Senior SJMG Guide Mark Miller AMGA Certified Rock Guide Mark is one of the original SJMG guides working in Ouray. He has been teaching ice climbing longer than any other active guide in Ouray. Well known for his calm and no nonsense approach to ice instruction, Mark is one of our most requested guides. A…
Classic San Juan Backcountry Ice Recently one of our guys and guests climbed some cool stuff up in the Skylight/Camp Bird area just minutes outside of Ouray. Check it out! [vimeo url=”http://vimeo.com/82232322″ width=”600″ height=”400″ title=”0″]
Belay with Confidence in the Ouray Ice Park With the Ouray Ice Park set to open this weekend (Saturday December 14th, 2013), we thought it would be a good time to cover some important considerations to take into account when establishing your belay stances and anchor systems while down in the canyon. In the video…
Techniques to Manage Lowers and Top Belays With ice climbing season already in full swing here in the San Juans, and the opening of the Ouray Ice Park just around the corner, we thought it would be a good time to cover a few essential techniques for managing lowers and top belays. As guides who…
Registration Now Open! The 2014 Ouray Ice Festival Clinics are now available for purchase. Click on this link to go to the Clinic Schedule and Shopping Cart. In association with the Ouray Ice Park, Inc., we’re proud to offer the most unique ice climbing clinic schedule in North America. This year is one of the…
As you can imagine at San Juan Mountain Guides we can never get enough steep frozen water. So as we watch the ice here in the San Juans melt and the trees begin to bud, we book our plane tickets to the Alaska range where winter is far from over. Some call it an addiction…
Lisa, Dale and I headed out to Eureaka yesterday and climbed the uber classic Whorehouse Hoses. Lisa lead the first half of pitch one. (To be fair pitch one is a massive pitch at about 215′ long.) Dale led the second pitch and we finished on the left hand option third pitch. It was a…
Mike just came out for a few days of ice climbing in Ouray. We started out in the Ouray Ice Park and then headed out to the backcountry for the next two days. Our first backcountry route was Dexter Creek Slabs just north of Ouray. Right now we have a winning combination; Dexter is in…
For many people the Ouray Ice Park and front country ice climbing is the extent of their ice climbing horizons. However, for the first time this year among the many terrific seminars offered at the Ouray Ice Festival, participants had the chance to hone their skills on backcountry ice in a seminar run by athlete and…
It is like the town is holding its breath tonight. We are anticipating tons of ice climbers from all over the country to come revel in their shared affection for vertical frozen water, a wicked forearm pump, and beers with friends! We are really excited here at SJMG for this year Ouray Ice Festival. Our…
Get it while it is hot, or cold as the case may be! Cold enough for Kennedy’s Gully to come in. This is one of the coolest pitches in the San Juans. 50m of ice at a dream angle so you can see the air beneath your heels but you aren’t quite hanging off your…
Every few years the weather provides us with enough cold and overcast days in a row for a few finicky San Juan classics to form. At a New Years party, Mark “Coach” Miller and I were discussing the weather and ice conditions when we both realized Gravity’s Rainbow might be perfect the next day. After…