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 great intro lower angle ice, broken into steps, all the way thru 100 foot continuous WI 4-. We finished the day off the best way possible, with a couple pints and good food at the Ouray Brewery.
Horsetail Falls from the Bear Creek Bridge. 4 pitches
Tuesday we climbed Horsetail Falls just a coupe miles South of Ouray. The approach, downhill, takes about 15 mins. Pitch 1 in the crux, we climbed the center at around WI 4+ for 140 feet.
Dave, only 25 minutes from the coffee shop, standing under the steep pitch 1.
Dave topping out pitch 1 and arriving in the welcoming sun.
Pitches 2 and 3 are much lower angle but still keep your attention at multiple small, brittle bulges. These are super fun and the views are amazing.
Looking across towards the unformed Bear Creek Falls.
The last pitch is back to steeper ice, but still a moderate WI 3-.
Dave under pitch 4.
Overall this is a super fun climb and only takes half a day. Horsetail is very popular and a great route to check off your Ouray tick-list. Give us a call today and lets get on this area classic together.
MSP
