It’s Our 30th Anniversary!

30th annual ouray ice festival: january 23rd - 26th, 2025

Our annual Ouray Ice Festival, which is our largest fundraising event of the year, spans three days and four nights every January, transforming the town of Ouray into an ice climbing mecca with people from around the world gathering to celebrate the sport of ice climbing.

During the day, you might find yourself in a climbing clinic taught by elite athletes from all over the world. You can wander the Vendor Village and demo gear from outdoor brands. You can even watch our mixed climbing competition in the Scottish Gullies!

At night, Fest-goers head into downtown Ouray for presentations and movies from some of the best climbers in the world. We even have a huge dance party every Saturday night, the Petzl Party, which has a reputation of its own.

Check Out Ice Fest

Every dollar made during ice fest goes directly towards funding the operational costs of the Ouray Ice Park.

Schedule of Events

Every year, Fest kicks off on a Thursday evening with presentations and parties! The Vendor Village officially opens the next day, and Fest goers can participate in everything from climbing clinics, gear demos, fireside chats with pro climbers, competition viewing, and so much more, all within the Ice Park. Friday evening we have happy hours, presentations, and/or movies. Saturday is another full-day in the park, with another evening of presentations and the infamous Petzl Party! Sunday we spend our last hours in the Ice Park together and all events and climbing clinics wrap up at 1pm.

Our event schedule for 2025 will be released by the end of November.

CLINICS

Ice Fest clinics begin the Monday before Ice Fest and run a full week, both in the backcountry and within the Ice Park. Pro climbers fly in from all over the world to teach various skills to every level of climber. Four local guiding companies provide our climbing clinics: San Juan Mountain Guides, Basecamp Ouray, Mountain Trip, and Skyward Mountaineering. $40 dollars of every clinic registration is donated back to the Ouray Ice Park to help us fundraise.

Clinic registration will begin December 9th, 2024.

*Please go to the clinics page to preview the clinics. You will be able to click a link for that particular clinic and you will be rerouted to the clinic provider’s website to register.

Gear Cards & All Access Passes

In order to enjoy different aspects of Ice Fest, we sell two different types of passes so you can demo gear and attend events!

Demo Gear Cards allow you to demo gear from our sponsors in the Vendor Village to utilize within the Ice Park. Our sponsors bring the latest in ice climbing and mountaineering equipment, boots, and apparel.

All Access Passes allow you into all Ice Fest events, and include a complimentary Demo Gear Card.

Passes will go on sale on our website on December 2nd, 2024.

competition

At Ice Fest, we hold climbing competitions in the Scottish Gullies right next to the Vendor Village. This past season we hosted the UIAA Ice Climbing Continental Open and had over 50 competitors in multiple categories come to Ouray to compete!

More information and the application form for the 2025 competition will be provided by the end of November.

online Auction

Before Ice Fest even begins, our online auction is in full swing! From vintage park signage to gear, apparel, art, and experiences, we have something for everyone. All proceeds go to our operational costs so we can keep building a free park!

Auction begins January 17th at 9am MST and ends January 27th at 11pm MST.

volunteering

It takes a village to run Ice Fest, and each year we see over 130 volunteers come out to help us pull it off! We offer various shifts from groundskeeping, to belaying, to working the door at evening events. Volunteers who complete one shift will receive swag.

Register

Press Passes

We invite all photographers, videographers, content creators, and journalists to help us capture Ice Fest! From climbing clinics with world famous athletes, to parties with fire and ice, and a climbing competition taking place on a massive piece of plywood hung over a cliff, the experiences at Ice Fest are one-of-a-kind.

All press must register to film at Ice Fest. Press Passes will go on sale December 2nd, 2024.

Shuttles

We offer a free shuttle service within the town of Ouray up to the Ice Park during Ice Fest. These shuttles run Friday through Sunday.

For 2025, we will have a map of pickup locations and pickup times available for Fest goers ahead of the event.

Rec Climbing

We have almost 100 clinics running in the Ice Park during Ice Fest. We leave a few areas of the park open to recreational climbers each year, but please be aware - Ice Fest is BUSY. If you are not in a clinic and just want to recreationally climb, please get to the Ice Park first thing in the morning to set up your anchors.

Every January before Fest begins we put out a map of all areas of the park open to recreational climbers so you don’t run in to any clinics.