / breathable GORE-TEX® lasted lining with DuraTherm® insulation, a VIBRAM® Dolent outsole and our lightweight I-Core carbon fiber sole insert for better comfort and stability underfoot. *LOWA’s NEW Ice Rocket – the lightest comp boot made & designed by LOWA Pro team athlete Rudi Hauser. Visit the LOWA booth at the Fest for detailed specs on this boot as well as the complete line of LOWA Alpine boots.

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23 ouray icE festival RD

ANNUAL

30 HOW TO ICE FEST 34 ICE PARK ACTIVITIES 36 THE COMPETITIONS 38 PROFILE: RUSSIAN METALING 39 PROFILE: ATHLETE ANGELIKA RAINER 40 SPECIAL EVENTS 42 PRESENTATION: RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI 43 PRESENTATION: MONTE MONTEPARE 44 FILM: DIRTBAG 45 PROFILE: THE RADSTER AND Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;NEILL SHOW 46 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE 47 SEMINARS 48 FRIDAY CLINICS 49 SATURDAY CLINICS 50 SUNDAY CLINICS 51 BEYOND THE ICE FEST 52 FESTIVAL SPONSORS 53 LOCAL BUSINESS PARTNERS 54 IN MEMORIAM: HAYDEN KENNEDY

PH O T O BY D A N CH EH AYL

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How to

Ice Fest W

elcome to the Ouray Ice Festival – an annual gathering of the tribe that has become the foremost event of its kind for people who are hooked on ice climbing, or want to learn more about it. The Fest can be roughly divided into two categories: day, the action happens at the Ouray • By Ice Park and includes exciting climbing

competitions, an Outdoor Gear Expo, Kids Climbing College and adult walk-up climbing, interactive climbing clinics and more. In the evening, the action shifts to town. There’s lots going on – multimedia presentations with big-name climbers, music, dance parties and a live and silent auction overflowing with screaming deals of the latest outdoor gear!

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Here’s all the beta you’ll need to make the most of the 2018 Ouray Ice Festival. NEW STUFF Breaking with tradition, the Ouray Volunteer Fire Department will not be offering a spaghetti dinner on Friday night at the Ouray Community Center this year. Instead, festival participants are encouraged to venture into town and grab a bite to eat at one of Ouray’s fine restaurants before heading back to the Community Center for that evening’s scheduled Festival activities. Dinner is also on the town on Saturday night. Ouray is still not quite up to speed with ridehailing apps like Uber or Lyft, but there is an awesome new shuttle service in the area! Call Western Slope Rides at 970-626-5121 or email info@gowsr.com to schedule your ride to the airport, late-night hot tub tryst or favorite backcountry adventuring spot.

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PARKING The parking lot across Highway 550 from the Ouray Ice Park entrance is reserved for sponsors and festival staff only during Ice Fest weekend. There is also no parking permitted along US Highway 550. So unless you are getting dropped off, it’s best to leave your car in town and walk, or take the Ice Fest shuttle, up to the Ice Park. Overnight parking is prohibited on Main 30

Street in Ouray throughout the winter to facilitate snow removal. Vehicles left on Main Street overnight will receive a citation, and may even get towed, which would really suck, so please don’t do it! GETTING TO THE ICE PARK On Foot: Starting at the southern terminus of Main Street, turn right (west) on Third Avenue, and walk two blocks or so down the hill toward the Box Canyon Lodge and Victorian Inn. When you get to the bottom of the hill, veer left at the Box Canyon Falls exit, and follow the road up the hill for a few hundred meters. After a brief hike, you’ll emerge on a path on the west side of the Uncompahgre Gorge that leads straight to the heart of the Ouray Ice Park and Festival Headquarters. Alternatively, starting at the southern terminus of Main Street, you can simply walk up U.S. Highway 550 for about one-fourth mile until you get to the Ice Park entrance and turnoff for County Road 361, just after the first switch-back. By Shuttle: Catch a ride up to the Ice Park on one of the free shuttles that will be running continuously along Main Street from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday through Sunday. The shuttle route starts at the Ouray Visitors Center near the Hot Springs Pool, and ends at the Ice Park entrance, and includes a Third Avenue spur. Shuttles are marked with magnetic Ouray Ice Park logos. Designated pickup spots include the Ouray Visitors Center, Citizens State Bank at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Main Street, and the bottom of Third Avenue (near the Victorian Inn and Box Canyon Lodge). Or, you can just flag the shuttle down as you see it coming, and it will probably stop for you. INFO BOOTH Got questions? An info booth at the Outdoor Gear Expo area near the Lower Bridge is staffed with friendly and helpful volunteers throughout Ice Fest weekend. Here, you can pick up your gear card (if you didn’t already order it online), maps, programs, schedules and comp order, buy Ouray Ice Festival memorabilia and ogle the custommade trophies that will be awarded to comp winners at the Asolo Award Ceremony on Sunday. GEAR CARDS Want to demo the newest, greatest ice climbing gear? An integral part of the Ouray Ice Festival, the Gear Card allows clinic participants and other Festival attendees the opportunity to

demo jackets, tools, boots, crampons, harnesses, gloves, etc. from Ice Festival sponsors throughout the weekend. Purchase a Gear Card online before the Ice Fest gets underway at ourayicepark.com/passes/ for $5 or stand in line at the Festival (at the Thursday night Kickoff Party, or at the Info Booth at the Ice Park starting on Friday morning) and pay $10. Ouray Ice Park members and All Access Pass holders get a complimentary Gear Card with their membership. The gear card works like a library card; provide your credit card number as collateral, then check out gear for free and return after your clinic or at the end of each day. Gear card holders agree to the authorization of the credit card number provided to be charged retail value of item(s) demoed and NOT returned to the specific vendor by 2 p.m. on Sunday. ALL-ACCESS PASS PROGRAM Make it easy on yourself again this year and pick up a $60 All-Access Pass that gets you into all of our awesome evening events for one cool price. Pass holders receive the following benefits: Admission to evening events (please arrive early as passes do not guarantee entrance once venue capacity is reached); Access to a shorter admission line at evening events; Complimentary Gear Card.

Ouray Riverside Inn & Cabins n Ope

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• • •

FINAL BETA Check the whiteboard at the Outdoor Gear Expo, or the San Juan Mountain Guides tent, for up-to-the-minute information about which clinics still have openings (or visit mtnguide.net). Clinics are $59, Seminars are $119. Backcountry Full Day Seminars are $189. Ouray Ice Park Members receive $10 off each clinic or seminar. The Info Booth has extra lists of the final comp order for the Elite Mixed Climbing Comp and Hari Berger Speed Comp, as well as up-to-date information about who’s winning. We’ll be live-tweeting and posting updates on Facebook throughout the weekend. >>>

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>>> SPECTATING AND PHOTOGRAPHY Two bridges (known simply as the Upper Bridge and the Lower Bridge) span the Uncompahgre Gorge in the central part of the Ouray Ice Park. Both bridges offer spectacular viewing and photography opportunities of the climbing action in the icy depths below. There are also several strategically placed spectator stands along the rim of the gorge. Direct sunlight into the gorge is limited to midday. If you are not equipped with proper climbing equipment (helmet, crampons, etc.), please stick to the roads, bridges, and viewing stands, as outcroppings over the gorge are slippery and perilous. Drones are not allowed in the Ouray Ice Park as they have the potential to be hazardous to climbers and spectators alike. RECYCLING Recycling at this year’s Fest and throughout the whole season is sponsored by Alpine Bank of Ouray. Help us reduce our eco-footprint through recycling and other forms of waste reduction. We hope that all festival participants will join in our mission to responsibly recreate! Look for recycling stations located at the Ice Park and the Ouray Community Center. While at the Festival, please sort your waste stream and get it into the right container. Extra points if you bring your own water bottle. FOOD & DRINK Food and drinks (both hot and cold) are available for purchase at vendor booths near the Ice Park entrance, featuring tasty fare from local restaurants and nonprofits. The food vendor area is a great place to take a break from all the hubbub, sit down for a spell at a picnic table, or warm your hands over a campfire. Please note that alcohol is not allowed in the Ice Park. WIFI, CELL PHONE RECEPTION Cell phone reception is available for major cell phone carriers in Ouray and – believe it or not – throughout most of the Ice Park. In town, free WiFi can be found at the Ouray Community Center, Ouray Public Library, and other select locations including Mouse’s Chocolates and the Backstreet Bistro. Insider’s tip: keep your cell phone in an inner pocket; it might not work if it gets too cold!

COMMEMORATIVE PINT GLASSES AND YETI LOWBALLS Like to drink beer? This year Rab will be providing commemorative pint glasses for the Kick-off Party on Thursday. For both Friday and Saturday nights at the Ouray Community Center, new Ice Fest sponsor Yeti will be providing commemorative 23rd Annual Ouray Ice Fest Yeti Lowballs. We have 250 Pint Glasses or Lowballs for each night. Get there early so you don’t miss out!

USEFUL CONTACT INFO Ouray Ice Park 970/325-4288 ourayicepark.com San Juan Mountain Guides 800/642-5389 mtnguide.net Ouray Chamber Resort Association 970/325-4746 ouraycolorado.com Avalanche info avalanche.state.co.us Road Conditions, 877/315-7623 cotrip.org Ice Conditions mtnguide.net/resources/ouray-ice-conditions Western Slope Rides 970/626-5121 info@gowsr.com

PARK RULES

1 . Crampons and a helmet are required for all persons in “Climber Only” areas. 2 . You must clearly occupy a top anchor prior to climbing any route in the Ouray Ice Park. 3 . No rope and/or anchor shall remain established for more than 3 hours. 4 . Do not anchor to any man made structure without a clearly labeled anchor tag or yellow wand. 5 . Dogs must be leashed at all times and not left unattended. 6 . Absolutely no dogs allowed below the top of the gorge. 7 . Please read all “Area Specific Rules” prior to entering a given area. 8 . Be courteous and respect your fellow climbers. 9 . Per Section 13-7-K of Chapter 13 of the Code of the City of Ouray, Colorado: “It shall be unlawful for any person to commit the following acts within the Ice Park: 1 . To enter the Uncompahgre Gorge or be climbing without wearing crampons and a helmet or be in an area designated as “climber only” without wearing crampons. 2 . For an individual under the age of 18 to enter the Park without a supervising adult. 3 . For any owner or custodian of any animal to fail to have the animal under effective and immediate control of the owner or custodian by leash, cord, chain or other restraining device at all times that such animal is within the Ice Park. No animals, except service animals, are permitted at the bottom of the Uncompahgre Gorge. 4 . To attach climbing anchors to any manmade structures within the Park, except for established fixed anchors such as chain and bolt anchors. Anchors may not be placed on or impede with the ice producing system. 5 . For any unauthorized individual to enter or remain within the Ice Park after 5 p.m. or before 7:30 a.m. from December 1st through March 31st for the purposes of climbing. 6 . To leave top-line ropes unattended or unused. 7 . For non-commercial groups of eight or more persons to occupy more than two climbing routes, as designated, in a specific area, or occupy any one route for more than three hours. 8 . To conduct any commercial activities or uses within the Ice Park subject to Section 13-22 of the Ouray City Code without permission from the City.

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Ice Park

Activities OUTDOOR GEAR EXPO FRIDAY, JAN. 19, 8 A.M.-3 P.M. SATURDAY, JAN. 20, 8 A.M.-3 P.M. SUNDAY, JAN. 21, 8 A.M.-2 P.M. NEAR THE LOWER BRIDGE AT THE OURAY ICE PARK Every year, the outdoor gear manufacturers that sponsor the Ouray Ice Festival travel to the Fest to let participants demo their latest and greatest products. In the past, it was just boots, tools and crampons. But now, you can pretty much demo anything – including base layers. So if you’re in the market for a cozy new belay jacket, for example, a handful of sponsors have a fleet of them for you to demo. The Outdoor Gear Expo is a hive of activity during Ice Festival weekend – a colorful tent village perched alongside the rim of the Uncompahgre Gorge, with hundreds of ice climbers and onlookers strolling around, trying on gear and just hangin’ out. The Slingfin tent provides couches and heaters. It’s a great place to warm up and get out of the weather. The Outdoor Gear Expo is not a gear swap; you will find little for sale, but there’s plenty of swag. So go ahead, feel the sponsors’ love. KIDS CLIMBING COLLEGE SATURDAY, JAN. 20, 10 A.M.-3 P.M. SUNDAY, JAN. 21, 10 A.M.-3 P.M. AT THE KIDS WALL NEAR THE UPPER BRIDGE Sponsored by San Juan Mountain Guides, the popular Kids Climbing College offers free ice climbing instruction to kids ages 7-17. The KCC is staged at the Kids Wall – a beginners climbing area located near the Upper Bridge and Memorial Kiosk, right off of County Road 361 (Camp Bird Road). Four to five ropes will be going full-time both days. Participants receive 15 minutes of instruction each, with a professional guide, on a first-come, firstserved basis. It’s easy to sign up your kids, and San Juan Mountain Guides provides all the technical gear they’ll need.

FREE ADULT WALK-UP CLIMBING AT THE LA SPORTIVA ZONE FRIDAY, JAN. 19, 10 A.M.-3 P.M. SATURDAY, JAN. 20, 10 A.M.-3 P.M. SUNDAY, JAN. 21, 10 A.M.-2 P.M. Want to try ice climbing without committing to a half-day or full-day clinic? La Sportiva’s free adult walk-up mini-clinics are taught by high-level athletes, no registration required. All technical gear is provided. They will be set up right next to the Kids Climbing College at the Kids Wall, near the Upper Bridge and County Road 361. There’s never been a better time to grab some tools and give ice climbing a try! INTERACTIVE CLINICS FRIDAY, JAN. 19, 9:30 A.M. & 12:30 P.M. SATURDAY, JAN. 20, 9:30 A.M. & 12:30 P.M. SUNDAY, JAN. 21, 9:30 A.M. & 12:30 P.M. SIGN UP ONLINE AT MTNGUIDE.NET/OURAY-ICECLIMBING/OURAY-ICE-FESTIVAL-CLINICS/. QUESTIONS? CALL 800-642-5389 OR 970-946-3973, OR EMAIL ICEFESTCLINICS@MTNGUIDE.NET The Ouray Ice Park is pleased to partner again with San Juan Mountain Guides to provide interactive climbing clinics and seminars for the 2017 Ouray Ice Festival. Throughout the weekend over 80 unique, informative, cutting-edge ice and mixed climbing clinics and seminars will be offered. Most clinics take place inside the Ice Park. A

great lineup of all-day backcountry ice climbing seminars are also available this year. Want to do a guided ascent of Stairway to Heaven, Skylight or Whorehouse Ice Hose? Here’s your chance! Clinics and seminars are taught by professional athletes and guides with the most knowledge and the best instructional techniques in their fields, with sponsors including Black Diamond, Outdoor Research, La Sportiva, The North Face, Patagonia, Mammut, Scarpa and many more. Each clinic offers a unique opportunity to pair vendors and their sponsored athletes with a passionate audience of amateur climbers. Clinics are 2.5 hours long, and are offered twice a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Schoolroom, Trestle, Kids Wall, Popsicle, Fingers, and Scottish Gullies areas of the Ice Park with offerings for beginner, intermediate and advanced ice climbers. Seminars are 5.5 hours long, and are offered on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the South Park climbing area. All of these areas will be closed to the public and competitors all day Friday and Saturday, and until 12 p.m. on Sunday. Clinics and seminars fill up fast – typically a couple of months before the Ice Fest even gets underway – but some slots always open up at the last minute due to cancellations. Check the white board near the San Juan Mountain Guides booth at the Outdoor Gear Expo for last-minute openings, or visit mtnguide.net/ouray-ice-climbing/ourayice-festival-clinics/. The clinics and seminars are a screaming deal. Half-day clinics cost $59 per person, full-day

seminars cost $119 per person and backcountry seminars cost $189 per person. Ice Park members enjoy a $10 discount when they register. How it works: Make sure you have all your gear together at least 15 minutes before the start of your clinic/seminar. To get a Festival gear card to demo gear from sponsors, go to the Festival Information Booth with your driver’s license and credit card – or better yet, order yours ahead of time at ourayicepark.com/passes/. Once you have your Gear Card, go to the different sponsors to demo all of the required gear for the clinic you’ve signed up for. Bring your own gear as well if you have it, especially harness, helmet and crampons. Once you have all your gear together, go to the appropriate clinic sponsor tent. (For example, if you registered for “Clinic #3 Intermediate Ice. La Sportiva. Will Mayo. FRI 0900,” head to the La Sportiva tent at 8:45 a.m. with your gear, ready to sign a release form and head out into the Park with your fellow clinic participants and awesome instructor.) REQUIRED PARTICIPANT EQUIPMENT LIST (for climbing, anchor, and other on-rope clinics):

• UIAA Certified Climbing Helmet Certified Climbing Harness • UIAA 2 Ice Tools • Crampons • Ice Climbing Boots • Belay Device and locking Carabiner •

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The

Competitions ELITE MIXED CLIMBING COMP SATURDAY, JAN. 20, 9 A.M.-3 P.M. OURAY ICE PARK LOWER BRIDGE/OUTDOOR GEAR EXPO AREA For many fans, the Elite Mixed Climbing Competition is the highlight of the whole Ice Fest weekend. The competition showcases the finest alpinists and sport climbers in the world exhibiting jawdropping, head-scratching feats of strength and agility as they pit themselves against a uniquely challenging route in the heart of the Ouray Ice Park. Men and women climb the same mixed route that blends natural and artificial features including vertical rock and ice inside the Uncompahgre Gorge, and a 30-foot steel climbing tower overhanging the gorge. The tower made its debut in 2013, with the aim of spicing up the competition and making it more spectator friendly. Longtime routesetter Vince Anderson collaborates with Colombian powerhouse Andres Marin (a former competitor) again this year to design a route that will both challenge the best climbers in the world while also delighting and entertaining the crowds of onlookers. Spectators can take in the action from the lower bridge, viewing platforms and bleachers along the rim of the Uncompahgre Gorge. Competitors will have roughly 10 minutes to complete their climb (the exact time limit was still

TBD at press time). Place is based upon the highest controlled point reached. If more than one climber makes the full pull, the one with the fastest time wins. Applications for the Elite Mixed Climbing Competition open each year in November and competitors are notified by year’s end whether they got in. The names of competitors are made available to the public in early January, shortly before the Ice Fest gets underway. Check OIPI’s website and social media at that time to get an up-to-date list of who’s climbing. As they ascend the cold, hard ice, climbers will be competing for cold, hard cash; $9,000 will be divvied among the top three male and female competitors in the Elite Mixed Climbing Competition this year. 2017 Recap: Last year’s mixed event began, as usual, with some techy dry tooling in the gorge, and finished with a series of superbly complex moves on the overhanging tower, with different routes set up on the tower for male and female competitors. Coloradan Ryan Vachon successfully defended his title, taking first place for the second year in a row. Nathan Kutcher (CAN) and Will Mayo (USA) rounded out the men’s podium, while German legend Ines Papert won the women’s competition for the umpteenth time in her career. Joining her on the women’s podium were silver medalist Sara Heuniken (CAN) and Katie Bono (USA), finishing third for the second year in a row.

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HARI BERGER SPEED COMP SPONSORED BY LOWA SUNDAY, JAN. 21, STARTING AT 9 A.M. OURAY ICE PARK LOWER BRIDGE/OUTDOOR GEAR EXPO AREA For the sixth year running, LOWA will sponsor the Hari Berger Speed Climbing Competition at the Ouray Ice Festival to honor the legendary fallen athlete who won three Ice Climbing World Championships while wearing LOWA boots. Berger was a regular at the Ouray Ice Festival, known for his expansive smile and virtually effortless ascents of difficult comp routes. He died in 2006 at age 34 while ice climbing near his hometown of Salzburg, Austria. His girlfriend Kristen Buchman gave birth to their daughter, Zoe, the day after he died. Berger’s legacy lives on each year at the Ouray Ice Festival, when competitors race each other up twin pillars of vertical to off-vertical ice in the depths of the Uncompahgre Gorge near the mixed finals route. Speed climbing is hugely popular on the World Cup scene in Europe. Judging from its reception at the Ouray Ice Fest over the past several years, it’s a hit here, too! The competition is fast and furious, with $5,000 in prize money up for grabs. Unlike the Elite Mixed Climbing Competition, this is an open comp; anyone can sign up to compete. The event attracts a nice mix of big names and local heroes pitted against each other. 2017 Recap: Last year’s speed climbing champs include Ines Papert (GER), Beth Goralski (USA) and Rebecca Lewis (CAN) in the women’s contest, and Marcus Garcia (USA), Todd Felix (USA) and Ouray’s own Xander Bianchi (USA) in the men’s event.

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Comp Route 2018: ‘Russian Metaling’ BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

These days, it seems like practically everything can be traced back to some sort of Russian conspiracy theory. Even, as it turns out, the Elite Mixed Climbing Competition at the Ouray Ice Festival. “It’s actually very similar to the 2016 presidential election,” explained longtime route designer Vince Anderson, who ROUTE SETTERS VINCE ANDERSON AND ANDRES MARIN AT THE co-designed this year’s comp route along OURAY ICE PARK IN EARLY DECEMBER, WITH THE COMP ROUTE IN THE BACKGROUND. with Andres Marin of Colombia. “We’ve got the possibility of significant Russian necessary to utilize a special kind of super-hard steel involvement that has altered how we had to holds – which happen to be manufactured by the design the route.” same Russian outfit that makes the picks. Here’s what happened: Anderson and Marin ordered a bunch of these There’s this Russian ice tool manufacturing holds for the comp route last year, but the package company called Krukonogi – “That means Crooked didn’t show up in time. Turns out, in the aftermath Leg – emphasis on ‘crooked’,” Anderson quipped – of the 2016 presidential election, it was held up in that has developed a new kind of super-sharp, superthat whole “political thing with Russia, and the State hard ice pick. “It’s made of some kind of weird metal Department.” Ultimately the package was returned that you can only get from Russia.” to Russia. That “weird type of metal” turns out to be Anderson and Marin wrote to Krukonogi, something called depleted uranium – DU for short. explaining what had happened. So the Russians It’s what’s left over in nuclear reactors from the drove to Finland, and re-shipped the package to process of manufacturing enriched uranium from Ouray from there. It eventually arrived intact, but natural uranium. “It’s super hard – they put it on the not in time for last year’s Ice Fest. outside of armored tanks,” Anderson said. “But we have all those holds, now, that do make The Russian tools first came on the scene it harder for the people that have the conspiracy about two years ago, and they have been a gamepicks,” Anderson said. Look for them on this year’s changer in the world of competitive elite mixed comp route. climbing. According to Anderson, “They will sink As for the route itself (which Marin and into plastic holds like it’s soft styrofoam ice on a Anderson have christened “Russian Metaling”) warm spring day.” it’ll be steeper, and faster, and scrappier, and more At the 2016 Elite Mixed Climbing Competition in Ouray, “It was kind of apparent who had them and dynamic than routes of recent years. “A lactic acid bath,” Anderson promised. “And for those that who didn’t,” Anderson said. “Last year, everybody successfully climb the route, we’ll have a celebratory had them.” beverage at the top that marks the completion. And that, in turn, has added a new challenge That’s when the clock stops, is when the contents are to the art of competitive route-setting, where disposed of.” plastic holds used to be common. To design a “Something that makes you feel warm and route that’s hard enough to challenge world-class fuzzy,” Marin promised. “It’s gonna be great.” climbers wielding these new picks, it’s lately become

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ATHLETE PROFILE

ANGELIKA RAINER A Line Above the Sky

BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

t’s been another stellar year for Italian climber Angelika Rainer. First she claimed silver in the Ice Climbing World Cup 2017. Then, in late November, the seemingly superhuman 31-year-old sent “A Line above the Sky” D15 in the cave of Tomorrow’s World in the Italian Dolomites, considered to be the most difficult drytooling route in the world. With this accomplishment the climber from the South Tyrol became the first woman in the world to climb D15, matching the maximum level of difficulty ever achieved by a male climber. Rainer was invited to do the route by Tom Ballard, the British climber that put up all of the

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routes in Tomorrow’s World and did all its first ascents. “When I first went to the drytooling crag Tomorrow’s World, located at Malga Ciapela in the Dolomites, I was simply blown away,” Rainer wrote the day after her historic send. “From the road the cave is impressive, but when you actually walk up to it, and stand below the roof, then you realize how huge it really is and how much the vault overhangs. As you look outwards you make out rows of quickdraws, dangling in the void. And the most challenging climb of all, A Line Above The Sky, has 27 draws that lead across the overhanging or completely horizontal terrain.” Rainer’s early attempts on the route were thwarted by a series of long moves that are distributed across 40 meters of upside down climbing on the horizontal roof of the cave, with nearly no possibility to rest. Five long reaches in particular – two on sidepulls, three on underclings – caused her grief. But she slowly worked toward her goal by practicing similar moves at Ice Climbing World Cup competitions, and sending nearby easier routes. After working for a whole year to dial in her technique, she headed out one fine cold morning in late November 2017 to conquer the route. Her Instagram feed lit up with glee after her epic send. “Oh yes! ‘A line above the sky’. D15 went down today!!! Can’t tell how happy I am. All 40 meters of overhanging climbing went smoothly!!!” Rainer is kicking off the new year by returning to the Ouray Ice Festival for the third time, with hopes of claiming the women’s title in the Elite Mixed Climbing Comp. She won the women’s contest in 2015, and came in 2nd to Czech climber Lucie Hrozova in 2016. Judging by how well Rainer tackled “Line Above the Sky”, her chances of winning at the Ouray Ice Festival this year are pretty darn good. While anything could happen on the route designed by Vince Anderson and Andres Marin (see P. 38), the only real question seems to be whether Rainer will take not only the women’s title, but the overall title as well. In the words of Anderson and Marin, “She’s legit.”

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Special

Events KICK OFF PARTY THURSDAY, JAN. 18 7:30-9:30 P.M. DOORS OPEN AT 7 P.M. OURAY COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVE.) $10 Join us at the Ouray Community Center for the Ouray Ice Festival Kick-off Party sponsored by the American Alpine Club and Rab. There will be beer from Upslope Brewing Company, food and prizes, and opportunities to hang with local and visiting climbing royalty, and the ice farmers. Plus, live music by Rapid Grass, the high-energy five-piece Colorado bluegrass band that won the 2015 Rockygrass band competition! This party brings in a “Who’s Who” from the climbing world, highlighting the Ouray Ice Park’s unique, ongoing partnership with the AAC. This is a great, grassroots gathering that tends to attract a huge turnout. $10 cover charge includes a free pint glass from Rab. Let’s kick this party off right! Plus, beat the rush and pick up your gear demo card. SILENT AUCTION + RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI FRIDAY, JAN. 19 7:30-9:30 P.M. DOORS OPEN AT 7 P.M. OURAY COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVE.) $20 After you’ve had dinner in town, head up to the Ouray Community Center to bid on silent auction items donated by the Ice Fest’s corporate sponsors. All auction proceeds go directly to support the Ouray Ice Park, keeping it free and open for all of our enjoyment, so bid high, folks! The evening culminates with a multimedia presentation by prominent Canadian alpinist and physics professor Raphael Slawinski (see p. 42 for more info). The $20 cover charge includes a commemorative 23rd Annual Ice Fest Yeti Lowball.

LIVE AUCTION + JEFF LOWE AWARD + MONTE MONTEPARE + ‘DIRTBAG’ SATURDAY, JAN. 20 6:30-9 P.M. DOORS OPEN AT 6 P.M. OURAY COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVE.) $25 On Saturday night, Ouray’s restaurants are poised to feed the masses and turn over tables quickly, so you can hustle back to the Ouray Community Center by 6:30 p.m. for the presentation of the sixth annual Jeff Lowe Award, our keynote presentation by stand-up comedian Monte Montepare (see p. 43 for more info) and the film “Dirtbag, the Legend of Fred Beckey” (see p. 44 for more info). The $25 cover charge includes commemorative 23rd Annual Ice Fest Yeti Lowball, beer from Upslope Brewing Company and a fantastic live auction with goods ranging from the latest climbing gear to signed photographs and ice axes once wielded by climbing greats. PETZL PARTY – “WILD WEST” SATURDAY, JAN. 20, 10 P.M.-1 A.M. OURAY COMMUNITY CENTER, 320 6TH AVE. $20 The annual late-night Petzl party is a raucous affair, and definitely one of most heavily attended events of the whole Ice Festival weekend. Part rave, part costume party, it’s a racy evening that pulls in Ice Fest regulars and Petzl Party groupies from throughout the region. The party always has a theme; this year it’s “Wild West” so dig out your best saloon girl, outlaw or cowboy/cowgirl attire! $20 cover charge includes beer. ASOLO AWARD CEREMONY SUNDAY, JAN. 21, 2 P.M. LOWER BRIDGE/OUTDOOR GEAR EXPO AREA AT THE ICE PARK The Asolo Award Ceremony is like something right out of the Olympics as the winning athletes from the Elite Mixed Climbing Comp and Hari

Berger Speed Comp take their places on a unique ice podium created on site during the festival by ice carver Keith Martin, to receive custom trophies made by Ouray glass artists Annie Quathamer and Andres Marin, and metal artist Jeff Skoloda. Before you point your camera toward the podium, take a look around you – there’s likely to be a “Who’s Who” of the climbing elite in the crowd. MEMORIAL HAPPY HOUR SUNDAY, JAN. 21, 6:30-8:30 P.M. BRICKHOUSE, 737 MAIN STREET FREE No reason to leave right after the awards ceremony. Get a couple more pitches in, then meet us for the Memorial Happy Hour, and it’s free! There will be live music headlined by Christopher Parker, light bites and an open mic for stories from the athletes, the competitors, and all in attendance, as well as libations and good conversation. A great way to wrap up Ice Fest Weekend! This event is sponsored by The North Face and Tin-Cup Whiskey, with beer from Upslope Brewing Company. PRESENTATIONS FRIDAY/SATURDAY NIGHTS, JAN. 19 & 20 OURAY COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVE.) We’ve got another stellar lineup of presentations this year to inspire and entertain you during Ice Fest’s evening events. Veteran Canadian rock, ice and alpine climber Raphael Slawinski kicks things off on Friday evening with his multimedia presentation “20 minus 1”, reflecting on the past 19 years since he first came to Ouray, what he’s gotten up to in the meantime, and why, after all those years, he’s still passionate about climbing. On Saturday, don’t miss our keynote presentation: Crease Falls, Frostbite and Other Funny Things About Ice Climbing – Stand Up and Stories with Monte Montepare. Then, Dave O’Leske presents his film “Dirtbag, the Legend of Fred Beckey” – the epic life story of American mountaineering icon Fred Beckey, who inspired generations with his record ascents and rebel lifestyle. (For more information about the presentations, see pages 42-44.) P HO T O B Y DAN CHE HAY L

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PH OT O BY D A NIEL BA RT S CH

PRESENTATION SYNOPSES BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

Multimedia Presentation: 20 Minus 1

RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI

Friday, Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m. Ouray Community Center

aphael Slawinski dominated the Ouray Ice Festival competition on more than one occasion in the early 2000s, back when Jeff Lowe still ran the show. And in 2009, Slawinski gave a multimedia presentation after he and climbing partner Eamonn Walsh made the first ascent of the West Face of 11,873-foot Mt. Alberta – one of the Canadian Rockies’ most daunting peaks. Since then, he’s been on some pretty astounding adventures – one of which earned him a title as one of National Geographic’s 2014 “Adventurers of the Year” after he and fellow Canadian Ian Welsted solved one of the Karakorum’s last great puzzles, summiting K6 West’s 7,040-meter virgin peak in the shadow of the Nanga Parbat terrorist attack. Born and raised in Warsaw, Poland, Slawinski came of age in North Africa, France and Canada, and went to grad school in Chicago. For the past 20 years, he’s been living in Calgary, Alberta, where he is a physics professor “specializing in Canadian Rockies’ choss.” Slawinski’s obsession with mountains started with downhill skiing, first in the Tatra Mountains in Poland and later in the Canadian Rockies. Skiing gave way to mountaineering – in Canada, Alaska and finally the towering mountains of

Pakistan, where he discovered the addictive delights of hard climbing at high altitude. Along the way, Slawinski discovered he had a facility for ice climbing and mixed climbing. “For two years, when competing at Ouray, I was hugely fascinated by the newly emerging discipline of dry climbing and mixed climbing,” he said. “I also enjoy the combination of delicacy and brute force that is involved in ice climbing. Sometimes you can wail away on the ice, and other times you can gently hack your way up.” But mountaineering remains Slawinski’s true passion – especially in his beloved Canadian Rockies, where it is still winter for a good chunk of the year, and adventure (preferably laced with snow and ice) always beckons close to home, hearth, and his hairless cats. He gets after it whenever he can. “But I do have a day job as a physics professor,” he adds. Most of his work involves teaching, with a bit of quantum mechanics research on the side. “It gives me a chance to think about some really cool and weird stuff,” he said. Like the fact that it’s been 19 whole years since he first came to Ouray. At Slawinski’s presentation on Friday, tentatively titled “20 minus 1”, he’ll be talking what he’s gotten up to in the meantime, and why, after all these years, he’s still passionate about climbing. PH O T O BY W I K T O R S K UP IN S K I

RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI ASCENDS THE GOD DELUSION, A FA ON THE STANLEY HEADWALL IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES.

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Crease Falls, Frostbite and Other Funny Things About Ice Climbing

MONTE MONTEPARE

Saturday, Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m. Ouray Community Center

ow many ice climbers does it take to change a lightbulb? Find out when Monte Montepare takes the stage at his standup comedy and storytelling session at the Ouray Community Center on Saturday night. It’s been a rough year for the world in general, and a rough few months for the climbing community in a lot of ways, “so it’ll feel good to get some laughs out there,” he said. Montepare grew up in Breckenridge as a

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Summit County ski kid and studied acting at Emerson College in Boston for a year and a half before moving into his truck and heading to McCarthy, Alaska, where he focused his life around climbing and guiding. A stint at Western State College in Gunnison led him to discover the San Juan Mountains. “We used to go backcountry skiing on Red Mountain Pass when the snow wasn’t good around Gunnison,” he said. Occasionally, he’d get in a little ice climbing at the Ouray Ice Park. He even spent a winter as an ice farmer between stints up in Alaska, where he has lived and guided now at Wrangell Saint Elias National Park for the past 14 summers – five of those years year-round. As much as he loves the climbing and guiding lifestyle, two years ago Montepare realized he had to re-engage in the creative side of his soul that he had not been paying homage to. “My dream was always to be a performer,” he explained. So he moved to Denver for the winter and did a bunch of standup, took improv classes and joined some improv teams. Things went so well in Denver that he made the leap earlier this year to the bigger leagues of LA. How’s that working out for him so far? “Brutal,” he admits. “There are no shortcuts in the standup comedy world.” In fact, he’s been amazed at the similarities between his parallel pursuits of comedy and mountaineering: “Facing fear and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, doing activities nobody is making you do, the ramifications of discomfort and things being scary, and not always having a lot of fun in the moment.” Lately, though, he’s found a successful and totally fun side gig as a host. So far he’s hosted the award ceremony and American Mountain Guides Association annual meeting in Salt Lake City, and Mountainfilm at the Bishop Craggin’ Classic. It’s been a treat to finally have an audience that gets his mountaineering jokes. “There are pretty much some jokes you can’t tell to anyone but climbers,” he explained, “and then ice climbers are even more of a specific niche.” He’s been working on his Ouray Ice Park material for a while now, and the juices have been flowing. For starters, “There is definitely humor in trying to explain to anyone in the world that you farm ice.”

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Film & presentation by documentary filmmaker Dave O’Leske

DIRTBAG: THE LEGEND OF FRED BECKEY Saturday, Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m., Ouray Community Center BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

Dirtbag: A person who is committed to a given (usually extreme) lifestyle to the point of abandoning employment and other societal norms in order to pursue said lifestyle.

red Beckey was the original American “Dirtbag” mountaineer. The groundbreaking life story of this road-tripping vagabond, who inspired generations of climbers with his monumental first ascents and definitive guide books, is told for the first time in this documentary film by Dave O’Leske. The film project started over a decade ago, when O’Leske read an article about Beckey that piqued his interest. “As a climber, there was no one more mysterious,” O’Leske wrote about Beckey. “Rumors swirled around his secret black book of climbs, more first ascents than anyone ever, the forever bachelor and the original American dirtbag.” O’Leske sent a hand-written letter to Beckey expressing his interest in making a film about the icon. He figured his letter would never be read; he wasn’t even sure if Beckey had a real address. A few months later, he’d nearly forgotten about the letter when the phone rang, and a grizzly voice shouted, “This is Beckey. I’ll be skiing in Utah if you want to meet me.” Thus began a decade-long friendship and documentary film project, in which O’Leske chronicled Beckey’s innumerable climbing achievements – he began climbing full-time as a teenager in the 1930s – while revealing the essence of his famously churlish character through 44

historic photos, animated reenactments and candid moments captured during the final years of Beckey’s life: Beckey, stretched out in his sleeping bag on the forest floor, wakes up to the sound of tweeting birds and strides out of the woods, right past a big sign that says “Overnight Camping Prohibited.” Beckey, on the side of the road with his thumb stuck out, holds a cardboard sign that says, “Will belay for food.” An older Beckey, now, walks through a desert on unsteady legs, painstakingly climbs up a low rock wall. Throughout the film, Beckey’s character is illuminated through interviews with climbing luminaries such as Yvonn Chouinard, Royal Robbins and Ed Viesturs. “He has a soft place in his heart for tall dirty blondes,” quips one of them. “Beware of Beckey. He’ll steal your women. He’ll steal your climbs.” And when you see this film, he might just steal your heart. Beckey passed away peacefully on Oct. 30, 2017, not long after “Dirtbag” made its debut on the film festival circuit. “He was a true American icon,” O’Leske said. “His legacy is profound, and he has inspired countless people to explore this amazing planet.”

ANNOUNCER PROFILE

The Radster and O’Neill Show BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT

olding up the sharp end of the mic at this year’s Elite Mixed Climbing Comp will be two of the best-known names in alpinism: Conrad Anker and Timmy O’Neill. Anker is credited with a long list of first ascents in Antarctica, the Himalaya, Alaska, Baffin Island and Patagonia. In 1999 he found George Mallory’s body on Everest as a member of a search team looking for the remains of the legendary British climber. O’Neill, meanwhile, has a reputation as America’s most outrageous climber. He has set all kinds of speed climbing records and is considered a world-class slackliner, solo climber, class 5+ kayaker, dangerously fast mountain biker, and now, race car driver (having just competed in the Baja 500). And, he is no slouch as an alpinist himself, with first ascents from Greenland to Patagonia. Anker has emceed comps at the Ouray Ice Fest off and on for the past 10 years and is an occasional evening presenter. O’Neill’s connections to the Ice Festival run deep as well. He was on the original Ouray Ice Park board, and returned to Ouray as a slideshow presenter back in 2010, but he’s never emceed a comp before. Anker thinks he’ll do great. “If you have every heard Timmy talk, he has so much humor and energy,” he said. Anker looks forward to indulging in some light-hearted fun at the 2018 Ouray Ice Festival, after getting through a particularly intense couple of years. First, he recovered the body of his best friend Alex Lowe who vanished in a Himalayan avalanche 16 years ago. Then he survived a heart attack while climbing in Nepal. “It’s always good medicine to gather with the tribe,” he said. O’Neill relishes the prospect of the annual ice reunion as well. “This is my year of being all in,” he said. “I’m doing a bunch of stuff that I haven’t done in a while.” Hayden Kennedy’s death in October 2017 was a wake-up call, he said. “I saw Conrad at Hayden’s memorial and decided to start doing this stuff. I’m a tribal emcee, basically.” At the Ice Fest competition, O’Neill and Anker plan a pretty off-the-cuff presentation. “He will take care of the heavy lifting and I’ll take the other side of it,” O’Neill said. “I want to take advantage of this opportunity. Who knows how many more opportunities I’ll have to take the mic, the sharp end, carry the torch.”

Altitude Checking

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PRESENTATION | FEATURE | SCHEDULE | SPONSORS & BUSINESS PARTNERS | MEMORIAM

THE 23RD ANNUAL OURAY ICE FESTIVAL

SCHEDULE THURSDAY, JANUARY 18 KICK-OFF PARTY

SPONSORED BY RAB, AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB AND UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY MUSIC BY RAPIDGRASS; SILENT AUCTION BEER FROM UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY LOCATION: COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVE) TIME: 7:30-9:30 P.M., DOORS OPEN AT 7 P.M. PRICE: $10.00 SWAG: COMMEMORATIVE PINT GLASS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19 OUTDOOR GEAR EXPO

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK TIME: 8 A.M.-3 P.M.

STAND UP COMEDY, MOVIE, JEFF LOWE AWARD, LIVE AUCTION

BEER FROM UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY LOCATION: COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVE) TIME: 6:30 P.M.-9 P.M., DOORS OPEN AT 6 P.M. PRICE: $25 PRESENTATION 1: STAND UP AND STORIES WITH MONTE MONTEPARE PRESENTATION 2: DAVE O’LESKE PRESENTS: DIRTBAG, THE LEGEND OF FRED BECKEY SWAG: COMMEMORATIVE 23RD ANNUAL OURAY ICE FESTIVAL YETI LOWBALL

PETZL PARTY!

BEER PROVIDED BY UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY LOCATION: COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVENUE) LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK TIME: 9:30 A.M. & 12:30 P.M. THEME: WILD WEST TIME: 10 P.M.-1 A.M. PRICE: $20

OURAY ICE FESTIVAL CLINICS

FREE ADULT WALK-UP CLIMBING

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK (NEAR UPPER BRIDGE) TIME: 10 A.M.-3 P.M.

PRESENTATION, SILENT AUCTION

BEER BY UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 21 OUTDOOR GEAR EXPO

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK TIME: 8 A.M.-2 P.M.

OURAY ICE FESTIVAL CLINICS

LOCATION: COMMUNITY CENTER (320 6TH AVENUE) TIME: 7:30-9:30 P.M., DOORS OPEN AT 7 P.M. PRICE: $20

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK TIME: 9:30 A.M. & 12:30 P.M.

PRESENTATION: RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI PRESENTS: “20 MINUS 1 – LESSONS FROM A LIFE OF CLIMBING”

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK (NEAR UPPER BRIDGE) TIME: 10 A.M.-2 P.M.

SWAG: COMMEMORATIVE 23RD ANNUAL OURAY ICE FESTIVAL YETI LOWBALL

FREE ADULT WALK-UP CLIMBING

FREE KIDS CLIMBING COLLEGE

SATURDAY JANUARY 20

LOCATION OURAY ICE PARK (NEAR UPPER BRIDGE) TIME: 10 A.M.-3 P.M.

OUTDOOR GEAR EXPO

HARI BERGER SPEED COMPETITION

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK TIME: 8 A.M.-3 P.M.

OURAY ICE FESTIVAL ELITE MIXED CLIMBING COMPETITION

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK TIME: 9 A.M.-3 P.M

SPONSORED BY LOWA LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK

TIME: 9 A.M.

ASOLO AWARDS CEREMONY LOCATION: LOWER BRIDGE

TIME: 2 P.M.

OURAY ICE FESTIVAL CLINICS

FREE MEMORIAL HAPPY HOUR

TIME: 10 A.M.-3 P.M.

LIVE MUSIC BY CHRISTOPHER PARKER/OPEN MIC FOR ALL/COCKTAILS FROM TIN-CUP WHISKEY AND BEER FROM UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY/APPETIZERS BY THE BRICKHOUSE 737

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK TIME: 9:30 A.M. & 12:30 P.M. SPONSORED BY THE NORTH FACE, TIN-CUP WHISKEY AND WITH BEER FROM UPSLOPE BREWING COMPANY FREE ADULT WALK-UP CLIMBING LOCATION: BRICKHOUSE 737 TIME: 6:30-8:30 PM LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK (NEAR UPPER BRIDGE)

FREE KIDS CLIMBING COLLEGE

LOCATION: OURAY ICE PARK (NEAR UPPER BRIDGE) TIME: 10 A.M.-3 P.M.

ALL FUNDS RAISED AT OURAY ICE FESTIVAL EVENTS ARE USED TO MAINTAIN AND OPERATE THE OURAY ICE PARK, 46

FULL DAY SEMINARS TIME

SPONSOR

ATHLETE # SEMINAR

JANUARY 18, 2018 0730-1530 0730-1530 0730-1530 0730-1530 0730-1530 0730-1530 0730-1530 0730-1530

SJ MTN GUIDES SJ MTN GUIDES SJ MTN GUIDES SJ MTN GUIDES SJ MTN GUIDES SJ MTN GUIDES SJ MTN GUIDES SJ MTN GUIDES

NIK MIRASHEMI SHELDON KERR MICAH LEWKOWITZ CHAD PEELE MARCUS GARCIA CLINT COOK PATRICK ORMOND STEVE JOHNSON

THURSDAY

T1 GUIDED ASCENT: WHOREHOUSE ICE HOSE T2 GUIDED ASCENT: SKYLIGHT AREA T3 PERFECTING ICE MOVEMENT SKILLS T4 INTRODUCTION TO ICE CLIMBING T5 INTRO TO MIXED CLIMBING T6 LEARN TO LEAD ICE T7 GUIDED ASCENT: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN T8 INTERMEDIATE ICE CLIMBING JANUARY 19, 2018

0930-1500 0930-1500 0930-1500 0930-1500 0930-1500 0800-1500 0800-1500 0930-1500 0930-1500

OSPREY LOWA ADIDAS MAMMUT AMGA LA SPORTIVA CAMP RIGGING FOR RESCUE ADIDAS

MARCUS GARCIA CARLOS BUHLER JAYSON SIMONS-JONES DOUG SHEPHERD ANGELA HAWSE KARSTEN DELAP NATE SMITH DAVE WEBER JEFF WITT

A INTERMEDIATE ICE B NOVICE ICE C INTERMEDIATE ICE D LEARN TO LEAD ICE E LEARN TO LEAD ICE: WOMEN’S SPECIFIC F BACKCOUNTRY ICE CLIMBING: SKYLIGHT AREA G BACKCOUNTRY ICE CLIMBING: OURAY AREA H SELF-RESCUE SKILLS CLINIC I INTRO TO ICE CLIMBING JANUARY 20, 2018

0930-1500 0930-1500 0930-1500 0930-1500 0800-1500 0800-1500 0930-1500 0930-1500

PETZL OUTDOOR RESEARCH STERLING ROPE OUTDOOR RESEARCH CAMP ADIDAS GRIVEL CAMP

PATRICK ORMOND ELÍAS DE ANDRÉS MARTOS JIM SHIMBERG JEWELL LUND FABRIZIO ZANGRILLI JEFF WITT SHINGO OHKAWA NATE SMITH

SATURDAY

J INTRO TO ICE CLIMBING K NOVICE ICE L INTERMEDIATE ICE M LEARN TO LEAD ICE N BACKCOUNTRY ICE CLIMBING: SKYLIGHT AREA O BACKCOUNTRY ICE CLIMBING: OURAY AREA P INTERMEDIATE ICE Q FAST N’ LIGHT ALPINISM JANUARY 21, 2018

0930-1500 CAMP

FRIDAY

SUNDAY

NATE SMITH Q FAST N’ LIGHT ALPINISM

FOR CLINIC DETAILS VISIT MTNGUIDE.NET/OURAY-ICE-CLIMBING/OURAY-ICE-FESTIVAL-CLINICS

P HO T O B Y DAN CHE HAY L

PRESENTATION | FEATURE | SCHEDULE | SPONSORS & BUSINESS PARTNERS | MEMORIAM

CLINICS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19

TIME

SPONSOR

ATHLETE

0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500

PATAGONIA GRIVEL GRIVEL BLUEWATER ROPES GRIVEL SCARPA PETZL BLACK DIAMOND YETI RAB BLACK DIAMOND THE NORTH FACE RAB OUTDOOR RESEARCH OUTDOOR RESEARCH LA SPORTIVA ARCTERYX CAMP SCARPA RAB GRIVEL RAB CAMP LOWA THE NORTH FACE RAB OUTDOOR RESEARCH TRANGO BLACK DIAMOND THE NORTH FACE OUTDOOR RESEARCH GRIVEL PATAGONIA BLUE WATER ROPES STERLING ROPE BLUE WATER ROPES

KITTY CALHOUN AARON MULKEY ALAN ROUSSEAU CHAD JUKES SHINGO OHKAWA SAM MAGRO ANDRES MARIN RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI CONRAD ANKER SCOTT BENNETT DAWN GLANC ANNA PFAFF RYAN VACHON JEWELL LUND SARAH HUENIKEN DALE REMSBERG KATIE BONO JESSE HUEY KITTY CALHOUN RYAN VACHON SHINGO OHKAWA AARON MULKEY KATIE BONO RUDI HAUSER ANDRES MARIN FABRIZIO ZANGRILLI MARGO TALBOT ARI NOVAK RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI CONRAD ANKER PATRICK ORMOND ALAN ROUSSEAU VINCE ANDERSON DAWN GLANC DALE REMSBERG CHAD JUKES

# CLINIC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

INTERMEDIATE ICE STEEP ICE INTERMEDIATE ICE NOVICE ICE INTRO TO ICE INTERMEDIATE ICE STEEP ICE TECHNIQUES MODERATE MIXED INTRO TO ICE LEADING INTRO TO ICE INTRO TO ICE INTRO TO ICE FOR WOMEN ADVANCED ICE INTRO TO ICE INTRO TO MIXED CLIMBING INTERMEDIATE ICE: FOOTWORK FUNDAMENTALS NOVICE ICE: FOCUS ON FOOTWORK INTERMEDIATE ICE: FOCUS ON FOOTWORK WOMENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SPECIFIC: FOCUS ON FOOTWORK STEEP ICE TECHNIQUES NOVICE ICE: FOCUS ON FOOTWORK SKILLS FOR THE ICE LEADER INTERMEDIATE ICE HARD ICE MODERATE MIXED NOVICE ICE INTRO TO ICE FOR WOMEN INTRO TO ICE NOVICE ICE ADVANCED ICE BELAYS & TRANSITIONS FOR MULTI-PITCH ICE ANCHORS INTERMEDIATE ICE INTRO TO MIXED CLIMBING INTRO TO ICE LEADING ADAPTIVE ICE CLIMBING

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 TIME

SPONSOR

ATHLETE

0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1030 0900-1130 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500 1230-1500

ARCTERYX HYPERLITE CHICKS BLUEWATER ROPES BLACK DIAMOND LOWA PETZL THE NORTH FACE ASOLO SCARPA OUTDOOR RESEARCH ARCTERYX BLUEWATER ROPES SCARPA MAMMUT THE NORTH FACE ADIDAS OSPREY TRANGO OUTDOOR RESEARCH MAMMUT ARCTERYX PATAGONIA LOWA OUTDOOR RESEARCH CHICKS CLIMBING GRIVEL LA SPORTIVA BLUEWATER ROPES

PAUL MCSORLEY JANETTE HEUNG ELAINA ARENZ KARSTEN DELAP RAPHAEL SLAWINSKI JESS ROSKELLEY DALE REMSBERG HEIDI WIRTZ KAREN BOCKEL SAM MAGRO MARGO TALBOT JESSE HUEY CHAD JUKES KITTY CALHOUN DOUG SHEPERD HEIDI WIRTZ MARCUS GARCIA KAREN BOCKEL ARI NOVAK MARGO TALBOT DOUG SHEPERD DALE REMSBERG KITTY CALHOUN CARLOS BUHLER GRAHAM ZIMMERMAN ELAINA ARENZ ALAN ROUSSEAU KARSTEN DELAP CHAD JUKES

37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65

CLINICS

THEME

INTERMEDIATE ICE USING YOUR HIPS FOR MAX BALANCE WOMEN’S SPECIFIC: FOCUS ON FOOTWORK NOVICE ICE ADVANCED ICE INTERMEDIATE ICE STEEP ICE TECHNIQUES INTRO TO ICE LEADING NOVICE ICE – WOMEN’S SPECIFIC MODERATE MIXED INTRO TO ICE LEADING SKILLS FOR THE ICE LEADER NOVICE ICE ICE SCREW PLACEMENTS & ANCHORS BELAYS & TRANSITIONS FOR MULTI-PITCH ICE ICE SCREW PLACEMENTS & ANCHORS INTERMEDIATE ICE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT SKILLS LEASHLESS CLIMBING FOR TOOL TECHNIQUES INTERMEDIATE ICE ADVANCED ICE LEADING STEEP ICE MODERATE MIXED FOR WOMEN INTRO TO ICE LEADING ADVANCED ICE NOVICE ICE NOVICE ICE: FOCUS ON YOUR FOOTWORK BELAYS & TRANSITIONS FOR MULTI-PITCH ICE ADAPTIVE ICE CLIMBING

FOR CLINIC DETAILS VISIT MTNGUIDE.NET/OURAY-ICE-CLIMBING/OURAY-ICE-FESTIVAL-CLINICS

PRESENTATION | FEATURE | SCHEDULE | SPONSORS & BUSINESS PARTNERS | MEMORIAM

CLINICS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 21

TIME

SPONSOR

ATHLETE

THEME

0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130 0900-1130

THE NORTH FACE ADIDAS GRIVEL SCARPA BLUEWATER ROPES LOWA LA SPORTIVA CAMP PETZL OSPREY SCARPA ASOLO OUTDOOR RESEARCH ARCTERYX GRIVEL ADIDAS OUTDOOR RESEARCH OUTDOOR RESEARCH LA SPORTIVA BLUEWATER ROPES

HEIDI WIRTZ 66 JEFF WITT 67 AARON MULKEY 68 ANDRES MARIN 69 CHAD JUKES 70 CARLOS BUHLER 71 JIM SHIMBERG 72 FABRIZIO ZANGRILLI 73 KITTY CALHOUN 74 MARCUS GARCIA 75 VINCE ANDERSON 76 KAREN BOCKEL 77 PATRICK ORMOND 78 KATIE BONO 79 ALAN ROUSSEAU 80 JAYSON SIMONS-JONES 81 SARAH HUENIKEN 82 GRAHAM ZIMMERMAN 83 ANNA PFAFF 84 KARSTEN DELAP 85

INTERMEDIATE ICE INTERMEDIATE ICE: MOVING WITH EFFICIENCY INTERMEDIATE ICE: FOOTWORK FUNDAMENTALS NOVICE ICE INTRO TO ICE CLIMBING INTERMEDIATE ICE STEEP ICE TECHNIQUES LEASHLESS CLIMBING FOR TOOL TECHNIQUES RESCUE CLINIC: THE SECOND INTERMEDIATE MIXED CLIMBING INTRO TO MIXED CLIMBING INTRO TO ICE CLIMBING: WOMENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SPECIFIC STEEP ICE TECHNIQUES INTRO TO MIXED CLIMBING INTERMEDIATE ICE BELAYS & TRANSITIONS FOR MULTI-PITCH ICE SKILLS FOR THE ICE LEADER ADVANCED ICE NOVICE ICE LEARN TO LEAD ICE

FOR CLINIC DETAILS VISIT MTNGUIDE.NET/OURAY-ICE-CLIMBING/OURAY-ICE-FESTIVAL-CLINICS

P HO T O B Y DAN CHE HAY L

Beyond the Ice Fest DEMO DAYS Ice Fest weekend is awesome, but why let the fun stop there? If you’ve caught the ice-climbing bug, check out our Demo Days throughout the ice climbing season! Ouray Ice Park Demo Days feature top brands in the outdoor industry, offering participants the opportunity to test-drive some great gear. Stop by the Ice Park on Presidents Day weekend, Feb. 1719, for a Demo Days event with Black Diamond. For more Demo Days, visit ourayicepark. com and the Ouray Ice Park Facebook page for updated information from more top brands throughout the season.

ICE PARK SPECIAL!

$139*/1-2 PEOPLE: ROUND TRIP MTJ-OURAY

Special Valid Between December 15, 2017 - March 15, 2018. Airport Taxes and Other Fees May Apply. *Regular Price $168 for Up to 2 Passengers.

KIDS CLIMBING COLLEGE Held at the Ouray Ice Park several times throughout the winter season, the Kids Climbing College (KCC) is a super fun, free way for children ages 7-17 to try their hand at ice climbing. KCC will be set up during the 2018 Ouray WSR_OIPNewsletterAd.2017.indd Ice Festival on Jan. 20 and 21 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. daily, with additional dates on second Saturdays in January, February and March ( Jan. 13, Feb. 10 and March 10) from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The action happens at the Kids Wall, a specially developed 40-foot high, 140-foot wide slab of ice located along the road above the Uncompahgre Gorge near the Ice Park’s upper bridge with easy walk-up access. It features a dozen different routes with various levels of difficulty for beginners to more experienced climbers. The KCC is free, on a first-come-first-served basis. San Juan Mountain Guides provides all of the technical gear, including harnesses, helmets, boots, crampons and ice tools. Participants should bring: an adult to sign paperwork, warm clothes, gloves, winter boots and a warm hat (ski clothes work well for climbing). Participants and their families should park in the designated Ice Park parking areas and walk up the road to the Kids Wall.

REVIVING OURAY’S MINING HERITAGE 1

12/4/17 12:16 PM

For more information please visit San Juan Mountain Guides at mtnguide.net. PRESENTATION | FEATURE | SCHEDULE | SPONSORS & BUSINESS PARTNERS | MEMORIAM

OURAY ICE FESTIVAL 2018 SPONSORS TITLE AND FOOTWEAR

OFFICIAL APPAREL AND EQUIPMENT

TITLE MEDIA

OFFICIAL

OFFICIAL ROPE SPONSOR

HARI BERGER SPEED COMP SPONSOR

OFFICIAL BEER SPONSOR

SUPPORTING

CONTRIBUTING

GEAR SPONSORS JULBO STIO PROTOGEAR

CLIMBING ADVOCACY PARTNERS AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB ACCESS FUND FOREST SERVICE CITY OF OURAY OURAY HYDROELECTRIC PARADOX SPORTS BIG CITY MOUNTAINEERS

COLORADO OUTDOOR RECREATION INDUSTRY OFFICE TAP-IN COLORADO SOMETHING INDEPENDENT GRAND JUNCTION ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP CHICKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CLIMBING AND SKIING

LOCAL BUSINESS PARTNERS CLIMBING ICON

FIRST ASCENSIONIST

The Wiesbaden

OURAY LIQUOR

Hot Springs Spa & Lodging

ROUTE SETTER MOUSE’S CHOCOLATE OURAY LIQUORS WHITTWORKS PAINTING

GOLDBELT BAR AND GRILL THE SILVER EAGLE SALOON OURAY GLASSWORKS AND GIFTS

OURAY HOT SPRINGS POOLS AND FITNESS CENTER OURAY RV PARK AND CABINS

LEAD CLIMBER CITIZENS STATE BANK OF OURAY KRISTOPHER’S CULINAIRE ARTISAN BAKERY HOTEL OURAY OURAY HARDWARE AND MERCANTILE OURAY VACATION RENTALS O’BRIEN’S PUB AND GRILL

MR. GRUMPY PANTS BREWING COMPANY THE PURPLE PEACOCK OURAY BROKERS RAY’S JERKY TWIN PEAKS LODGE AND HOTSPRINGS WESTERN SLOPE RIDES KJ WOOD DISTILLERS

BELAYERS THE GUIDE GARAGE MOUNTAIN FEVER SHIRTS AND GIFTS HIGH COUNTRY LEATHERS OURAY EMPORIUM SILVER LYNX

THAI CHILI OURAY ELEVATE DAY SPA OURAY HOSTEL NORTH MOON GALLERY OUTLAW RESTAURANT

NORTH MOON GALLERY SALON MONTI MOUNTAIN QUEEN VACATION RENTALS

PRESENTATION | FEATURE | SCHEDULE | SPONSORS & BUSINESS PARTNERS | MEMORIAM

IN MEMORIAM

Hayden Kennedy As the tragic loss of Hayden Kennedy reverberated throughout the entire climbing community last October, it sent shock waves through Ouray. Hayden came of age alongside the Ouray Ice Park. He was just a toddler when the Park was founded. By 2013, he was a headlining presenter at the Ouray Ice Festival. He had just returned that year from the pointy summit of Ogre 1 and was full of stoke about the successful mission. As a presenter at last year’s Festival, though, he assumed a more sombre and reflective tone, speaking about the love and loss and the risk and reward of climbing. He truly struck a nerve in all of us, and there were few dry eyes in the room when he was done. Hayden’s parents Michael and Julie Kennedy described their 27-year-old son as “an uncensored soul whose accomplishments as a mountaineer were always secondary to his deep friendships and mindfulness.” He grew up in Carbondale, Colo. among the climbing royalty of his parents’ generation. It was not your typical upbringing, but it felt pretty normal to Hayden, sparking his own audacious alpine ambitions. He climbed his first multi-pitch climb, the Kor-Ingalls route on Castleton Tower, when he was 13. He was petrified the entire day. But rather than deter him, the experience solidified his obsession. Hayden went on to become a multi-discipline crusher best known for his achievements in the alpine, including the first “fair means” ascent of Cerro Torre’s southeast ridge and a new line up the south face of Ogre 1 with his close friend and mentor Kyle Dempster in 2012. 54

A long-anticipated seven-week mountaineering trip to India, slated to take place in the fall of 2016, was sidelined by the death of Dempster and Scott Adamson on the Ogre 2 in August of that year. It happened just as Hayden was getting ready to leave for his own expedition. With Dempster’s death, he said, “The whole India expedition became super unimportant.” Over the past year, Hayden had developed increasingly mixed feelings about alpinism. Just two weeks before his death, he wrote on the climbing blog “Evening Sends” that he had watched too many friends die in the mountains over the last few years. “I’ve realized something painful. It’s not just the memorable summits and crux moves that are fleeting. Friends and climbing partners are fleeting, too,” he wrote. “This is the painful reality of our sport, and I’m unsure what to make of it. Climbing is either a beautiful gift or a curse.” On Saturday, Oct. 7, Hayden’s beloved girlfriend Inge Perkins died in an avalanche while the two were skiing in the backcountry of southwestern Montana. Unable to bear the loss of his partner in life, Hayden took his own life the next day. Here in Ouray, we are still stunned that he is gone. Heartbroken for his parents’ loss, dazzled by the beautiful gift of his richly realized, too-brief life. “Hayden’s contribution to the sport of climbing and to the Ouray Ice Park are significant and undeniable.” said Ouray Ice Park Executive Director Dan Chehayl. “Being a truly fun, friendly and compassionate individual as well as an artful, talented and ambitious climber, we consider ourselves lucky to have been graced by his presence. His memory will never be forgotten here in Ouray.”

JANUARY 21-26, 2018

FEBRUARY 18-23, 2018

Rigging for Rescue offers in-depth waterfall ice climbing & rescue workshops focusing on: • ice climbing technique • companion rescue • multi-pitch ascent/descent strategies Our cadre of educators include some of the most experienced ice climbing instructors in the industry. Join us in Ouray for one of our ice climbing workshops - expand your skill sets and increase your confidence in rescuing your partner in difficult terrain. Rigging for Rescue, LLC | Ouray, CO 81427 | USA riggingforrescue.com | info@rigginwwgforrescue.com | (970) 325-4474 PRESENTATION | FEATURE | SCHEDULE | SPONSORS & BUSINESS PARTNERS | MEMORIAM

Ouray Chalet Inn

centrally located in downtown Ouray

great rooms warm hospitality short walk to Ice Park

ouraychaletinn.com

1-800-924-2538 or 1-970-325-4331

THE LOCAL EXPERTS ICE . SKI . ALPINE . AVY