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Speaking of Ice
T
here are a number of factors that make the
2014 Ouray Ice a particular pleasure for us
to publish; none more so than the line up of its
stories and writers. First-time WellSpring contributor Mary
Pat Haddock weaves a fascinating story of a
sampling of women ice climbers – from Kittie
Calhoun, whom competitive climber Dawn
Glanc calls the godmother of ice climbing for
breaking the gender barrier, to teen climber
Wendy Woods, to head Chicks with Picks
chick Kim Reynolds, to four-time world
champion Ines Papert and more. Outdoor writer and Denver Post contributor
Matt Minich is back with our non-winter story
– this time with a captivating first-hand account
of a late-September hike to the breathtaking
Bridge of Heaven
We are pleased to have a piece about the
Dawn Glanc inside the curtain during a
birth of the Ouray Ice Park written by founder
Canadian climb called Curtain Call.
Gary Wild as well as a Q&A with Gary. Photo by Dylan Taylor
Additionally, Outdoor Research-sponsored
climber, published author and motivational
speaker Margo Talbot is back with a story in which she
has the reader leading a back-country ice climb. The issue is also graced with dynamic photos by a
number of talented photographers. Enjoy. —Dale McCurry and Jennifer Mandaville
WellSpring Publishing, Marketing and Public Relations
Production Crew
Contributors to the production of this publication are: publishers – Jennifer Mandaville
and Dale McCurry of WellSpring Publishing, Marketing and Public Relations; editor/
contributor – Dale McCurry; copyeditor/contributor – Jennifer Mandaville; editorial
contributors — Mary Pat Haddock, Margo Talbot and Matt Minich; design and layout
– Kristin Schroeder of Avalanche Graphics LLC; cover – art by Jesse Crock, design by
Kristin Schroeder; photographers – Mark Johnson, Rafal Andronowski, Amy Jurries,
Debbie Wild, Deb Folsom and Paul McCreary. A special thank you to all of the sponsors
and volunteers who make the Ouray Ice Park and its centerpiece event possible. And thanks
to our advertisers who bring you this magazine.
For more information about WellSpring Publishing, Marketing and Public
Relations’ publications and services, go to www.WellSpringPub.com or
check us out on Facebook.
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Between the Covers
Table of Contents
10 • Climbing with Margo
Hang on to your harness as glitter-girl
climber Margo Talbot puts you smack on
the side of a massive pillar of ice.
12 • Hooked up women
WellSpring newbie Mary Pat Haddock
talked with fourteen female ice climbers.
Read what they have to say about ice,
family and being outside.
14 • Trickle down this
As a reaction to a blogger’s “trickle down
revisionist history” of the Ouray Ice
Park, founder Gary Wild sets the record
straight on how it all began.
16 • Funny you ask
Gary Wild answers a few questions with
candor and humility.
20 • A San Juan autumn
Outdoor enthusiast and writer Matt
Minich leaves an IT professional from
the Front Range in his wake as he makes
bootprints high in the San Juan Mountains above Ouray to Bride of Heaven.
On the Cover
The cover art for the 2014
Ouray Ice is “Ice Climber” by
Golden, Colorado, artist and
elementary art teacher, Jesse
Crock. Crock’s work is known
throughout Colorado and
beyond. To learn more about
Jesse and see more of his
work, go to www.jessecrockart.com.
Cover layout is by Kristin Schroeder of
Avalanche Graphics LLC in Ridgway, Colorado.
www.AvalancheGrfx.com
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Photo by Rafal Andronowski, Alpine Start Images, www.alpinestartimages.com
Chandeliers on a Bluebird Day
By Margo Talbot
Y
our right hand is pumped as you put
a screw in halfway up the pillar. As
you clip the rope into the quickdraw, you
see your partner below, swinging her legs
alternately to force more blood into her
feet. “The ice is ballistic; it must be minus
twenty in this canyon!” you yell below. It’s
a bluebird day in the mountains; you love it
when it’s so cold there are crystals in the air.
The contrast between your warm body and
chilled cheeks makes you feel alive.
Your car is three miles away, tucked into
a tiny pull-off the highway guys always
manage to plow. There was no need to take
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out your thermometer; the snow squeaking
under your climbing boots told you
everything you needed to know. The wind
added an extra chill to the approach, until
you reached the shelter of the gully where
you scoped out the pillar and geared up for
the climb.
Glass on copper
You have reached the section of ice
you saw from the bottom, and it’s as
unconsolidated as you thought it would
be. Chandeliers break away at the slightest
provocation; it is the sound of pieces of
glass dropping down a copper pipe. You
clear away debris until you find the solid ice
behind.
The situation could be nerve wracking,
but you are calm and peaceful – confident
in your strength, in your ability to hold on
as long as it takes to get good placements
and solid screws. You’ve been on lead now
for more than a half an hour and you’re
conscious of your partner in the cold. “Hey
Sandy,” you call below, “how are you
doing?”
“I’m fine” she replies, but what else can
she say when she’s the one securely tied into
the belay and you’re the one negotiating the
crux pitch?
Taking it home
The surface of the pillar has become
smooth again, and you hear that pleasant
thunk of the axe penetrating solid ice. You
put in a bomber screw and gun for the top.
There is a perfect spot off to the right where
you put in the belay. You unclip your down
jacket from your harness and put it on. You
call to Sandy; she is on belay. You hear
Sandy’s picks hit the ice; it becomes the
rhythmic backdrop as you take in the stellar
view across the valley.
Twenty minutes later, Sandy is clipping
into the belay and you are preparing ropes
for the rappel. Neither of you says a word;
you don’t have to. You each know that by
the time you are on the canyon floor you
will have decided which route will be your
next adventure.
Margo Talbot is a sponsored athlete
with Outdoor Research and the author
of All That Glitters – A
Climber’s Journey through
Addiction and Depression.
She has made it her
mission to introduce as
many people as possible
to the activity she says
literally saved her life.
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Women
Who
Climb
By Mary Pat Haddock
I
n 1979 Kitty Calhoun decided the local
skiing near the University of Vermont
wasn’t quite for her and asked a few
friends to take her ice climbing. Calhoun
immediately began learning all she could
from her male climbing partners, taking
her ice skills to the backcountry and
eventually becoming an internationally
renowned alpinist and mountain guide. She
climbed exclusively with men because she
knew no other female ice climbers. Ouray
winter local and two time Ouray Ice Fest
champion Dawn Glanc credits Calhoun’s
accomplishments during the 80s and 90s for
inspiring the modern generation of female
climbers, calling Calhoun the “godmother”
of women’s ice climbing and describing her
ascents as routes “nobody would go do, let
alone a woman.” Women considering the
intimidating sport clearly had a role model
in Calhoun and female climbers could soon
be spotted on icy faces across the country.
Thirty-four years later, Calhoun still
thinks “just the fact that the waterfalls freeze
and you can climb ‘em is really cool.” The
international community of women who
climb includes competitors, recreational
ice and rock climbers, girls, mountaineers,
retirees and homemakers.
Despite a huge range in climbing ability
and lifestyles, the fourteen female ice
climbers interviewed for this story share
basic values, priorities and motivations.
Each of them prioritizes connection
with her family, friends, community and
environment. These modern, on-thego women form and maintain valuable
professional partnerships and sponsorships,
offer their families unconditional love and
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Anne Hughes with Kitt
support and share their time and resources
with their communities. They travel the
globe from Pakistan to New Zealand,
write blogs and memoirs recounting their
adventures and recognize beauty all around
them. They raise money and volunteer
for local women’s shelters, care for their
families, maintain trails and hike for causes.
Take it outside
The group universally prefers to spend
their time outdoors compared to indoors.
Head chick Kim Reynolds of the Chicks
with Picks ice climbing program says she
experiences being outside as “natural, alive
and preferable.” Canadian mountaineer
and ice climbing instructor Margo Talbot
feels “there is something natural and
life infusing about being outdoors” and
ty Calhoun (orange helmet), Chicks With Picks guide, on a Ouray, Colorado, climb called The Ribbon.
Photo by Amy Jurries.
that it is “the way humans were meant
to live.” Ariel Wertenberger, who lives
outside Ouray and just began ice climbing
last winter, feels like she “can breathe”
when outside. Former Bozeman women’s
champion Jen Olson feels “energized and
inspired” when outside. Bozeman local and
recreational climber Emily Reinsel says
she ice climbs “to experience the solitude
of the mountains in winter.” She further
appreciates that “ice flows are dynamic and
you can never climb the same flow twice.”
Echoing her sentiments, German, four-time
world champion and Ouray 2012 women’s
champion Ines Papert is drawn to “the
beauty of the ice structures, the changes and
being there at the right moment.”
In femme we trust
The risks involved in ice climbing
necessitate that participants establish
trusting relationships with their climbing
partners, teachers and students. For women,
who are already stepping outside of
mainstream society’s offered gender role by
trying the “extreme” sport, the safety and
support offered within these relationships
is even greater. Anne Hughes, who travels
from her home in Madison, Wisconsin, to
Ouray at least once a year to participate in
Chicks with Picks clinics, finds interacting
with other women to be an invaluable
aspect of the experience – describing her
peers as “a really fun group of women
of all different ages and backgrounds,
who are obviously adventurous, inspiring
Continued on Page 18
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The Birth of a Park:
A brief history of the
Ouray Ice Park
By Gary Wild
Editor’s note: What follows is a 2010
response by Gary Wild to a blog that
resulted from an article about the Ouray
Ice Park on one of the climbing websites.
“There have been so many that I do
not recall the name,” says Wild. “The
article talked about the damn ‘trickledown theory.’ This is my moniker for the
media revisionist history story that a few
people started the park by trickling water
from hoses. In other words, the legal/
political [process] I went through didn’t
happen. We did use hoses connected to the
penstock and made huge yellow-colored
climbs but that was well after we had done
our political [maneuvering], and I had
drafted documents to get the leases and
insurance [in place].”
We believe Wild’s passionate story provides
a nice thumbnail of the history of this
important asset to Ouray County and the
Western Slope.
The power company went bankrupt
and the plant, land, penstock and a dam
(one mile upriver) was purchased by Eric
Jacobsen. Eric is a hydroelectric power
provider from Telluride and Ouray. In 1993,
over a few beers, Eric generously agreed to
grant an easement for legal use of the facility
if I could provide insurance to satisfy the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The Access Fund advised me of a
Colorado Recreational Users statute that
protects landowners from legal liability if
they do not charge a fee for the use of their
land. After being laughed out of a meeting
at the Ouray City Council, I worked with
I
am the original “developer” of the Ouray
Ice Park. The story is that several locals
began dripping water through hoses and
a wonderful climbing venue was created.
While the volunteer work was very
generous, it was preceded by over a year
of legal/ political maneuvering. Prior to the
ice park, a leak in a defunct city reservoir
created several routes in the Uncompahgre
Gorge. They were discovered and climbed
in the 70s (right Jim Donini?). The cliffs
contained a “penstock” that carried river
water to a 100-year-old hydro plant in town.
The penstock and 100 feet of land (the
cliffs) were owned by a power company
that posted no trespassing signs and
occasionally requested intervention by the
sheriff.
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Ouray Ice Park pioneers Bill Whitt (left) and
Bill Mactiernan on the lip of the Uncompahgre
Gorge in 1991.
Photo courtesy of Bill Mactiernan.
then county attorney, Mike Hockersmith.
We drafted and executed an easement with
Eric and Ouray County. We also secured an
easement with the U.S. Forest Service that
owned some of the land along the gorge.
The county’s insurance carrier was familiar
with the statute and provided the needed
insurance.
The first year the park opened, we used
river water from the penstock. This created
rust-colored ice but the frigid water made
great climbs very quickly. In subsequent
years, we utilized surplus city water that
was overflowing into the river. It was
much warmer, so I used shower heads to
cool down the water before it touched the
ground. They are still utilized today.
The success of the park led to the creation
of the non-profit corporation that manages
the facility. It is a win-win for climbers
and the City of Ouray. The park is located
within the City and was developed with
roads and the hydro facility assets present
before the park was created. It was not
wilderness land, and the water that forms
the ice returns to the Uncompahgre River
and eventually to the Colorado River.
The Ouray Ice Park fits my conscience
quite nicely.
For additional information about the Ouray Ice
Park, its 19th annual festival and the area in
general, go to www.OurayIcePark.com and
www.OurayColorado.com
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A Minute with Gary Wild
• Ouray Ice: Mr. Wild, What are you most pleased about having happened as a result of
you being the “original developer” of the Ouray Ice Park?
• Wild: When we purchased the Ouray Victorian Inn, Bill Whitt was my younger partner.
He was a climber and I wasn’t. I distinctly remember when, in the middle of another very
quiet winter, he talked to me about converting the Uncompahgre Gorge into a climbing
“park.” While enduring a couple of years of ridicule, we got it done with: 1) the generosity and ingenuity of Eric Jacobsen and his manager Dick Fowler; 2) the help with the
original lease and insurance by Mike Hockersmith (then the county attorney); and 3) the
hundreds of volunteers who came together to clear routes, create catwalks, lay water pipe,
serve on the Ice Park Board of Directors, etc. There
was Jeff Lowe, Mike O’Donnell, Bill Mactiernan, Mike
Gibbs . . . the list is way too long. The answer is that I
am very pleased with what happened in Ouray.
• OI: In your “Ice Park History,” a reaction to a blogger’s
attack on the park, you write of the existing assets when
access was acquired to the park land. How has the park
changed physically since the early days?
• Wild: It honestly hasn’t changed much as far as visuals
go. The climbing routes have increased each year and
more than 200 routes are recreated each winter. In
the summer, the routes are gone, and you have to look
closely to see the bolts for top roping. Jeff Skoloda’s
Photo by Debbie Wild
volunteer steel work (penstock catwalk, climber memorial at the upper bridge, etc.) offers
major improvements. So are the viewing stands between the bridges. Many low-impact
improvements exist. They provide excellent winter recreation and access to spectacular
scenery for summer visitors.
• OI: What is your role now, if any, in the Ouray Ice Park?
• Wild: Very little. I live in Mexico and have a Google email sent when any mention of the
park occurs. I sometimes get involved with rebutting revisionist history or stupid blog comments about alleged environmental damage. I guess those sorts of things really tick me off.
I was there. My 2010 response sums this up pretty well [see page 14].
• OI: You mention past American Alpine Club President, Jim Donini. What can you tell us
about the early climbers in the gorge?
• Wild: I wasn’t there much when the first gorge climbers had to step over the “No Trespassing” signs to access a few routes that occurred from leaks in the abandoned reservoir.
Jeff Lowe and Jim Donini were there. They can answer this one much better than I can.
I do remember Bill Whitt sitting on the upper bridge rail and being taped for a “Rescue
911” piece. The rescue occurred before the park was even an idea. A much younger Bill
sported his “Buffalo Bill Cody” look. He took a lot of flak from his Ouray Mountain Rescue teammates. Great stuff.
• OI: What would you like to see the Park achieve that it is has yet to?
• Wild: The Ice Park Board just needs to continue their current course. The Board and
Ouray Mountain Rescue are doing a great job with safety concerns. The Board is working with the City of Ouray to consolidate the multiple land ownership issues, which will
guarantee an awesome future for the Park. I sincerely hope that use of the Park remains
free and that the Colorado Recreations Use Statute is carefully adhered to.
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Photo by Paul McCreary, www.MainStreetHouseInn.com
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Continued from Page 13
process for ice climbers, beginning with
the first climb. Papert recalls: “The first
ice climb was not a pleasure at all. Frozen
fingers (because of the wrong clothing),
cuts all over in my face (because of my lack
of experience), but also the knowledge I had
to focus on this to become a better alpinist.
Soon I had even some joy, and later I started
to love it.” Dutch climber Marianne Van Der
Steen says the “cold and harsh conditions”
bring her “back to the bare essentials of
life: trust and love, warmth and protection,
health and food.” Novice
Wertenberger knows she
is “more bold and willing
to try different things”
because she has stretched
her internal and external
comfort zones climbing
ice.
Ouray
County,
Colorado, native Wendy
Woods, who first went ice
climbing at age 7 with her
stepdad, remembers her
first time ice climbing as
being “really scary and
really fun at the same
time.” Now a teenager,
Woods is thankful for all
Canadian mountaineer Margo Talbot she has “in her backyard”
Photo by Rafal Andronowski, Alpine Start Images,
and plans to spend the rest
www.alpinestartimages.com
of her life climbing the land
goddess “Shiva” and describes her as “the and ice around Ouray.
Festivals like those held each winter in
destroyer of the universe, in order that it can
be recreated.” Kali/Shiva is like a wildfire Ouray, Colorado and Bozeman, Montana,
that burns a forest to the ground, creating offer great opportunities for new climbers
nutrient rich soil for healthier vegetation to to try the sport. Talbot, who offers
grow in its place. Day has “always loved Outdoor Research-sponsored clinics at
the power of her dance, balance, grace and both festivals and is the mastermind behind
force” and believes it “is necessary to push Bitch Climbing, an organization focused
yourself in climbing – a great inner force on “empowering women with the healing
and will, combined with complete beauty power of the earth,” encourages women to
come to the festivals, saying: “There is no
and flow.”
better way to try ice climbing than festivals
because gear is expensive and companies are
If she can, ...
Facing and moving through one’s there with gear and apparel to demo, with
discomfort and fears is a continuous clinics subsidized by the outdoor industry
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participants.” Even at a high level of ice
climbing, the bond between two peers
challenging and encouraging each other is
valued; Papert says: “It’s even more fun to
climb with a partner on an equal level like I
did with Audrey Gariepy a lot;
This year’s Chicks with Picks 15th
anniversary logo features a stylish
representation of the Hindu goddess Kali
armed with ice axe and pick. Kellie Day,
the creative force behind the logo, calls the
available to give anyone who is interested
a chance to try it out.” Glanc has organized
Femme Fest, a February event in Ouray,
designed to allow women who have already
learned to climb to come together for the
weekend. The ladies ice climb, socialize and
enjoy a fashion show of women’s outdoor
fashions. A few lucky ladies even receive an
ice climbing gear makeover.
Bozeman recreational climber Jeannie
Wall “always sees at least a few other
women” in Hyalite, a popular ice climbing
canyon outside Bozeman, and encourages
more women to “get out and try it with
another woman friend.” Wall further advises:
“If you pick nice weather days to start, the
day will be a good thing and super fun.”
Ariel Wertenberger reports a similarly
common presence of female climbers in
Ouray. This community of women, who can
be seen gracefully, and not so gracefully,
ascending frozen waterfalls do not actually
possess comic book style super powers, in
fact they are just as limited by their humanity
as anyone else on the planet. Where some
A young Wendy Woods climbing with stepdad
Chris Folsom.
Photo by Deb Folsom
focus on what they cannot do, these women
instead give their energy to what they can
do – an outlook which serves them on and
off the ice.
Thanks to this amazing assortment
of tough-lady role models, any woman
considering finding her way to the ice this
winter for the first time can embrace the
Chicks with Picks saying: “If she can do it,
I can do it.”
Mary Pat Haddock is a freelance writer
out of Ridgway, Colorado. She spends her
winters teaching skiing in nearby Telluride
and her freetime exploring the San Juan’s
with her German
sheperd, Evergreen.
Mary Pat is also a proud
mom of her adoptive
daughter, Annacha
Haddock.
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Photos by Mark Johnson, www.BoxCanyonBlog.com
On the Bridge of Heaven
By Matt Minich
T
he view is as much a relief as a reward.
After almost an hour of hiking steep
switchbacks, the slope has given way to
reveal the rocky cirque of the Amphitheatre
and the distant slopes of Ironton Valley and
Yankee Boy Basin. For miles around us,
emerald aspen groves show spots of autumn
gold.
My friend John rests his hand on my
shoulder. An IT professional from Colorado
Springs, he’s not used to this sort of hiking.
He’s been a good sport, but it’s clear 1,000
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vertical feet of climbing have pushed his
legs and his lungs to their limits.
“So this is why you do it I guess,” he
says between breaths. “I guess it really was
worth all that to get up here.”
I want to tell him, yes, these stunning
vistas are the prize for all of our sweat
and strain. I want him to feel kinship with
granola eaters and wool sock wearers
everywhere. I do. But I know something
John doesn’t know. Something I’m not sure
I have the heart to tell him.
We’re just getting started. The trail to
Ouray’s Bridge of Heaven climbs 3,100
feet over 4.2 miles, and we haven’t done
half that. I direct his attention to a nearby
trail sign, which reports 2.5 miles of travel
ahead, and he deflates like a whoopee
cushion.
A serious hike
For a novice hiker like John, the 8.4mile round trip to the Bridge of Heaven
is ambitious. Just reaching the trailhead
requires a river crossing and about two
miles of driving on a narrow four-wheeldrive road, and the hike is steep, climbing
all the way up.
By the time hikers reach the first vantage
point (the welcome respite mentioned
above), they have only tackled about a third
of the climbing and just less than half of the
hiking. From there, the trail gets steeper,
narrower and messier as it winds above
timberline to the Bridge itself: a spectacular
ridge 12,300 feet above sea level.
This is the shortest and most popular
route to the Bridge – an out-and-back
hike along Horsethief Trail, which starts
just a few miles outside downtown Ouray.
But for hikers with overnight ambitions
or exceptionally strong legs (or both),
the hike can be stretched into an 18-mile
high country tour. This journey requires
a car shuttle – Horsethief continues past
Difficulty Creek and the American Flats
to the 12,600-foot Engineer Pass before
descending back to town by the Bear Creek
Trail. Most hikers choose to tackle this trip
as multi-day backpack, camping one or two
nights on flat perches along the way.
Onward and upward
About a mile beyond the first viewpoint,
John gives it up. The climbing is relentless
– and though the trail has entered a shady
fir forest, his back is soaked in sweat. As
much as I want him to press on to the top, I
have the nagging feeling he’s made the right
decision.
The climbing only looks steeper ahead,
and the high country is coated in a lateSeptember snow that he’ll have trouble
navigating in his Reebok sneakers and blue
jeans. We’ve already passed one haggard
party of hikers, turned back by time
SnapShots
• Trip: Horsethief Trail to Bridge of Heaven
• Distance: 8.4 miles round trip
• Elevation gain: 3,100 feet
• Getting there: From Ouray, drive two
miles north on Hwy 550 before turning left
onto County Road 14. Follow 14 for about
2.5 miles to the crossing of Dexter Creek
(the dirt road narrows before this point,
but is still passable by most vehicles). The
road beyond the creek requires four wheel
drive, so those without will need to hike
the final 1.1 miles to the trailhead.
• Season: The hike is best done between
mid-June and early September, when the
Bridge is clear of snow, but can be traveled
year round.
Page 21
constraints and difficult terrain. I leave him
a Clif Bar from the brain of my pack, and
hike on.
The last mile of trail is as difficult as it
looks. The trail breaks above timberline
with one final set of steep switchbacks, and
is covered near the Bridge in snow, mud,
or both. By the time I round the final bend
and climb to the wooden sign that marks the
summit, my own legs – and my nerves – are
shot.
The Bridge of Heaven itself is a narrow,
rocky ridge with precipitous drops to either
side. The view to the south – of the Sneffels
Range and Yankee Boy Basin – is refined by
the altitude, and now stretches almost all the
way to Red Mountain Pass. To the northeast,
which has until now been hidden by the slope
of the ridge, the scenery opens up to reveal
the iconic Cimarron Range, Ridgway’s
Log Hill Mesa and the distant and massive
Grand Mesa. Utah’s La Sal Mountains loom
near the horizon to the west.
Also at the Bridge are a pair of hunters,
their mules hitched to the lone signpost.
They lazily eye a trio of bighorn ewes on
the slopes below, their rifle resting unused
beside them. A group of rams graze just
over the ridge, but the hunters are too tired
– or too content – to pursue them. I take a
seat with them for brief trail chat. We talk
about the weather and the trail, and pool
our knowledge on the local highways and
backroads. Though our eyes never break
from it, we don’t talk about the view. We just
sit there together with the shared knowledge
that this is why we do it.
Matt Minich is a freelance writer based in
Fort Collins. He writes an email newsletter
about the state’s best
outdoor adventures,
which is available at
Bootprints.com.
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