Ogden takes its ice straight up
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Bryce Petersen Jr.
Standard-Examiner staff
O
GDEN -- The Ouray Ice Park transformed Ouray, Colo. into a year-round tourist attraction, bringing 20,000 climbers and as much as $1 million to the tiny, picturesque town.
Now, two climbers who have been instrumental in Ouray's park and the festival that celebrates it each January have set their sites on Ogden, hoping to give ice climbers another option in their quest for stable ice.
"Contrary to popular belief, climbers actually spend money," said Jeff Lowe, who organized Ouray's first ice climbing festival in 1994 and is now orchestrating an ice farming effort in Waterfall Canyon, east of Ogden.
Lowe grew up in Ogden, then spent most of his adult life outside of Utah. Since he returned a few years ago, he has looked to recreate some of Ouray's success in his home town. His brother, Greg Lowe, climbed Waterfall Canyon in the early 1970s. That climb often called the first vertical ice climb.
"Obviously, Ogden's situation is very different," Jeff Lowe said over lunch at this year's Ouray Ice Festival. "As a stand-alone, an ice park in Ogden would be hard to make work. But as a component, this could be great."
In other words, the effect of 20,000 ice climber days on Ouray, population 877, and Ogden, population 78,309, would not be equal. Not to mention, Ouray's Uncompahgre Gorge -- deep, steep, long and practically in town -- is tailor-made for hotel owners hungry for winter use.
But ice farming could be a nice fit with, say, a high adventure mall, a kayak park, an expanding trail system, close access to two top-notch ski areas and, maybe someday, a gondola that leads from downtown Ogden to a third ski resort.
"Plus, it's kind of fun," said Lowe, who with Greg and cousin, George Lowe,as well as various climbing partners pioneered routes from Zion and City of Rocks to remote peaks in Pakistan. They also were among the pioneers of modern ice climbing.
Eventually, Lowe hopes to erect in Big D Park an ice tower that he designed for the first ESPN Winter X Games. He hopes to ice up a long section of cliffs high in Waterfall Canyon, a section that could eventually offer more than a half-mile of climbs up to 300 feet high.
One small section of cliffs in Waterfall Canyon is the beginning. The Study Hall cliff, a short slippery hike from the 29th Street trail head, offers 12 distinct routes of varying difficulties. The test route has been open to climbers all winter.
"I love it," said Jason Parkin, a Layton climber who works for Petzl, which manufactures ice climbing gear in Clearfield. "Easy access. Fun climbing."
Parkin has been introducing others to the wall all winter, visiting about once a week, he said.
With a long stretch of cold weather, reservoirs and rivers as well as waterfalls have been icier this year than any in recent memory, ice climbers say. They have been higher on the waterfall in Waterfall Canyon, the birthplace of modern ice climbing, than they have for years.
There are two crucial differences between the falls and the Hall: Sun and water.
The south-facing waterfall stays in the sun most of the day, often making the climb soggy or even dangerous. Only a sliver of the north-facing Study Hall gets any sun at all, and that only in late evening.
While the waterfall's ice is built from the naturally falling water, the Study Hall's water reaches the cliffs via hundreds of feet of pipe that carries it from Waterfall Creek. Several hoses then soak the cliffs and cold temperatures can form ice that could last into March on an average year, said Don Roberts, a North Ogden climber who has been volunteering at the site.
Roberts also spends a lot of time at Ouray. This year, he helped set the competition routes for the Ouray Ice Festival. Along the way, he has picked up some of the tricks that helps Ouray keep 178 routes in ice for about four months every winter.
Roberts uses the same sort of piping and hoses that are used in Ouray. Because of the small scale and scarce volunteer labor, though, the operation is not yet as smooth as Ouray's.
In Ouray, the ice park manager has the water turned on at night and off during the day. In Waterfall Canyon, the water is often left running for days at a time. If the air gets up to the high 20s, running water melts more ice than it makes, Roberts said. But with only three people -- who all have day jobs -- checking the water, leaving it on is often the least of the evils.
"Ultimately we have to have an ice park manager that adjusts the system to keep it from freezing. Right now, we don't have daily checks," Lowe said.
That has already happened this year. About 100 feet of pipe -- all of the pipe was purchased by Chris Peterson, who owns the land in Waterfall Canyon -- burst this winter when the pipe was shut off without being properly drained.
"Somebody did us a great disservice and cost us an awful lot of money," Roberts said.
He doesn't know whether the valve's closing was vandalism, an accident or a mistake by a well-intentioned but misinformed climber. He does know it took less than 24 hours to destroy 100 feet of pipe and freeze 400 feet more until spring.
"It's not going to thaw out without some serious solar energy," he said.
But as of Monday, the ice was still in good shape. If the temperature cools, climbers could be on the ice through February. If it doesn't, the cliff could thaw within a week or two.
Meanwhile, Lowe is working on bigger things. The ice tower has been purchased and its placement in Big D Park has been approved. All that remains is fundraising to get it assembled (about $300,000) and maintained (about $130,000 for the first year).
Lowe also is planning the first phase of ice farming on Waterfall Canyon's upper walls. The group is in the process of applying for water diversion permits that are needed for that section. The next phase would be a 300-foot wide section of easy to moderately difficult climbs between 150 and 300 feet high. He hopes it will be complete in time for the next ice season.
Chris Peterson did not return e-mail or phone messages requesting comment on the project or its next phase.
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