Night Climbing, “Insanely Fast” WiFi, and More Amenities Coming to U.S. Ice Parks This Season
It’s been a big year for U.S. ice parks. The largest one in the world in Ouray, CO, turns 30 this season. Its annual ice fest is turning 30, too. In nearby Lake City, Colorado—just 20 miles east of Ouray as the crow flies, but a nearly three hour drive as the highways run—the town-operated ice park continues to grow.
But ice parks aren’t exclusive to Colorado. The Midwest is quickly becoming an ice climbing hotspot, as Minnesota’s Winona Ice Park settles into its permanent location in an abandoned quarry right in town this season. This homegrown park features 100-some routes ranging from mellow, beginner-friendly gullies to advanced mixed climbs. A handful of other parks in Minnesota and Michigan continue to expand as well—read to the end of this story to find out where.
The ice climbing scene is evolving, too. “It’s not just a bunch of white dudes anymore,” says Ouray Ice Park Executive Director Peter O’Neil. Clinics designed specifically for women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and BIPOC climbers are helping to make ice climbing more inclusive. And events like the All In Ice Fest—which exists to invite historically marginalized communities into the ice climbing space—are changing the face of the sport, too.
We checked in with the ice farmers and managers at the three largest ice parks in the country to get the lowdown on opening dates for the 2024/2025 season, what’s new this year, the events on deck, and how you can support the parks.
The Ouray Ice Park
For the Ouray Ice Park (that’s YOU-ray), this winter marks three decades of serving as a free resource for ice climbers, who come here to climb from around the world.
It’s pretty incredible to think about the impact the park has had on the town. “The analogy I like to use is the ice park is to Ouray as the ski hill is to Telluride,” says O’Neil, Ouray Ice Park Executive Director. “Without the park, Ouray would be a ghost town in the winter.”
Ouray has gone from being a sleepy community where you could literally sled down Main Street in the winter, to a global ice climbing hot spot. According to a 2021-2022 economic impact study, a whopping 95% of climbers at the park are visiting from out of town, generating some $18 million in economic impact. In other words, the Ouray Ice Park is the town’s winter economy.
Ouray Ice Park Opening Date
Usually, the park opens before Christmas, depending on temperatures, which have become increasingly less favorable over time. For the 2024/2025 season, the park is opening to top-tier park members on December 16, and to the general public on December 21. The park’s contract with the town allows it to remain open through March, but some years it closes earlier in the month if spring comes early.
What’s New in Ouray
Ice farming gets dialed: The ice park has turned ice farming from a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-Gore-Tex-pants affair, to a total science. That’s due to challenges like water shortages and warming temps resulting from climate change. O’Neil and his team of ice farmers now track gallons-per-minute-per-sprayhead—across a whopping 250 sprayheads—in a very detailed spreadsheet.
The ice park goes 10G: “We are going to be the most well-connected city park on the Western Slope of Colorado,” O’Neil says. Thanks to the donation of a local company, the park will have “insanely fast” WiFi starting in the 2024/2025 season. This will allow the influencers of the ice world to livestream from the park, for better or worse. Guess we won’t need Rocky Talkies out in the Deep South anymore!
Pow cams, but make it icy: With wireless outdoor internet comes the ability to set up live ice cams and a weather station. Starting this year, anyone anywhere will be able to check out the weather and route conditions at specific areas throughout the park online. This can help climbers decide which area to target and which layers to throw on before heading out.
Grad School open for enrollment: O’Neil anticipates opening an area that hasn’t been accessible for five to 10 years. Now that he and his team are refining their approach to ice farming, if temperatures cooperate, they should be able to open the Grad School area this season.
Ouray Ice Park Events
From January 23-26, 2025, the annual Ouray Ice Fest will bring a competition, clinics, gear demos, and partying to Ouray. Note that this is usually the worst time to try to climb at the park (unless you’re taking a clinic), since it’s absolutely packed. But it’s arguably the best time to partake in climbing culture and learn a thing or two from the pros.
But the first event on the books at the biggest U.S. ice park this year is the now-annual All In Ice Fest. Since All In kicked off in 2022, it’s grown exponentially. O’Neil recalls maybe 50-some people attended the inaugural event, 100 people showed up in year two, and 250 climbers came last year. This year, All In Ice Fest will take place January 3-5, 2025, featuring clinics, gear demos, and presentations.
“Last year, I was listening to one of the evening presentations,” O’Neil remembers of his 2024 All In experience. “And I thought, I’m surrounded by people who don’t look like me.” He couldn’t help but grin, feeling that the community of ice climbing and of Ouray was evolving. “It felt so good that we’ve changed the dynamic there,” O’Neil says.
Lastly, the UIAA North American Youth World Championships will take place in early February. O’Neil is excited to share the sport with the next generation and inspire more young kids to “crush it” on the competition tower. The event will be livestreamed.
How to Support the Ouray Park: “Our Water, Our Future”
Ouray Ice Park is hitting a wall in terms of how much water they can use from the town well. The park has secured a new water source via Canon Creek that will provide five times as much water. The catch? They need to build infrastructure to pipe the water into the far reaches of the park.
To date, the park has raised $1.2 million dollars for its Our Water, Our Future project, but has another $200,000 to go to finish the job. The park is aiming to raise this last stretch by the end of winter so the infrastructure can be installed in time for the 2025/2026 winter.
O’Neil says that the park has gone after all the public funding, grants, and large donations it can. And now? “Our hope is the climbing community will step up,” O’Neil says.
Ultimately, this project will likely allow the park to open earlier, farm fatter ice, create more routes and anchors, and mitigate crowding. If you have climbed at the park or plan to climb there this season, consider becoming a member and/or donating to the Our Water, Our Future project.
The Lake City Ice Park
Thought Ouray was Colorado’s only ice park? Head a few hours north and you’ll find yourself at the Lake City Ice Park. Home to a couple sleepy cafes, some awesome sport routes high up in God’s Crag come summer, and not much else, Lake City is a great alternative to Ouray if you want a quieter ice park experience.
I have a soft spot for this small town park, too. I started climbing there a couple years after it opened in 2006. Located about an hour from the town of Gunnison, where I once lived, this park is where I progressed from “beached whale” to small town comp competitor. It’s also the only park entirely operated and funded by a municipality.
It’s also the only park where you can swing your tools through the long, cold nights, thanks to spotlights the town has installed. But the town swings both ways, catering to those with poor and supreme circulation alike. In addition to lighting for night climbing, you’ll also find warming huts equipped with woodstoves in the Pumphouse Park, the Beer Garden, and the Dynamite Shack areas of the park. Those huts will come in handy if you take advantage of the fact that the park is open 24 hours a day.
Lake City Ice Park Opening Date
The season in Lake City is long, running from around Thanksgiving through March. The park opened for the 2024/2025 season on November 30 this year. During some favorable years, the park has even remained open into July, according to Lake City Parks and Recreation Director Ben Hake.
What’s New in Lake City
The short answer: a lot.
According to Hake, who also serves as an ice farmer, the park opened a new section this year called Devil’s Kitchen. Located between the original Pumphouse Park wall and the Dynamite Shack area, Devil’s Kitchen consists of 500 feet of new routes, including gullies and multi-pitch climbs approximately 120-140 feet tall.
For the 2024/2025 season, the park also expanded its Dynamite Shack Area by about 100 feet. These climbs are approximately 170 feet tall.
Hake expects more growth over time—the park generally plans an expansion every couple years. “We will most likely have a mile of ice by the 2025/2026 season,” Hake says. This growth will result from adding 300 feet to the Dynamite Shack area and a new section that consists of 1,000 feet of climbing upstream from Beer Garden. This new section will likely be named Sherwin Groceries. “We name everything based on what the miners called the areas of the canyon,” Hake explains. “Sherwin Groceries is an old painted advertisement sign on the cliffs in that area.”
The Lake City Ice Festival
The park hosts an annual one-day festival with competitions in lead climbing, speed top-rope climbing, and adaptive climbing. Amateurs welcome! The 2025 Lake City Ice Fest will take place on February 1, 2025.
How to Support the Lake City Ice Park
Located on BLM land, the ice park is managed through a permit obtained by the town. And while operations come straight out of the town’s budget, Lake City is always looking for donations to help with operating costs. If you climb there, throw Lake City a few bucks to say thanks to all the hard-working ice farmers and support the park’s expansion.
The Winona Ice Park
Behind Minnesota’s biggest ice park is one passionate and very busy climber: Eric Barnard. When Barnard relocated from Idaho to Minnesota, he set a goal of climbing everyday. That proved a challenge, given the local terrain and the fact that he is a busy dad with (by my count) three or four jobs.
“I used to climb in Ouray and had met one of the farmers who’s actually from Minnesota,” Barnard says. “I knew it was possible.”
In 2017, Barnard secured land and began a multi-year process of trial and error. He tested out different locations and observed how the ice melted to ensure it wouldn’t flood the bluff below. “Luckily, the ice just evaporated,” Barnard said. Though he also got geoscientists involved to ensure his ice park project wouldn’t cause damage to the landscape.
After several pilot locations, the Winona Ice Park has finally nailed it and will open for the 2025 season in its new permanent home. “It’s a climber’s dream,” says Winona Parks and Recreation Coordinator Alicia Lano.
“I think this is the year it really blows up,” Barnard says of the park, which has seen more and more climbers each year. With the active Minnesota community, the park’s proximity to Chicago, and all the Iowans looking to send something besides a silo, the Winona Park is a hub for the sport in the Midwest. The park features about 100 routes, up to 110 feet in height. You’ll find a kiddie wall, lead areas, mixed routes, and “chill gullies,” according to Barnard.
Winona Ice Park is managed through a unique partnership among the City of Winona, the nonprofit Recreation Alliance of Winona, and Big River Climbing Guides. Barnard is on the Recreation Alliance board, owns the guide company, and is a professor at Winona State University, where he runs the adventure education program.
While the town is interested in the ice park as a driver of tourism, Parks and Rec Coordinator Lano emphasizes that it’s also about getting more people outside. “We’re first and foremost looking at helping people with their mental health, getting outside, and staying active,” Lano emphasizes. Case in point: It only takes Lano 30 minutes to get from her desk to the ice park. “It’s allowed me and a lot of people the opportunity to try something they wouldn’t normally be able to do,” she says.
Winona Ice Park Opening Date
The park usually opens in mid-January and stays open through most of March. This is, like the other parks, temperature-dependent.
What’s New in Winona
One cool element of this ice park is that it’s also served as a restoration project for the abandoned quarry area where it’s located. Before the park existed, the area was a “total jungle,” says Barnard—a dumping ground for old mattresses and trash. All of that has been cleared to pave the way for recreation. “We’re reclaiming the whole bluff top prairie,” Barnard says. “That never would have happened if it wasn’t for climbers.”
Another environmentally friendly (and safety-forward) aspect of the park? Barnard secured a donation from a local chain company to install 300 feet of “super burly” chain along the bluff’s top for anchors. This is in part to avoid tree anchors, which can damage trees. Any trees that do serve as anchors, Barnard has pre-rigged with static rope to protect the tree.
Come summer, the Recreation Alliance also manages a crag on the other side of the quarry with sport routes and top-roping.
The Winona Ice Fest
The second annual festival takes place Jan 30-Feb 2, 2025 this season. “The ice fest has brought the park on to the national scene,” Barnard says. He notes that many climbing brands have stepped up to support the event.
Last year, Barnard set the ticket limit at 200. Then 275 people showed up. This year, they’re doubling ticket availability to 400—though it’s still a good idea to register early.
Barnard’s goal with the ice fest is in part accessibility. The first day of the fest is only for locals and it’s free. He’s excited about driving economic impact in the town and getting more people on ice.
How to Support the Winona Ice Park
After chatting with Chris Kalous on The Enormocast a few years ago, Barnard was “flooded with calls” from climbers interested in building ice parks. “Step one: Don’t do it,” Barnard jokes of his advice to all these callers. “If you have people that love you that you live with, don’t do it. It’s a big commitment for sure.”
To support Barnard’s big commitment and his crew of all-volunteer ice farmers, you can donate to the Recreation Alliance of Winona.
More U.S. Ice Parks—All in the Midwest!
While Ouray, Lake City, and Winona are the big three, there are a number of other tiny, under-the-radar ice parks. Minnesota is also home to Sandstone Ice Park, which you can basically drive right up to. It’s a good spot for locals in Twin Cities or Duluth, both an hour away. There’s also a small park in Duluth called Quarry Park (aka Casket Quarry) that started off as a drytooling area.
Michigan is also home to some small ice parks, including Peabody in the city of Fenton. Garrett Peabody started this public park on his retired family’s apple orchard. “We have had thousands of climbers come through over the years, both seasoned and new,” Peabody says. “We have such a great ice climbing resource here in the Midwest on Lake Superior and surrounding areas.” The park has routes for beginners, guided instruction, and a dry tooling wall, all on iced-over structures.
U.S. Ice Parks, Mapped
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