AREE - In the news: boulder-news.com
Boulder group grows Ouray Ice Festival -- By Carol Kauder Camera Staff Writer
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In Ouray, growing ice equals growing crowds.
Each winter since 1994, just outside this small town nestled in the San Juan Mountains, a group of ice climbers manufacture frozen waterfalls in the Uncompahgre Gorge, creating a mile-long wall of rock and ice. A relatively simple system of hoses, valves and shower sprays siphoning water from a hydroelectric plant pipeline has transformed the Ouray winter economy from busted to booming.
The season climaxes each January with the Ouray Ice Festival. More than 1,000 climbers of all abilities are expected to double the town's population Jan. 12-14.
Organized in the Boulder offices of master ice climber Jeff Lowe's clothing and gear companies, the festival brings in funds to keep the Ouray Ice Park operational and free to the public.
"Our festival is how they get money to run their ice park," said festival coordinator Chad Hilliard, who works out of the office of Cloudwalker by Jeff Lowe, festival title sponsor, along with Arete Outdoors.
While artificial ice walls exist around the world, the Ouray Ice Park is unique in its size and natural environment.
"It's a brilliant gorge. It's just beautiful," Hilliard said. "The whole place is for all levels, from low angle ice flows to crazy, free-hanging pillars of ice."
Likewise, all levels of climbers come out for the festival, from first-timers to the world's best, who compete in the Ouray Ice Craft Invitational Exhibition.
The festival includes fund-raising breakfasts and dinners, free clinics by San Juan Mountain Guides, slide shows and a Saturday night party with a live band. Sponsors set up booths at the Outdoor Bazaar offering free gear demos and deals on equipment.
"The festival is free, the climbing is free, and beer is free from our beer sponsors," Hilliard said. "All you have to pay for room and board."
And that helps the town, which usually doesn't have a vacant hotel room the weekend of the festival.
"It has had a tremendous impact, which can be tracked in sales tax in winter months and hotels now open that used to close for the season," said San Juan Mountain Guides' Mike Gibbs, president of Ouray Ice Park Inc. "The Ice Park is the Ouray winter economy."
For more information, visit www.ourayicefestival.com or call (303) 442-0019.
December 17, 2000
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