High Country Adventures: Ice climbing in Eleven Mile Canyon

PARK COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Most ice climbing parks are out on the Western Slope, but one company is bringing the ice to the Front Range. We wanted to meet the crazy people who spend their Friday nights scaling frozen waterfalls and dodging falling icicles out in Eleven Mile Canyon near Lake George, so we checked it out for this week’s High Country Adventures!

There are hundreds if not thousands of ice climbers in Colorado. In fact, some of the team USA members are from here! 

“The first time you do it, you just go ‘I can’t believe I’m standing on a cliff of ice,” explained climber Doug Bernero.

Doug has been climbing for 12 years.

“You realize that you’re more like Spider-Man; you stick to the side of the cliff,” he continued. “That’s really an amazing sensation.”

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” Front Range Climbing Co. General Manager Justin Bowers assured.

Bowers told KRDO, Front Range Climbing started Friday Night Ice two years ago so people don’t have to go all the way out to Ouray (AKA the ice climbing mecca) to enjoy an epic, slippery climb in the dark.

“We have people come from Fort Collins, Boulder and Summit County,” he said. “Down-to-earth, cool, great people – hard-nosed Coloradans I would say.”

Bowers told us the ice wall is actually man made! Once the weather gets cold, the water from a summer camp swimming pool is drained onto the side of a cliff little by little – forming layer after layer of ice.

The final product? a thrill-seeker’s playground!

“The adrenaline you feel after completing a route and as you’re repelling down – there’s just nothing like it,” explained climber Rose Booth, who’s training for an expedition to one of the tallest mountains in Peru. 

“You’re so focused and channeled into the puzzle piece that’s right in front of your face, that all your problems just go away,” she said.

Some climbing experience is required if you want to attend Friday Night Ice.

If you’re new to climbing, you can book a private climb with Front Range Climbing Co.