Renee and I just got back from our annual birthday trip to Ouray. This was number 50 for me and we had a great time. They got a foot of snow the day before we got there and we had another six inches on the ground when we woke up to climb Monday morning.

We didn’t get out of the room until 10:00AM, our usual for Ouray. We were surprised at how many people there were climbing. We headed down to South Park because the river was open and you couldn’t get to most of the climbs in New Funtier or the schoolroom.

Every climb in South Park was taken except a couple. We found out quickly why they weren’t taken. I setup a rope and luckily didn’t rappel down, because it was all water. We searched for some other climbs to do, but nothing was open, so we bagged our first day of climbing and went and had a beer at the new brewery in Ouray.

Tuesday we got out of the room at 8:00AM and made a B-Line down to South Park. Once again a lot of climbers, but we managed to get on a really fun climb. It turns out that there was a group of eight and a group of thirty and they had ropes on just about every climb in South Park. It also turns out that the river was frozen but a pipe had burst upstream and was pouring into the river and that’s what caused it to open up.

But we had our route, so we were happy. We climbed non-stop for three hours. This was the first really good test for my arm after surgery and it held out really well. Other than the fact the rest of me is so out of shape since I’ve been concentrating on rehabbing that.

We got out of the canyon at about 12:30PM and seemed to be just in time. The water was coming up in the river and getting out was a bit dicey. We went in up to our knees a couple of times, luckily not getting to wet. As we were breaking down I looked across the canyon and saw some big horn sheep that were climbing on the cliffs. That was a cool site to see.

Even only getting one day of climbing in, it was still a blast. We can’t wait to get back down next month.

Here's a short video of Renee climbing

Yesterday Renee and I went up to Big Thompson Ice for a quick and fun day of climbing. Normally we would have already been up to BTI several times by now, but with the lack of early season snow this year and warm temperatures it came in a bit late.

It was nice because we had the ice to ourselves all morning. It still has a way to go to fully come in, but it was vary climbable. The left side was pretty wet and drippy, but it generally is this time of year. The weather was awesome, so much warmer than it was at Hidden Falls last weekend.

We climbed nonstop for two and a half hours before a few other climbers showed up. This was the first real good test on my arm since surgery last August and it held up great, so that is a big plus.

Next weekend we’re off to Ouray for the first of two of our annual trips down to our favorite place to climb.

Saturday Renee and I went back up to Jewel Lake to climb. Well she was going to climb and I was going to belay since my arm is still jacked up. It was really windy but the temeratures were actually pretty nice.

We got up to the ice at about 10:00AM and there was a group of 4 that got there just ahead of us. The ice was still really wet and not in great shape. I tried to go up and setup a rope, but couldn't even do that with my arm still messed up. Renee decided she would try to go up and do it but as she got a ways up I decided it was to sketchy for her to try it alone.

We went over to the ice on the far left side but it was in even worse shape. I took one swing with an ax and broke a huge hole in the ice revealing the water running behind it. We decided just to bag it for the day and head home.

As we got to the South end of Mills Lake we heard a couple of climbers on "All Mixed Up" about 1200' above us. We stood and watched them climb for about 10 minutes. The lead climber was about 100 to 150 feet above the belayer. It looked cold and was really windy with a lot of spin drift blowing across the climb.

We headed on down the trail and were going to stop and eat some lunch at the other end of the lake. About 10 minutes later we heard two huge bellowing cries for help. We stopped to listen to make sure we heard what we did. Renee yelled back several times. We scanned the mountainside for about a half hour looking and listening for any signs of someone in trouble. Since we didn't hear any other cries for help we thought it might have been some hikers screwing around. So we ate some lunch and headed back down.

So yesterday we found out that one of the climbers had fallen to his death. That hit both of us pretty hard knowing that we were right there and hearing his partner yelling for help and not being able to do anything. Not much else to say, it just sucks!

Saturday Renee and I decided to go up to Jewel Lake for our first climbing of the season. Even though I can’t climb until January, I can still belay. It was cold and windy in the Glacier Gorge parking lot with the threat of a snow storm moving in.

We ran into a couple of climbers at Mills Lake that had just come from Jewel and said that the ice was still pretty wet with water running underneath it. We decided to go on up anyhow and see if there was anything climbable.

When we got there another party had just finished setting up a rope on really the only section that was worth climbing. Most of the ice looked pretty thin and we could actually hear the water running from down below.

We decided to head back down and go up to Loch Vale and see what was happening there. On the way down we stopped at a little 30 foot section of ice on Mills Lake that looked like it would be really fun to climb. By this time though, the wind was ripping across the lake and the snow starting to come down pretty good. With nothing to stop the wind, it was going to be really miserable climbing, so we passed on it.

When we reached Loch Vale it was a full blown snow storm and blowing pretty hard. Mo Flo was starting to come in, but has a long way to go before it’s fully in. We sat and watched a couple of climbers soloing on it for a while. We finally realized that it was Ryan. Some of the other climbs in Loch Vale were starting to come in as well, but it still has a long way to go.

We ended up doing no climbing at all, but still fun to get out. We’ll head back up to Jewel next weekend; it should be in pretty good shape by then. We’ll also give the ice on Mills Lake a go as well.