Part 1.

Hi, everybody!

This winter I seem to be one of those few lucky ice-climbers able to cast a pinch of salt on winter's tail and climb excellent mixed terrain, including not only naked rocks, but also is a lot of ice!

Here, in Ouray , Colorado , the temperature on the day of my arrival (5.01), fell below -23С and the snowfall had blocked the most part of roads.

All that surprise had been lasted for a week before my arrival and two days more after! Then it became warmer again (up to negative 4-5С of light frost in the shade and up to 5C in the sun) that created some risk of danger collapse for this local ice-climbing paradise! To tell the truth, on January 11 things straightened out, the Arctic storm fell upon Colorado having brought a lot of snow and record temperatures (up to -40С in places!). Well, the sportsmen and spectators will have a gruelling time during the Saturday finals of competitions Ouray Ice Festival!

I really don't have a lot of time to write about the event as there is a turn of interested persons crowded round me here wishing for the "web" access. I would like only to state only my feelings of delight for these some the days that I spent in Ouray. It's the truly unique place, and I think it's the one place in the world for today where there are so many opportunities for amateurs of ice-climbing to take pleasure of cool ice and mixed lines.

In Ouray Ice Parc there are more than 150 ice and mixed routes located only in 5 minutes of walking from the city center that makes "ice-climbing" here real pleasure. In fact for you do not need to get a car to reach the climbing area (as, for example, in Canmore, there the lines can be spaced in from 50 up to 140 km from the city) exhausting hours of approaches and a heap of superfluous things and equipment which usually you take just in case - only 5 minutes of walking from your hotel room!

Of course, if on your choice to climb the real ice-falls that generously spread around you should have a long way up to them.

I can liken Ouray to Arco, the well-known Italian town where you can meet a lot of rock-climbers in the streets, but here - a lot of ice-climbers!

The most interesting fact that all the ice in Ouray Ice Parc is of artificial structure. Many years ago the local climbers and municipality of the city decided to turn Ouray into an ice-climbing center and pipelined about 1km along the narrow rocky gorge! And now every year, in December, they need just to start up water and through tens sprays it covers the gorge with shining ice crust of any shape and thickness you want.

Ouray also is well-known for the Festival and competitions have been running here every year in January for 11 years. The cream of ice-climbing society from America and a lot of European sportsmen usually gather here. This time it's the 12th festival, and I am very glad that at last I found an opportunity and time to arrive here.

After the first two days of competitions - qualification on a mixed line М10, I meanwhile is the first though did not get the top and fell right before the last quickdraw from an ice cornice (to climb no hooking the tools with my feet, legs, or ass and hanging on only my hands and with the tools not intended for such work appeared too hard).

And the final route is ahead now!

I would like to wish all fans of ice climbing to find it this winter!

Part 2. Final

Yesterday the final line bent only to my will. Well, the day is ours! The final line - was of 45 meters and began from a very narrow deep gorge where the participants had rappelled and waited in the wings to start climbing.

First - 25 meters of ice, then 15 meters of rather unreliable mixed terrain with hard visible edges, and finally, for the last bit, a site of five-meter and 45-degree artificial hanging appeared the hardest.

I managed to find my way of making some long, difficult moves on the verge of falling that made me the winner!

Then, far into the night there was an afterparty and I got a lot of sincere congratulations from many people really supported and were my fans.

The Canadian Rich Marshal from Canmore became the second and Maks Gilbert from Quibec , Canada , - the third.

The cup for the first place looked like a cold steel and enough frightening was so great, that I had to register it as my luggage because most likely they would have not let me to take it aboard.

Tomorrow I will leave home and at once head on my car to Italian Daone (I have only a day and a half to be on time at World Cup!)

Good climbing on everything!