Made a walk through the lower park on Wednesday. The ice is super fat everywhere, and the classic mixed routes are climbing well also. Here is the photo tour to get a sense of conditions.
View up from the Lower Bridge, You can see the Brass Tacks area up to the Pick of the Vic. The lead routes that are hidden between are getting more and more consoldated with traffic.
The Boat Ramp and ice on both sides at the Lower Bridge is in great condition.
Lots of pros hanging around climbing mixed routes.
Stone Free, TicTac, Dizzy, and the Scottish Gullies
TRing Dizzy with the Vision, one of Ouray's most popular old comp routes.
The modern drytooling training route Le Sauccisson, many folks' "first drytooling route". It get infectious when you're watching all these pros right around you, and noone seems to be climbing the ice!
Right now you can navigate the bottom all the way from the Lower Bridge to the Shithouse Wall, pretty nice access in the bottom this year. Here is the view of the Fingers as you approach from upstream.
The Thumb and Index all merged together, pretty sweet.
The Ventana Buttress showing Icelandic Dream M7+ and Ventana Pillars. The next buttress down, Poodle Sex is not touching, although there are some cool alpine style gullies instead. Fresh descent ropes in the Fingers gully.
The Stump Wall. The Folsom Finger, not quite making it, but some great mixed routes in there instead.
The Park overall is in its best shapes in years.Enjoy, CC
