{"id":29960,"date":"2023-12-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ouray-ice-park-opens-friday\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:07:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:07:40","slug":"ouray-ice-park-opens-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ouray-ice-park-opens-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Ouray Ice Park opens Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A climber works up the Ouray Ice Park wall during the 25th Ouray Ice Festival. (Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Ouray Ice Park will open for the season Friday, opening the town\u2019s doors for winter business. The park, which is free to use, features over 150 ice climbing routes made by the park\u2019s \u201cice farmers,\u201d who spray down the walls of the box canyon starting in early November.<\/p>\n

The park\u2019s opening date is a little later than last year because warmer temperatures prevented farmers from building a solid base of ice, said Peter O\u2019Neil, executive director of the nonprofit that operates the park.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neil does not know exactly how many routes will be open, but he said the park is unlikely to be crowded at this time of year.<\/p>\n

Despite the post-Christmas opening, the park is starting the season on a high note.<\/p>\n

A landmark deal finalized over margaritas last week<\/a> ensures that a part of the park will be available to ice climbers in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

About 7 1\/2 acres of the park sat on land owned by Eric Jacobson, who also owns the Ouray Hydroelectric Power Plant. Increasing concerns of Jacobson\u2019s vulnerability to a lawsuit led to an agreement for in which he would donate the land to the city.<\/p>\n

Last May, Jacobson and O\u2019Neil met to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Eric, I would love a permanent easement across your property,\u2019\u201d O\u2019Neil recalled.<\/p>\n

Jacobson agreed, and a few months later, the city requested the same deal for the Via Ferrata it operates across the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, Eric said, \u2018I got a better idea. Why don\u2019t I just give you all my property that pertains to both the ice Park and the Via Ferrata?\u2019\u201d O\u2019Neil said.<\/p>\n

The transfer means that no one will be able to prevent the ice park from operating on the land going forward, enshrining what started 30 years ago as a handshake deal over beers.<\/p>\n

\"Ouray
Ouray Ice Park Incorporated Executive Director Peter O'Neil. (Courtesy of Peter O'Neil\/Ouray Ice Park Incorporated)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s protecting the ice park for the next generation of ice climbers,\u201d a thrilled O\u2019Neil said. \u201c \u2026 It\u2019s an incredible collaboration between a city, a private landowner and a recreational nonprofit. All three entities work together to say \u2018let\u2019s do what\u2019s in the best interest of the community.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The park is Ouray\u2019s primary wintertime economic engine. A recent study <\/a>found it generated nearly $18 million in spending for the town in a single winter.<\/p>\n

The 29th annual Ouray Ice Festival, which will kick off Jan. 18, will feature the usual ice climbing festival. However, the event will be sanctioned through the Union internationale des associations d\u2019alpinisme, better known as the UIAA, for the second time. It will be the only event of the season held in the United States at which competitors can gain points that count toward their international ranking.<\/p>\n

The park will also host the third annual All In Ice Festival<\/a>, which is targeted toward people of historically marginalized backgrounds. The sold-out event, which\u2019ll be held Jan. 5-7, is sure to be a highlight for the park\u2019s season, O\u2019Neil said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re sending the message to the climbing community that we are welcoming to everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you want to become a good mountaineer and you are a member of an underserved or marginalized community, come to the ice park, learn to ice climb.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ice park will open at 8 a.m. Friday. It is free to use, although members of the park are allowed in 30 minutes earlier than the general public. Information on conditions, rules and other information can be found at ourayicepark.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

temperatures led to a later opening, but the future looks \u2026 brisk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1488,1489,3363,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-ice-climbing","tag-ouray","tag-ouray-ice-festival","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80923,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29960\/revisions\/80923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29960"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}