The Fun Don’t Stop: Spring Ice in AK
As you can imagine at San Juan Mountain Guides we can never get enough steep frozen water. So as we watch the ice here in the San Juans melt and the trees begin to bud, we book our plane tickets to the Alaska range where winter is far from over. Some call it an addiction others an infatuation. What ever …
Ski Mountaineering Guide Tip
Ski Mountaineering Guide Tip Andrew Klotz – AMGA Ski Guide Spring is here and the snow is stabilizing so it is time to hit the big lines that you’ve been waiting patiently for all winter. This is the first installment of a mulit-part series on getting kitted out for a multi-day ski mountaineering trip. Of course, the ideas also apply …
Whorehouse Hoses
Lisa, Dale and I headed out to Eureaka yesterday and climbed the uber classic Whorehouse Hoses. Lisa lead the first half of pitch one. (To be fair pitch one is a massive pitch at about 215′ long.) Dale led the second pitch and we finished on the left hand option third pitch. It was a great day with warm temps! …
Get Inspired
Check out this video that was recently posted about the Ice Park on Mountain Project. Now that the season is winding down the video brings a nostalgic tear to my eye!
Denver University
Every year Denver University’s Alpine Club takes a trip down to southwest Colorado to ice climb in Ouray and ski in Telluride. This year the weather ended up working out great for them. The skiers got some fresh powder and the ice climbers got to climb super fat ice in warm temps. As always it was a great time with …
Ice Park to the Backcountry
Mike just came out for a few days of ice climbing in Ouray. We started out in the Ouray Ice Park and then headed out to the backcountry for the next two days. Our first backcountry route was Dexter Creek Slabs just north of Ouray. Right now we have a winning combination; Dexter is in super fat with and has …
Learn to Lead Ice (Safer)
Here at SJMG we pride ourselves on having a pretty liberal policy towards teaching our guests to lead climb. Many self taught climbers falsely believe that you hire a guide to put the rope up the routes you want to climb. While we are happy to oblige, we also pride ourselves on empowering our guests to safely and efficiently get the ropes …
Ice Progression Sessions
I recently had the opportunity to climb with three great guys – Kevin, Brant, and David – all of whom were long time friends prior to the trip, and had previously had some mountaineering experience on Mt. Rainier and Denali (Mt. McKinley). Their mountaineering experience led them to become curious about gaining more technical climbing skills and ability, to perhaps …
Training for Mount Rainier’s Liberty Ridge
I had the pleasure of spending four days here in Ouray with Steve and Brad who are both preparing to climb Mount Rainier’s ultra classic Liberty Ridge. The Ridge is no small under taking. 6,000′ of steep snow and ice including a few hundred feet of 70 degree alpine ice at 14,000′ with a five day pack makes for a …
San Juan Skiing: Ski the Rockies
The avalanche hazard is fickle as ever in the San Juans. However, for those who know where to look, there is terrific alpine and tree skiing to be found. Yesterday, a few of the SJMG guides went for a tour in the Commodore Basin area near Red Mountain Pass between Silverton and Ouray, CO. We skinned up the east ridge …
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