Hooray for Ouray

Another weekend of ice climbing starts with the camping earrings. I love how much I have already gotten to wear these and it is only the first week in March.
The climbing trip was a little slow for me. I got sick a few days before the trip, but didn't want to skip it so I climbed sick. We arrived in Ouray late Friday night to find our five climbing friends who had already had a full day of climbing cramped in a tiny hotel room. When we opened the door to our room we were meet by the luxurious amounts of space. Haha, we kept it a secret.
After an ok night of sleep and a late start the next morning we hit the ice. The first climb we did was over 35 meters tall. We were not sure how long it was until it was too late. Both AJ and I had repelled into the climb before we realized the 70 meter rope wasn't long enough. Luckily we got it figured out and I started climbing. Second round of bad news, there was no protection for the belayer from all the ice falling off the wall as you climbed. Now we know why most people belay from the top in this section of the park.
I climbed first. When I finally got to the top, I just wanted to throw up. I was so tired I didn't want to move. It was a tough climb that was only made worse by the fact that I was sick. We headed up further into the ice park and found a couple shorter climbs we played around on for the rest of the day. We headed into town for Mexican food and later lounged in the hot springs for an hour chatting about all the crazy ripped climbers in the pool.

The view when you belay from below :)

Sunday was another late day. Half the group had already climbed two days, so no one seemed too eager to jump out of bed and go climb. We did finally crawl out of bed and made our way into the park to climb. We did a climb in the lower half of the park and it was one of the best of the trip. The ice was perfect and every swing of your tool land perfectly into the soft ice for a strong hold.

My favorite climb of the trip...see the smile

One of the guys had dropped into a climb we couldn't see the bottom of. When we finally got a glimpse of it there were pillars of ice not touching the ground. This made for some interesting climbing. Alec was a serious ice climber as he wrapped his legs around the pillar and pulled himself up. Pictures are the only way to realize the true awesomeness of his climbing.

After a short day of climbing we headed home. It was a great trip. I meet a lot of new climber friends. Hopefully, I will be able to get one more ice climbing trip in for the season.