History of the Ouray Ice Park
Ice climbing enthusiasts have been coming to Ouray, Colorado since the seventies to ply their craft on a few of the steep classic's that formed on the sheer walls of the Uncompagre Gorge. Climb's such as "Stone Free" and "Tangled Up in Blue" were the stiff test pieces in the gorge located at the south end of the sleepy alpine hamlet. Wood shafted ice axes, flexible crampons, leather boots, wool stocking caps and gloves, and a considerable degree of skill and moxie comprised the tools of the day.
Although the equipment changed dramatically over the next 15-20 years, the ice climbing challenges in Ouray remained very much the same. It wasn't until some enterprising local climbers came upon the idea to manipulate a nearby water source and start spraying it over the edges of the mile long gorge that the Ouray ice climbing scene began to evolve into its present state.
Unbeknownst to many climbers, the portion of the Uncompagre Gorge where the Ouray Ice Park is located lies on private property. Eric Jacobsen, owner and operator of Ouray Hydroelectric, purchased the property in a bankruptcy auction from a defunct utility company in 1992. Eric is among the rare breed of benevolent private property owners sympathetic to climbers and their desire to climb on his property. Eric's only caveat was that he had to have adequate liability insurance coverage provided for himself and his company in order to allow climbing on his property. Under a unique land-use arrangement, the County of Ouray insured Eric and Ouray Hydroelectric under its insurance umbrella and Eric in turn leased to the county the use of the land for recreational purposes for $1.00 a year until 2010. This was the critical ingredient for laying the foundation of the Ice Park.
In the fall of 1994, Bill Whitt and Gary Wild strung out some half inch pvc pipe and the odd assortment of garden hose and sprinkler heads and began to farm ice in the gorge. The results surprised even the pundits: long steep flows of crystal blue ice on previously blank rock; the Ouray Ice Park had arrived. Word spread quickly among the small ice climbing fraternity and that winter of 1994-5 saw many climbers come down to Ouray to test out the newly formed terrain. In January of 1997, Ouray Ice Park Inc. (OIPI) was formed in order to provide some formal organization to what had previously been a loosely organized grassroots effort.
In 2001, thanks to several large private donations, the park installed a new plumbing system, tapped into the City of Ouray's water resevoir and reformed it's Board of Directors. Erin Eddy took over the Ice Festival from Jeff Lowe and then took on greater responsibilities as the Ice Park's executive director. Since then the park has expanded numerous times, and has grown into the greatest ice climbing facility in the world.
The Ouray Ice Park was built entirely by an enthusiastic volunteer work force as well as donated materials and capital. OIPI is a nonprofit corporation that includes seven volunteer board members who are considerably skilled at ditch-digging and plumbing systems. The Ouray Ice Park as we know it today is a shining example of what a volunteer organization can accomplish with little capital but a lot of enthusiasm and vision. OIPI has continued to improve and expand the Ice Park each year through memberships, corporate sponsorships, and funds raised by the annual Ouray Ice Festival.
The Ouray Ice Festival, held each year in January, is an eclectic gathering of ice climbers, gear manufacturing exhibitors, and ice climbing voyeurs simply thrilled to watch at a safe distance from the precipitous edges. The festival was first held in January of 1996 and is now widely recognized as being the premier international gathering of its kind, with familiar faces returning annually to climb, socialize, test out the latest equipment, or watch the pro's try to scratch their way up the latest competition route.
For questions concerning the Ouray Ice Festival please contact us at oipi@ouraynet.com
