Ouray Rock and its vinicity

Page Type Page Type: Area/Range
Location Lat/Lon: 38.02322°N / 107.67218°W
Activities Activities: Hiking, Mountaineering, Trad Climbing, Sport Climbing, Toprope, Ice Climbing, Mixed, Scrambling
Seasons Season: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
Additional Information Elevation: 7872 ft / 2399 m
Sign the Climber's Log

Overview and Getting There

 
Busy traffic in Ouray
 

Ouray architecture
 
Ouray is a small town in the heart of Rocky Mountains, it is nicknamed the Switzerland of America because of its setting at the narrow head of a valley, enclosed on three and half sides by steep mountains. Ouray is a famous destination for ice climbers, and recently many new sport and trad routes have been developed in its vinicity. Although the rock is not the best, sometimes little loose, the town offers a large variety of climbs with amazing views of surrounding mountains.

The best guide book for the local climbs is Ouray Rock, the book is available at Ouray Mountain Sports for 18$.

Ouray was originally established by miners chasing silver and gold in the surrounding mountains. Prospectors arrived in the area in 1875. The town is named after Chief Ouray of the Utes, a Native American tribe. By 1877 Ouray had grown to over 1000 in population and was named county seat of the Ouray County. The entirety of Main St. is registered as a National Historic District with most of the buildings dating back to the late nineteenth century. The entire present day economy of Ouray is based on tourism. In the summer, much of the tourism is focused on hiking and four wheel drive expeditions into the San Juan Mountains. Ouray has also become a popular destination for motorcyclist. Ouray is the winter ice climbing capital of the U.S. The world's first ice climbing park consists of waterfalls from 80 to 200 feet high along more than a mile of the Uncomphagre Gorge. It started first on natural waterfalls, but now more water is supplied by a sprinkler system developed and maintained by a volunteer organization and supported by donations from local businesses, gear manufacturers and climbers.
Ouray is a small mountain town, as of the census in 2000, there were 813 people.


MAP
Main Street
Map of the areaMap of the area
Ouray Main StreetOuray Main Street




The closest airport would be in Montrose, 40 miles north, Montrose can be expensive to fly to. Grand Junction, about 100 miles north, offers usually cheaper flights.
The Million Dollar Highway going south towards Silverton, and then to Durango is very scenic, offering great views of the mountains. Another nice drive is north towards Ridgeway, and then west in Ridgeway towards Telluride.

Brief information about climbing areas

Cliff
Elevation in ft.
Rock Type
Sport/Trad/Mixed
Approach Time
Comments
Rotary Park
7700
SandstoneSport, Mixed
10 sec
Great family place, picnic tables
Pool Wall
7900
Metamorphic SandstoneSport, Trad, Mixed
5-15 min
Close to the hot springs!
Sandias
7900
SandstoneSport, Trad, and Mixed
5-25 min
Great views of Ouray below
Overlook
8000
LimestoneSport
10-25 min
Routes mostly 5.10 to 5.12 range
Camp Bird Boulders
8700
Volcanic tuffBouldering
seconds
Right next to the Camp Bird road
Engineer Pass Turn-off
9500
QuartziteTrad
10-15 min
Alpine climbing, great views
Chimney Peak
11781
ConglomerateTrad
1-1.5 hrs
Nice summit, amazing views!

The Rotary Park

 
The Rotary Park
 
Family style climbing at its finest! says the Ouray Rock Climbing Guide by Jason Nelson. It offers many safe, easily accessible, one-pitch climbs starting at 5.4 (great place to climb with kids). It is far enough of the road, so the dogs and kids won't get run over in traffic. It offers a nice shade in the summer, public toilets (which were locked during my 2 visits), and picnic tables.

Directions: From Ouray, go north on US Hwy 550 towards Ridgeway 1 mile. Look for the hockey rink on the right and turn into Rotary Park. Park by the big wall of red sandstone. Approach time: seconds. Look for a handful of short, well protected sport climbs (some are mixed).

The Pool Wall

 
8,9,10 - 5.10a
 
Directions: Just north of Ouray across from the hot springs pool. Park at the Pool, but on the opposite site of the springs (just a pull off) and walk up to the gate. There is a NO TRESSPASSING sign. The land owner is allowing climbers to use the approach trail, which is in excellent condition and easy to follow. Approach times range from 5 to 15 minutes.
The Pool Wall area has severa sections: The Alcove, The Bay of Pigs, The Wading Pool, The Deep End, The Upper Wall, and The Backyard. Sport climbing area.

The Sandias

 
Dihedral Wall
 
Great climbing - feels almost like inside the town. The views of Ouray below are amazing.
Directions: From town, drive west on 7th Ave and take a left at it's end. Drive up the hill and take a right on Queen St. Park in the small area. Hike up the road. At the top of the road go right to the Old Twin Peaks trailhead. The trail is nice and easy to follow, and it will bring you to several good climbing spots. You can even walk from town, it will maybe add 5 to 10 minutes to the approach time.
Dihedral Wall - with several routes from 5.6 to 5.12, all bolted, single pitch climbs. See photo on the left more information.
Grey Matter Wall - the wall starts just as the trail turns corner into Oak Creek Canyon. The rock is gray colored sandstone. Most of these routes are traditional with occasional bolts. Bolt of tree anchors are at the top of the routes. All routes are about 25-30 meter long, single pitch, and have funny medical names, like Cerebellum corner, Medula, Oblongata etc.
Sendero Luminoso is a nice 9 pitch climb in the Sandias.

The Overlook

 
Right hand man 5.10d
 
Directions: Drive south of Ouray on Highway 550. After the first switchback, take a right towards Yankee Boy Basin and Camp Bird Mine. Drive 0.4 miles and park on the south side of the road. Follow a small trail to the east, soon you will be rewarded with nice views of the town of Ouray.
Most climbs at the Overlook are 5.10s and higher up rating. The area is sport climbing with closely spaced bolts.

The Camp Bird Boulders

 
The Camp Bird Boulders
 
The Camp Bird Boulders are a type of volcanic ash called welded tuff. The area is undeveloped, so no official bouldering guide available yet. However, you will find some marks of climbers using the area, e.g chalk, or a little trail around the boulders.
Directions: Head south on Hwy 550 from Ouray. After the 1st switchback, turn right onto Camp Bird Road. You will see obvious boulders after about 10 min of driving on your right side (see photo - it shows an obvious turn off into the bouldering area).

Engineer Pass Turnoff

 
finished and
 
Directions: Drive south on Hwy 550 from Ouray. After going through the tunnel, past Bear Creek and Horsetail falls, park where the Engineer Pass and the Alpine Loop exit Hwy 550 on the left. Hike up about 200 meters up the Engineer Pass road, and ascend a gully/drainage to the base of the climb. Approach time: 10 to 15 minutes. There are several climbs here. I climbed only Lighline 5.6R - please see the attached route description. Lighline

Waterfall Wall

 
Tyrolean Traverse
Tyrolean Traverse
The Waterfall Wall is located just above the waterfall on Uncompahgre River gorge, 5 miles south of Ouray, right off Million Dollar Higway. The wall features several climbs, I have done only 2 climbs in this area. The approach is short and involves a tyrolean traverse across the river. The climbs are bolted. The rock is quartzite and not very loose. Princess Ella's Magical Adventure

Chimney Peak

 
Chimney Rock
 
Directions: from Ouray go North on Hwy 550 past Ridgeway a couple of miles then take a right to Owl Creek pass (there is an obvious sign for turn off). Go over the Owl Creek pass (you will be seeing Chimney peak along the way). Pass the Owl Creek pass, take right towards West Fork, after about a mile turn on a short dirt road right (this road ends, and you have to park here). The Chimney peak is nicely visible from the parking area.
Approach time: about 1 to 1.5 hrs. It is a traditional climb, the rock is good, and it is rated 5.6 (3 long pitches, sometimes broken into 4). There are fixed anchors on climb.
Photoalbum
SP route description
SP rock description

Red Tape

There are no fees. All climbing and parking is free.
The best source of information is at local climbing shop - Ouray Mountain Sports (see the link below).

I will keep adding more climbs and photos to this site as I get to climb them. Thank you for visiting.

External Links

Weather

Click for Ouray, Colorado Forecast


Children

Children

Children refers to the set of objects that logically fall under a given object. For example, the Aconcagua mountain page is a child of the 'Aconcagua Group' and the 'Seven Summits.' The Aconcagua mountain itself has many routes, photos, and trip reports as children.