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Ouray is the Disneyland of ice climbing. Pure luxury. A narrow slot canyon, ranging from 100' wide & 80' high to 200' high walls barely 40' apart, is farmed for about a mile with more beautiful, fat, blue, plastic waterfall ice than you might see in a lifetime.
Spend the night at the Victorian Inn, wake up at 9, enjoy the complimentary breakfast, gear up and walk 10 minutes to dozens of long climbs from easy WI2 to beautiful and scary WI6. After a hard day, soak in the hot springs and grab a pitcher of margs at the Buen Tiempo.
Sure beats 4am starts and eight mile slogs to a brittle, hacked out dribble somewhere!
Bring lots of LONG webbing and cordelletes for setting up extended anchors to toprope or rappell. A 60m rope is mandatory for many climbs if you wish to rappell or toprope.
Note to leaders: It's a good idea to rap into your climbs and leave your anchor up top to prevent folks rapping down on top of you. Also, sleep in. Late in the afternoon is the best time for leading, after the guided top ropers get tired and go home.
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Sequence numbers indicate the left (L) to right (R) order of the routes.
