CBMG Guide Kyle Mattingly has been frequenting the Lake City Ice Park this last week with some never-ever ice climbers.  These clients have joined us many a time for summer rock climbing, and decided to try out it’s winter counterpart.  Lake City Ice Park conditions are prime right now and it’s nice to have the slightly longer days to shed a little more light in town.  Check out these pictures from his trips.  We guide ice climbing at both the Lake City Ice Park as well as the world-renowned
Ouray Ice Park.
Here is a great shot of current conditions at the Lake City Ice Park.
San Antonio resident Josh Levine gives ice climbing a try. He’s psyched to try a multi-pitch route later on in the winter.
Kathy and Betty, who have climbed many times with us in the summer, venture into the cold prepared with down jackets. Once you get moving on the ice though, you sure don’t need that down jacket any more!Josh tops out on another climb. Kyle also joined fellow CBMG guide Steve Banks for a day of climbing in the Redstone area. Steve gets ready to climb the pillar. Kyle gets a turn on the pillar. Steve gettin’ ‘er done.
Our AMGA certified guides are chomping at the bit to take people ice climbing. Lake City Ice Festival is coming up too! Give us a call at 970-349-5430 to set up your ice climbing experience today!

Fellow CBMG Guide Mike Bromberg and I headed down to the Lake City Ice Park on Monday for some climbing and as always had an amazing day climbing. The park is in great shape with 11-4 being the ideal climbing times as you can belay in the sun! The Lake City Ice park is a great venue for a beginner to experienced winter climber with routes ranging from WI3-WI5+ and M4-M8. Keep in mind when climbing at the park to bring a good bit of webbing or a static line to set up top ropes. Keep checking the CBMG blog for updates and changing conditions another added benefit of hiring a CBMG guide is they know where the best ice is because they were out the day before climbing it!

–Kyle Mattingly (CBMG Guide)

The Gunnison Valley is often second to none when it comes to mountain conditions. Great powder skiing (actually, “quit your job great” as Jayson puts it) and even better ice climbing this week has the guide team absolutely psyched. Jayson and I are headed out skiing for the day, but for now check out this video of yesterday’s Introduction to Ice Climbing day down in the Lake City Ice Park. I am confident in saying that Lake City is the best place in the state to learn to ice climb!

Bill. Brian, Ron and I had a great day in the sunshine learning about the intricacies of ice climbing. We started the day off with an introduction to the equipment, followed by basic crampon footwork, ice tool usage, then spent the rest of the day refining our steep ice technique. This crew had a strong rock climbing background and all three demonstrated great ice technique by the end of the day. Check out the vid from yesterday at the Ice Park

There is still plenty of winter left to learn the fun and exciting sport of Ice Climbing with Crested Butte Mountain Guides. Drop us a line and we’ll get you climbing in no time!

Lake City Ice Park Fan and Crested Butte Mountain Guide,

Mike Bromberg