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.,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Chris has been talking about how great his younger brother would be at climbing for months. This last weekend Chris flew out with his brother Eric for some ice climbing in Ouray. Both brothers did great! Eric was floating up steep ice like he had been doing it for years, and Chris was leading and…
The ice in the backcountry of Southwest Colorado is Fat! Below are some photos from the last week. BK
Dave and I got together this week to go climbing on some new terrain. We spent Monday morning in the ‘Grad School’ area of the Ice park. Neither of us had climbed in this area before and it was a nice change from the other areas we work in frequently. The routes here vary from…
For the second year in a row Roger, Michael and Brian got together in Ouray to fine tune their ice climbing skills with Gary and myself. Day 1 was spent in the Schoolroom of the ice park to dust off any cobwebs the guys had. We climbed a variety of routes from WI 3 to…
Srdja and I spent the last four days climbing everything in sight around Ouray, CO. Day 1:We started out in the New Frontier where Srdja quickly remembered ice climbing technique, made some v-threads, mock led some routes and was leading WI3 before the day was done. Srdja climbed 10 pitches. Srdja making V-threads. Day 2:The…
Family and friends came together from all over the country to participate in one of SWAG’s winter mountaineering courses over the last weekend of January. We spent the first day at Cascade Canyon ice climbing, rappelling, and building ice anchors. Day 2 was spent hiking into our base camp on Engineer Mountain at 11,500 ft…
Jack from Atlanta and Kathy from New Jersey came out to the San Juans for four days of winter mountaineering. We were in Cascade Canyon for day one where we were able to learn ice climbing technique and review belaying and rapelling. On day two we drove North of Durango to Coalbank Pass at 10,600′…
Chris came out for a three day weekend to do some ice climbing. We spent the first day just North of Durango at Cascade Canyon getting some laps in. Then the next 2 days at the Skylight area in Ouray doing some multi-pitch. The backcountry ice in Southwest Colorado has formed up great this year…
It’s been awhile since we last updated the Blog, but that’s only because we’ve been incredibly busy in the last few weeks with mountaineering courses, ice climbing trips, and avalanche courses! It’s been a great start to the season here in the San Juans, and despite a somewhat slow beginning in terms of snowfall for…
Saturday we decided to take the tools for a walk on Bird Brain Boulevard up in Skylight just outside Ouray, CO. As the first rays of light lit up the tops of the peaks to the west we were just finishing our approach to the base of Bird Brain Boulevard. The Ribbon which you pass…
On Thanksgiving Day we decided to go up to Eureka and get a quick session on Whorehouse Hose and checkout the conditions in the rest of Eureka. The first pitch of Whorehouse is still thin, techy, and dripping wet. The rest of the climb is forming up beautifully. Highway 66 (Highway to Hell)- IN Stairway…
Ice conditions for the 2010/11 winter are shaping up pretty good so far. On Saturday 11/20/10 we went up to South Mineral Creek outside of Silverton to get on some early season ice and scope out the conditions in the rest of the area. To start off the season we got on the Direct North…
February was a busy month in the San Juans, with numerous ice courses/trips, avalanche courses, and backcountry skiing days. Among those trips, was a 2 day Intermediate Ice Course that we conducted in both the Ouray Ice Park and the popular Skylight area. Four great friends came for 2 days of ice training amidst some…
Last week, Ari and Alex joined us for a 3 day blast of ice climbing in Silverton and Ouray. On the first day of our trip, we decided on a climb of Whorehous Ice Hose. The conditions on Whorehouse are superb this year, and the 3 of us had a great day on the climb. …
Last week long time client Valari W. joined us for 3 days of ice climbing in the San Juans. We spent 2 days in Silverton’s Eureka Canyon climbing a few of the classics, most notably Whorehouse Ice Hose and Stairway to Heaven. Both climbs are in super shape, with many choices in terms of which…