Durango’s Marcus Garcia is belayed by Stephanie Mahallati of Canmore, Alberta, Canada, at the Stump Wall in the Ouray Ice Park. The park is hosting the 21st annual Ouray Ice Festival this weekend.
Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Stephanie Mahallati of Canmore, Alberta, Canada, said she has returned to Ouray every winter for the last six years to meet other climbers and increase her skills.
Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
An Italian ice climber reaches the sun during a frigid ascent of Bear Creek Falls just below U.S. Highway 550 south of Ouray, Colorado. A destination for climbers, Ouray is especially visited in January, when the annual Ice Festival occurs, and ice conditions are good. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Ice climbing arenas can create a surreal environment, commonplace at the Ouray Ice Park. Massive chandeliers and curtains of ice hang long from their roots, and sometimes ice does fall. It´s all part of the game to ice climbers. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Durango´s Marcus Garcia is belayed by Stephanie Mahallati of Canmore, Alberta, Canada at the Stump Wall in the Ouray Ice Park. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
While the perception of ice climbing as an extreme sports is typical, Marcus Garcia explains that he controls his fear and calculates risk. þÄúYou climb with fear, not in it,þÄù he said. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Ice climbers use specialized equipment like technical ice axes, or tools, they swing into the ice like a hammer hitting a nail. On their feet they use crampons- spiked devices fixed on their boots that they kick into the ice. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Marcus Garcia, a professional climber and climbing coach, climbs an advanced route of rock and ice displaying skill and technique to his student. Stephanie Mahallati climbed the route after Garcia. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Stephanie Mahallati of Canmore, Alberta, Canada said she has been returning to Ouray every winter for the last six years to meet other climbers and increase her skill level. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Ouray is surrounded by natural ice formations in the mountain terrain, a blessing for ice climbers. Here, Bear Creek is climbed by a team of Italian climbers before the Ice Festival gets underway. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
Ice climbers use hollow ice screws as protection in the ice, to which they clip a safety rope. A lower member of the climbing party belays a leader, and can arrest a fall by deterring the rope from feeding through a belay device. Brandon Mathis/Durango Herald
For 21 years, the picturesque hamlet of Ouray has hosted one of the biggest ice climbing celebrations in the world, the Ouray Ice Festival. Home to the renowned Ouray Ice Park, a mile stretch of the Uncompahgre Gorge up to 150 feet deep with walls of sheer ice, the town every winter draws climbers from all corners of the world. The nonprofit park is maintained by a small team of operators known as ice farmers, and the 150,000 to 200,000 gallons of water used every night to farm the ice is overflow from the city’s water supply tanks. More than 7,000 feet of irrigation pipe is used to accommodate the more than 200 individual climbing routes. The free park is generally open from mid-December to mid-March and attracts a steady stream of visitors vital to Ouray’s winter tourism economy. The festival, which includes climbing clinics, equipment demonstrations and exhibits, runs through Sunday.
If you go
For a full schedule and more information on the Ice Park and the Ouray Ice Festival, visit www.ourayicepark.com/ouray-ice-festival.
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