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Ice Festival 2000
Hooray for Ouray
Mix warm sunny days, cold nights, fat ice and a bunch of folks bent on some serious fun hoggin' and you'll get the 2000 Ouray Ice Festival. With daytime highs in the upper 40s and nighttime lows in the single digits, climbers are enjoying sunny conditions, while the ice has time to repair and harden at night. The first wave of climbers has already arrived in anticipation of the festival and they quickly spread throughout the Ouray Ice Park in the Uncompahgre River Gorge.
The festival officially opens at 6 this evening at the Ouray Community Center with the Welcome Reception and Sponsors' Bazaar where climbers can ogle the latest in ice climbing technology. Later in the evening, famed alpinist Jack Tackle will deliver a slide show on his cutting edge alpine-style ascents in Alaska. The evening will conclude with a tribute to the late, great alpine master, Alex Lowe.
Tomorrow opens with the Men's Ice Craft Invitational, bringing together such ice climbing greats as Jared Ogden, Guy Lacelle of Canada and France's Himalayan alpinist Jean Christophe Lafaille. The comp is broken into two segments, each with a separate score. First, the competitors will each choose a pure ice route (no rock climbing involved) to climb for the Pure Ice Skill and Artistry segment. Each will be judged on the difficulty of his chosen route and the efficiency, security and artistry with which he climbed.
The second half of the competition is the Gymnastics, Power and Vision Sport Mixed route. All competitors will climb on the designated mixed rock and route crafted by event organizer Jeff Lowe. The winner on the mixed route will be he who reaches the highest point on the route, with ties broken by least numbers of slips and elapsed time.
"I don't have much experience with the short, steep mixed routes," stated Yosemite speed climber Miles Smart today as he eyed the overhanging wall where the route will be set, "but this should be a lot of fun." Stay tuned for the results to see who can put together the right combo of speed and style.
— Matt Stanley, chillin' on the ice of sunny Ouray for MountainZone.com
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