The Ouray Ice Park is entering its third decade strong, hosting a number of new features and a new competition for the 2024-25 season, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation Ice Climbing World Youth Championships.
But Executive Director Peter O’Neil is most excited that climbing activity like that and ice conditions in the world-class park will now be livestreamed.
This season, a weather station and four 4,000-pixel resolution cameras — filming School Room, Scottish Gullies, Pic O’ the Vic climbing routes and the ice park’s competition tower — will allow park goers to get their eyes on conditions or watch athletes in their element from an online livestream.
The park will officially open on Saturday, Dec. 21. Ice Park Operations Manager Corey Gera said she thinks about half of the park’s roughly 225 anchors for its routes will open at that time. She said cooler weather earlier in the season is setting up the park for a better season this year than last year, when park staff were battling warmer temperatures into December.
The livestream is a huge upgrade from past seasons, where climbers relied on weekly photo updates of ice conditions, O’Neil said.
“Now we’ll be able to promote the ice park in a much different way,” O’Neil said.
This is thanks to Montrose-based Clearnetworx internet service provider, which donated a 10G internet system this year, allowing the weather and camera equipment to operate.
The technology was a dream of O’Neil’s for a few years. He asked Clearnetworx owner Doug Seacat for the favor after last year’s park season, which Seacat generously agreed to, he said.
O’Neil said this is just one example of ramped-up support from local businesses this year.
“The collaboration from local businesses is bigger and better than it’s ever been,” he said. This year the Ice Park brought on a number of new international and local sponsors, and saw longtime local sponsors offer larger benefits and discounts to Ice Park members.
O’Neil also said the push to increase membership, which has been ongoing since last season, is working. So far, they have 275 members signed up this season, compared to roughly 230 at this time last year. They are aiming for at least 1,000 total members, up from around 850 last year.
Membership fees are a critical source of revenue because they go entirely toward operational costs, O’Neil said.
Two additional membership tiers are new this year: a family membership and a community membership. Basic, pro and ambassador memberships are still available, offering perks like early access or Ouray Ice Festival passes for individuals. For $50, the community membership allows people to support the park via a donation that doesn’t cover park entry but provides discounts from local sponsors. The family membership allows for access for immediate family members for a maximum of two adults and any children under 18 for $135.
The other big ticket item this season: the UIAA Ice Climbing World Youth Championships, which the park is hosting Feb. 7-9.
It’s the first time it has been held in the U.S. and the event itself is being largely organized by Dustin Lyons with The Scratch Pad, a dry tooling gym in Utah, O’Neil said.
O’Neil said he’s happy for the park to host the event as a way to engage the next generation of climbers.
This is on top of the park’s quintessential Ouray Ice Festival, running Jan. 2326, and All In Ice Fest, for climbers from marginalized communities, running Jan. 3-5.
O’Neil said the All In Ice Fest is seeing record sign-up numbers this year, with an estimated 250 participants. Paradox Sports, a Boulder-based adaptive climbing group, will also be running its adaptive ice climbing weekend in the park, as it has done for years, O’Neil said. That event will run Feb. 14-16.
“Becoming as welcoming and inclusive as we’ve become is a feather in the cap of the whole community,” he said.
O’Neil also said they are considering pursuing a special use permit with the city of Ouray to open the park for night climbing, which would be another first for the park.
