The Denver Post | March 2006

Travel

Ice parks fire up Lake City economy

By Dave Cooper | Special to The Denver Post

Lake City — Lake City is nestled in a high mountain valley formed by the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River, and like so many of Colorado’s mountain communities, it is a hive of tourist activity during the brief summer season.

During winter months, however, the pace of life slows considerably.

All of this may change if Mike Camp’s plans come to fruition.

For the past three seasons Camp, with help from other area residents, has been developing new ice-climbing areas in and around Lake City. One of the first areas to be developed, Lake City Ice, is located at the Ute-Ulay Mine, where Camp is the caretaker (he also is the head of the local search-and-rescue group).

The year-round population of Hinsdale County consists of about 800 people, half of them living in Lake City. This number swells to five times that during the summer months, not including tourists. Many local businesses find it uneconomical to stay open during the winter months. The creation of an ice park could play a significant role in developing Lake City’s year-round economy.

By piping water from a nearby spring for one-eighth of a mile to the cliff above Henson Creek, Camp has created an impressive ice face offering several fine climbs, each 65 to 70 feet in length and covering a wide range of difficulty. Several chain anchors are located at the top of the climbs. Since the spring water originates deep underground, the water never freezes, even in the coldest conditions.

A second area with a number of man-made ice routes is the Hard Tack Mine. With owner George Hurd’s permission (he reportedly actively encouraged the development of an “ice park” at the mine), Camp and other ice climbers have attempted to pipe water 1.25 miles from Crystal Creek to the cliffs located near the Alpine Gulch trailhead.

Problems this year with the water freezing in the pipe have limited their ability to make ice. Camp is optimistic, however, that these problems can be solved. If so, longer climbs up to 110 feet will be available.

Another area where ice has been created is on the edge of town. The ice, made with excess city water, offers the ultimate in climbing convenience.

While this area has the potential for creating a significant ice park more than half a mile long, development has been stymied by the lack of a permit from the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the land where the cliff is located.

These three areas all lie along Henson Creek. Another new ice-fall has been created above Lake San Cristobal, a few minutes drive from Lake City, augmenting natural flows found in the area. Here there are several possible lines to be climbed, usually in the WI3-4 range. Trees provide anchors at the top.

The most popular area for ice climbing in Colorado has, of course, always been Ouray, and as Lake City native and climber Jack Nichols says, “The development of Ouray’s Ice Park gives us a blueprint for developing an ice park here in Lake City.”

And during the 15 years or so that I have been climbing ice in Ouray, I have seen its winter face change dramatically. In the days before the ice park was created, only a couple of restaurants and the same number of motels tased open over the winter months.

A few local business owners and guides provided the impetus to start Ouray’s Ice Park, initially the result of leaks in a water pipe above Box Canyon, but over the years things have snowballed — more climbers created the need for more amenities, which has in turn attracted more climbers.

During peak weekends, even leaving out the Ouray Ice Festival — which attracts crowds from all over the world — the town has a thriving, bustling feel to it. I’ve even heard some climbers complain that there is now too much competition for the available routes, even though the ice park has done a great job of expanding each season to add more climbs in new areas.

While the Lake City area has always provided a large number of high-quality ice climbs in the backcountry, these tend to attract only the most advanced climbers. The steep mountain terrain and large snowfall create avalanche potential on many of the routes, so they require experience in evaluating the safety of a route, which can change very quickly.

As in Ouray, the man-made ice-climbing venues in Lake City offer a safer environment that appeals to all levels of climbers.

Marcia Connell is executive director of Lake City’s Main Street Program for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which helps revitalize historic downtown districts.

Connell says that ice tourism would help her group’s efforts to develop Lake City’s downtown area. “It is exciting to see ice climbers in Lake City. I strongly believe that having an ice park in Lake City will have a positive effect on our winter economy,” she says.

Chris Gentry, owner of Lake City’s Mocha Moose Coffee House, has been in on the process with Camp to get permission from the BLM to develop the ice park along Henson Creek.

Gentry says they must first provide a scaled-down version of an Environmental Impact Statement to win approval. The town has sent a letter supporting the development and even provided the water needed to create the ice from the regular city water supply, but Camp hopes that an expanded ice park will be able to tap into water from the city ditch.

He anticipates approval in time for the 2006/2007 season. Assuming that happens, Lake City will have an ice park able to accommodate several hundred climbers — many more than the 42 people Camp counted on a recent weekend.

Resident Tom Reyburn feels that the “ice farming” that Camp has already accomplished has had an impact on the town.

It is hard to say if the new ice-climbing areas are directly responsible for the increase in numbers of year-round residents, but Reyburn believes they may well be. He himself is a part of that influx, having moved here from the Front Range in 2003.

“The mix of longtime residents, combined with the influx of newcomers, many of whom are middle-aged and very active, plus the summer residents, they all combine to create a very good environment,” Reyburn says.