A climber scopes a route below the line of international flags representing the Ouray Ice Festival's international competition.
A high reach and near perfect hold at the Ouray Ice Festival in the Uncompahgre Gulch.
A pick goes out to secure a hold in the Uncompahgre Gorge far above Red Mountain Creek.
The Ouray Ice Festival gathers the best of the best in the climbing world to its icy gorge each January to pick through hundreds of routes by cautious moves. This year was no different.
French ice climber Jeff Mercier won the mixed ice climbing competition Sunday, the highest honor of the 13-year-old Ouray Ice Festival. Following in second place was Ines Papert, Evgeny Krivosheitsev in third, Boris Bihler in fourth, and Carlos Garcia Bello in fifth. However, Mercier was the sole competitor to top out the course, finishing it completely. For more results check out the Ouray Ice Festival site.
Much of the action took place in the Ouray Ice Park, but not all. There was an ax-throwing contest, a tight rope walk across the gorge, slideshows, films, mountaineering gear demos and sales, parties and music.
During winter the Ouray Ice Park
is an ice climbing mecca, and it's just a short drive from Telluride.
There are lots of natural ice routes in the area but the gorge that
makes up the park has a huge concentration of routes, ranging
from easy to extreme, just steps away from each other.
The Park is one of only a few man-made ice climbing areas in the world.
The natural routes that existed in the 70s were augmented in 1994 by a
few enterprising cimbers, some PVC pipe, a few hoses and some
strategically placed holes in the pipe. Voilá, the park was created,
and thanks to the generosity of the landowner (Eric Jacobsen, who also
owns the Bridal Veil Power Plant in Telluride) the area has become
renowned in the climbing world. Jacobsen asks for nothing in exchange
for the use of the land except liability insurance coverage.
The festival began in 1996 just two years after the park was established, and is promoted by ice climbing pioneer Jeff Lowe. The festival raises over half of the park's annual operating capital to keep the ice growing and ice climbers climbing.
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