Angelika Rainer and the Ouray Ice Festival

The place is charming, the Americans call the Ouray county the "Switzerland of America"; the town has about 850 inhabitants and is located at almost 2500m above sea level. Above the town there’s a long, deep canyon that is sprayed with water from November to March to create amazing frozen waterfalls of all shapes and sizes. Consequently hundreds of ice climbers flock here each season to try the ice climbs or mixed routes in this each year are found many fans to climb on ice or on mixed routes in the canyon.

Last weekend Ouray hosted its traditional Ice Festival and dozens of outdoor companies were there to let climbers test their gear. This interesting formula has been used in America for quite a while and, in practice, after having registered anyone can go to an exhibitor and test the gear they want to climb with. At the end of the day they can decide whether to buy it or try something else.

During this festival I got the chance to climb several ice and mixed routes such as the historic M10 "The flying circus" which I sent on my first day at Ouray. Within the canyon you can decide whether to lead or climb on a toprope that it easily placed during the descent into the canyon, meaning that everyone can climb to their heart’s pleasure.

On Saturday I took part in the competition, which has a particular formula: men and women climb the same mixed route, consisting of 7/8 meters of vertical ice, more than 15 meters of overhanging rock and by a 6/7 meter panel on which the route setters placed three cracks. We couldn’t try the route before the comp, although the locals and those who have already taken part in the event previously knew it, so I climbed onsight. I really enjoyed this new formula, I got really psyched, so much so that I won, climbing higher than the other women and faster! Unfortunately I failed to reach the top of the climb: the second of the three cracks in the final was virtually impossible and even the men weren’t able to climb any higher than me! I was pleasantly surprised to see that I placed second overall and was beaten only by Canada’s Will Gadd. France’s Simon Duverney placed an excellent second, while the Colombian naturalized American Andres Marin placed third. In the women’s event Canada’s Sarah Hueniken placed second and America’s Katie Bono placed third, two superbly strong climbers with whom I climbed with before the competition.

Climbing at Ouray was a great experience, with all its routes and all the friends I met. I’ve now recharged my batteries and am ready for the next stages of the Ice Climbing World Cup that’ll take place in Switzerland, Italy and France!

I hope to return to Ouray next year to try some other routes. It’s definitely a place that every ice climber should visit at least once in a lifetime!

by Angelika Rainer



Final results of the 2015 Ouray Ice Festival Elite Mixed Climbing Competition.
Women
Angelika Rainer (second overall)
Sarah Hueniken
Katie Bono
Jen Olson
Ines Papert
Emily Harrington
Kendra Stritch
Dawn Glanc
Sasha DiGiulian
Beth Goralski

Men
Will Gadd (first overall)
Simon Duverney
Andres Marin
Sam Elias
Justin Willis
Matthieu Maynadier
Ryan Vachon
Kyle Dempster
Jason Nelson
Mael Baguet
Chance Ronemus
Will Mayo
Kurt Ross
Adam Daily
Carter Stritch
Marcus Garcia
Jedrzej Jablonski
Phil Wortmann
Luke Lydiard
Aaron Montgomery