Ouray Area Conditions

Here is the latest on the Ouray conditions.

Skylight: A bit thin on some routes, but the standards are good to go.
Ribbon, BirdBrain, and Talisman are not in.

Horsetail/Bear Creek: Both are great right now. That rare opportunity to tag both in a short day.

Sun Splash and Solar Circus are holding ice, but look to be getting sun affected.

Engineer Climbs appear not in, although Abraxas could probably be climbed.

Stairway, Highway, and Whorehouse are fat city. Watch out for hidden ice dams on the rollovers. Its easy to punch through to some chilly water on stepping off some belays.

Ames is hanging tough, and super fun.

Bridalveil continues to be weird this year, only one reported ascent I know of.
Ingraham is reporting touching, not sure about Silverpick, would imagine its climbable though.

Santa Claus Pillar is reported in good condition.

That's all I know off the top off my head. Hope its useful!

1/6/10 CC

Horsetail & Stairway

On Monday Cole & I did Horsetail. It was in primo condition. The middle line on the first pitch was really wet but the far right and left are reasonable. After the first bit the entire route was a gooey highway. We put in threads and rapped the route, back in town for lunch.

Today found us headed for Silverton. Stairway to Heaven is in superb condition. Many nice steep little steps, all sporting great ice (no funky layers). There appears to be a healthy amount of water supplying the route. This will certainly be one of those years it grows to an enourmous size. We opted for the walk off as it appeared to have been well travelled. I couldn't suggest this descent. The upper slopes were funky. All of the rap anchors were burried except the tree at the base of pitch three. Time to put in threads. It was snowing pretty hard when we left today, so things could change a bit for the near future. Enjoy the holidays!

Happy Trails,

Kevin