Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays from the crew at San Juan Mountain Guides. May your new year be full of hero-ice, blower-powder, and splitter hand cracks!
Ouray Ice Park Opening Day
Ice Park opening day is always has a festive feel to it. There isn’t really any official fanfare but climbers from all over the state show up and bring with them a distinct enthusiasm. They are excited for another season with miles of farmed ice climbs dripping down from the western rim of the Uncompahgre…
Ouray Backcountry Ice Climbing Tour
I spent the last four days climbing with Rob from NY. Despite some difficulties from the weather and high avalanche danger in many places, we managed to cover a fair amount of ground and climb some terrific pitches. It seems that this is good year for our high flow backcountry waterfall climbs as opposed to…
Out of the Mainline, Fall Creek Drainage, Camp Bird Road
Recently, I took great pleasure in climbing “Out of the Mainline,” a unique flow that forms in the Fall Creek drainage. This ice climb rarely gets traffic due to its grossly humongous basin lurking above. Most years, the Fall Creek climbs have far too much risk of avalanche danger to go anywhere near them. I…
San Juan Ice Conditions Nov. 16, 2012
San Juan Ice Conditions Report November 16, 2012 It’s that time of year – ice season in the San Juans has arrived. A few of us have been climbing in the high country, and getting a sense for the early season ice conditions in Ouray and Silverton. Generally speaking, it has been a dry fall…
2013 Ouray Ice Festival Clinics On Sale!
2013 Ouray Ice Festival Clinics Available for Purchase! The Ouray Ice Festival Clinics are now available for purchase. Click on this link to go to the Clinic Schedule and Shopping Cart. San Juan Mountain Guides is the Official Concessionaire of the Ouray Ice Park, and each year in collaboration with the Ouray Ice Park Inc.,…
The Bruce Traverse
David did a big traverse with us in the Weminuche a month ago and decided he needed some more. For round two we decided to go for 8 days, climb a peak and spend some time in the very remote Ten Mile basin. Day 1: David and I took the train to Elk park and…
Best of the Weminuche Wilderness
Kevin, Larry and Jerry all came to do a backpacking trip dubbed the ‘Best of the Weminuche’. I have spent a lot of time in the Weminuche Wilderness over the years, and I would have a very hard time coming up with an alternate 5 day backpacking trip that has the combination of great trails,…
Weminuche Traverse
David has been hiking in the Weminuche for years. In fact this was his 9th trip to the area. Day 1: David and I got dropped off in Cunningham Gulch and hiked up to the Highland Mary Lakes and camped near Verde Lake. A group passed us with two lamas and a baby which is…
Alpine Leadership
Andy and Scott recently joined me on an 8 day Alpine Leadership course. Day 1: We started out at X-rock where we rock climbed in addition to learning climbing technique, belaying, rappeling, basic anchors and traditional gear placement. Day 2: We climbed Snowdon via the West Buttress and descended the Northeast Ridge to the Northwest…
Fast and Light
Robert just came out and joined me in some Fast and Light climbing. I had planned a standard solid itinerary but in quickly became apparent that standard was not what Robert came to Colorado for. Day 1: We drove up to Andrews Lake and hiked into Snowdon planning to climb it on day 2. We…
Snowdon West Buttress
Keith had climbed Snowdon multipule times but had never been up the West Buttress or down the Northwest Ridge. We decided to make a day of it. Keith left Farmington early in the morning and picked me up in Durango on the way North to the mountains. The route was in great condition and the…
Training for the Himalayas Part 2
Julie is training to climb Nun and Kun in Kashmir this summer. Julie came up to Durango and climbed with me in January during an Intro to Mountaineering course. She just returned last week for some more. We started out with two days of ice climbing. Day one in Cascade Canyon going over the…
Intro to Mountaineering
Erin came down from Boulder to learn some skills and gain some experience in the world of winter mountaineering. Since it was only her we tweeked the itinerary to fit her needs. We started out with a half day of ice climbing in Cascade Canyon. Then drove up the pass and hiked into our Engineer…
Ice Climbing in Cody, WY
I picked up Chris at the airport in Cody on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning we were climbing ice in South Fork, which is a mecca for ice climbing. Chris and I climbed great multipitch ice for three days. Below are some photos from the trip. I look forward to doing it again next year…
AIARE Level 1 Avy Course
Over Presidents day weekend we had a great group of people attend an Avy 1 Course. Below are some photos from the last day of the course, taken around Molas Pass. BK
Ouray Ice!
Alex, Michael, and Scott all flew out for 4 days of ice climbing in Ouray, Colorado. On day 1 we went to the Ice Park. We refreshed some rusty skills and learned some new ones while climbing some great pitches of ice! At the end of the day we did a short multi-pitch to get…
Ecuador Update January 15
The team has been doing great and are through the first stretch of their acclimatization rotation and are now headed to the Jose Rivas hut on Cotopaxi. On Friday the team climbed Ruminahui (15200 ft) in Cotopaxi National Park and enjoyed some breathtaking views of Cotopaxi. The following day they hiked to the Jose Rivas…
Team Getting Ready for Ecuador's Volcanoes
We are getting set for a 12 day Cotopaxi and Chimborazo climb with a group of 10, and the guides are in Quito, Ecuador making final preparations for the trip as the bulk of our group is scheduled to arrive this evening. Two of our guests for this expedition are already here, having decided to…