Gear company Outdoor Research, whose products I was particularly impressed with when I reviewed them a few months back, is preparing to hit the ice climbing circuit over the next few months, with plans to attend five major Ice Festivals in January and February.
They’ll get things started with the 15th Annual Ouray Ice Festival, which kicks off tomorrow in Ouray, Colorado. Then, on January 15th, they’ll be in attendance at the Adirondack International Mountain Festival in Keene Valley, New York. At the end of the month, they’ll head to the Smugglers Notch Ice Bash hosted in Smugglers Notch, Vermont. In February, Outdoor Research will be in attendance at the Mount Washington Valley IMCS Ice Festival in North Conway, New Hampshire and The Knuckle Basher Ice Festival in Canmore, Alberta, Canada as well.
While at these events, Outdoor Research Ambassadors and Connectors, which are made up of professional climbers and guides, will be providing will hold clinics, slideshows, demos and seminars at all of the events. Of course, there will be plenty of great gear on hand as well, much of which is designed for use in ice climbing in particular.
This is pretty much a definitive list of all the top ice climbing festivals in North America, where a lot of great action will be taking place in the next few months. Ouray is kind of the grand-daddy of them all, and it gets underway tomorrow and runs through the weekend. Anyone going?
- Gear Review: The Xero Scrambler Mid is an Ultralight Hiking Shoe for Spring - March 1, 2023
- Gear Review: Yeti Roadie 48 Wheeled Cooler - August 18, 2022
- Kristin Harila Continues Pursuit of 8000-Meter Speed Record - August 16, 2022
Outdoor Research has great gear and are really easy to work with. The Mithril Jacket for Men and Ladies have to be one of our favorite jackets at All Mountain Access, the Furio jacket is great also! You can check out some more of their gear at http://www.myallmountainaccess.com.
I would love to make it to Ouray to check out the Ice Festival. I'm not a climber yet but it's something I've always been interested in trying out and this would be the place to do it.
I'm with you Kimberly. Not an ice climber, but I'd love to go and check out the Ouray Festival. Looks like it would be a lot of fun, with all kinds of things to do.