The 2006 Ouray Ice Festival Competition Finals

Before the festival, there are two days of open competition. During the festival,
invited athletes and top placing climbers from the open comp take on a new, and
unclimbed route somewhere in the gorge. This year's route was impressive, having
sections of both very difficult ice climbing, as well as hard mixed (rock) climbing.
To give you an idea of the difficulty (WI6, M9-10?), at least one climber did fall on the
ICE section and only 2 competitors of the 25 or so actually completed the route!

Enjoy the photos!

Here, spectators view the climbers on the comp route (other side of the canyon, way right of the photo) from the upper bridge.








Son of the "famous" climbing dog "Biscuit," this well dressed canine was also present for the festivities.


Here's a shot looking down onto the comp route from the bridge.
In the next shot, you can get a better feel for how overhung (but not quite how long) the rock section is!





This is why dropping your tools is such a bad idea... sure they might get banged up, but you have to fish them out first!

Here's some shots of a few competitors starting the business section of the route...
First are shots of a local climber named Jason, who did well in both the open comp and the finals as well.











Falling!!!

Next comes the 2nd place women's competitor, Anna (something... I suck at remembering names!), from Italy.
She cruised up the route with lots of confidence, and some of the most delicate technique of all the competitors!




















Here's some closer shots of the crowd and the competitors in action - taken from the bridge.
Click to enlarge (they're full size).



 Spectators seen from the upper bridge.





This guy certainly had the best seat in the house! Notice the climber under the roof.


 Here's Ines Papert making her way through the (difficult!) ice section - she ended up coming in 1st in the Women's division.


Peak Climb, etc.   ->   Climbing Ice   ->   Ice Festival   ->   Ice Fest Comp  

Return to Winter Break 2005-06

All Photos (C) 2005 Paul Hurtado
(Just let me know if you use them!)