Rocking in the Ice

You know you are going to have a good weekend when the "camping earrings" go in. I know it sounds a little funny, but yes I have camping earrings. They are tiny hoop earrings that I usually wear when I go camping because 1) they are small and out of the way, 2) I can sleep with them in and 3) my holes grow in really quickly so I try to keep something in there.

Yes, I took a pic of my camping earrings

A few months ago I signed up to take an ice climbing class from the U of U with my friend Tyler. And last weekend was our field trip to Ouray, CO to climb. Tyler had only one goal; to be better than me. So of course this meant my only goal was to be better than him.
We loaded up my Outback Thursday afternoon with gear and headed to Colorado. The instructors told us it would be an 8 hours drive. We did it in 6 hours. So with some extra time on our hands we decided to stop in Montrose (30 minutes outside Ouray) and do some bowling.

Not a single strike, I need to work on this

We got into Ouray, did a final gear check and fitted our crampons for Fridays climbing. Bright and early the next morning (we had to be ready to go no later then 7am) we were out front snow gear on with big smiles. Ok maybe I was the only one with a smile, but really if you are going to be up you might as well make the best of it.
Because our class was so large we divided into 2 group. Our instructors were Matt, Nate, Scott and Bryan. We called ourselves "Team Awesome" or "Team Mr Happy" (depending on who you ask).
We hiked into the Ouray Ice Park. It was beautiful. Towers of ice on every wall lining the gorge. The Ouray Ice Park is where they hold the National Ice Competitions each year, seriously awesome. http://ourayicepark.com/
Once in the park, Nate taught us ice climbing techniques. One technique: "Seat like you poo. Swing like you..." (you get the idea). After some drills to practice we got to do our first climb, but there was one catch, no ice tools. Ice tools are the handy little ice axes you see in an ice climber's hands (they are very useful). Our second climb we learned to swing the ice tool and we climbed using one tool. Second ice climbing technique: Always maintain an "A" frame stance, moving one tool up at a time. Finally after climbing with no ice tools then climbing with one we got to climb with 2 tools. Surprising this seemed really difficult after not using them.
Now that we were experts (well we thought we were) we spent the rest of the day climbing. IT WAS AWESOME. If it wasn't for the fact that they turned on the sprinklers at 4pm I would have stayed longer. We cleaned up our gear, hiked out and one blue cheese bacon burger and a hot springs later we were sound asleep in our little cabin.

Bringing down the ice

I'm so serious...

...see I told you, serious

Saturday also started early, ready to climb at 7:30am. The first half of the day we climbed in the schoolroom area. The climbs there were twice as long as the day before which added a new level of difficulty...fatigue. IT WAS AWESOME.
My favorite moment of the day was climbing vertical ice. I know that sounds funny all the ice was vertical, but this particular climb was 90 degrees perpendicular to the ground. It was much more challenging then I anticipated and my arms were screaming at the end of it which of course I loved (I know I'm a little sick in the head).

Coming down...Mission accomplished

See me way up there. If it was a race, I won.

So HIGH!

Tyler was scary with those things

Tyler wasn't too bad :)

And as quickly as it had begun, it was over and we were back on the road to Salt Lake. Overall, I loved it. I may have found me a new winter sport.
Oh, and yes I was better than Tyler. :)

Chicks with Picks

All smiles