Tag: Ice Climbing
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Ice climbers pick it at Longmont World Cup competition
As the sun rose behind The Climbing Collective, it was cold. Ice cold. On the building’s southwest exterior, strengthening sunlight illuminated puffy coats and clouds of breath — both a rarity along the Front Range this tepid winter. But the pocket of brisk weather made the atmosphere appropriate for the event on hand. And as…
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Ouray faces economic hit thanks to Mother Nature
Peter O’Neil knew that the Ouray Ice Park would have a rough year after the first week of December. Following Thanksgiving weekend, a solid layer of farmed ice sheets formed along the sides of Uncompahgre Gorge. Days later, the southwest Colorado town hit 50 degrees — an uncommonly warm temperature for December. O’Neil, executive director…
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Body of deceased ice climber recovered from Colorado backcountry
An ice climber has died in Colorado, per a report from the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team. According to the team, the ice climber died in the Precipice Peak area of the West Fork of Cimarron River at some point on November 15. A mission to recover the deceased climber’s body took place during the early…
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Ice climb amid glowing frozen waterfalls at this Colorado spot
The popular Friday Night Ice ice climbing event is set to return to Colorado this winter, and if you’re looking to stick some picks into the wall on a budget in a more approachable environment, there’s perhaps no better deal in the Centennial State. Hosted by Front Range Climbing Company on a top-roped human-built ice…
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Looking back on Ouray Ice Park’s 30 years — and ahead to uncertain future
In the mid-1990s, from his previous home in Steamboat Springs, Mike Gibbs was hearing about an icy realm unlike any other growing in a rocky pocket of southwest Colorado. “The word was there was some man-made, farmed ice park down in Ouray,” Gibbs recalled, “and there was a bunch of different climbing.” He arrived in…
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Weekend things to do around Denver and beyond
FRIDAY One of the most unique annual events during National Western Stock Show for 78 years: the Grand Champion Steer walks the red carpet through the lobby of Denver’s regal Brown Palace Hotel just in time for high tea. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday. Reservations for free general admission. A VIP viewing and barbeque luncheon $150.…
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Ouray Ice Park opens for season on heels of ‘game-changer’ agreement
A famed arena for ice climbing has opened for the season in southwest Colorado — the start of an annual winter tradition that also represents the beginning of a bright, new future for access. Ouray’s City Council recently approved the transfer of a private parcel in Ouray Ice Park to city government. The agreement regarded 7½…
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Deal in the works to preserve access at Ouray Ice Park amid liability concerns
The liability concern sweeping popular recreation lands in Colorado has come to a world-renowned destination for ice climbing. For decades during winter’s freezing days and nights, crews have run water from pipes and shower heads down the Uncompahgre River Gorge to form huge curtains and daggers that call to tens of thousands of axe- and…
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Southwest Colorado ice climbing park gets ‘jumpstart’ for major expansion
Ouray Ice Park is closer to a major expansion with a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado, the state agency funding outdoor-related projects with lottery revenues. The $100,000 grant is “the jumpstart that we need,” said Peter O’Neil, executive director of the nonprofit overseeing the southwest Colorado playground beloved by ice climbers around the world. The…
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Southwest Colorado ice climbing park gets ‘jumpstart’ for major expansion
Ouray Ice Park is closer to a major expansion with a grant from Great Outdoors Colorado, the state agency funding outdoor-related projects with lottery revenues. The $100,000 grant is “the jumpstart that we need,” said Peter O’Neil, executive director of the nonprofit overseeing the southwest Colorado playground beloved by ice climbers around the world. The…