Infrastructure Milestones: More Ice, More Terrain

Infrastructure

Last September, we received all of our 6-inch pipe for our new water pipeline. This pipeline will extend from the confluence of Canyon Creek and the Uncompahgre River, located off the Box Canyon Road near 3rd Avenue, all the way up to our valve vault at the Upper Bridge near Dick’s Chalet. In October, we began excavating the trench that will hold this pipeline, and we successfully buried 2,100 feet of pipe along the Box Canyon Road from Canyon Creek to the Powder House. We also buried new fiber optic cable for local internet provider Clearnetworx, which not only saved us over $50,000 dollars in construction costs, but will also allow us to connect to their internet and monitor our water flow remotely and more accurately than ever before.

In November, our Ice Farmers placed all the yelomine pipe and spray head plumbing infrastructure that will be a part of our new pipeline. Our farmers were able to utilize this added infrastructure this past season, and brought back some historic climbing areas that included the Shit House and Gazebo Walls. They also expanded all the infrastructure in the new Two-Eyed Dog area.

The vertical turbine pump that will be installed in Canyon Creek arrived last fall. This pump will be located about 20 yards upstream from the confluence of Canyon Creek and the Uncompahgre River and will draw water from Canyon Creek and deliver it to the Ice Park through our pipeline. A 10-foot deep wet well needs to be excavated next, into which the vertical turbine pump and motor will be installed. The excavation of this wet well will happen either early this spring (before runoff begins) or this fall (when Canyon Creek should be at it’s lowest flow).

Currently we are working with San Miguel Power to get a plan in place to run power to this new pumping station, which required us to order a transformer. The transformer allows San Miguel Power to connect the vertical turbine pump in Canyon Creek into their electric grid. Although San Miguel will not be hooking up their power to our pump until late summer, there are still supply chain problems with the production of electrical transformers and it has not arrived yet.

This April, we will complete the excavation of the trench and finish burying the rest of the pipeline. The remaining excavation will begin where we left off behind the Powder House, and extend all the way up to the valve vault at the Upper Bridge. Our new pipeline will be connected to the valves in this vault. This vault controls the distribution of the water to the north and the south ends of the Ice Park. However, with this new pipeline, a larger vault will have to be constructed.

Fundraising

So far we have raised $950,000 dollars through generous contributions from philanthropic individuals, foundations, and donations. This February, we are aiming to raise $25,000 dollars through individual donations so we can acquire a challenge grant from the Western Colorado Community Foundation of $25k by the end of the month. That leaves us with $400,000 more dollars to raise to get this new system online by next season.

So please, support us this year so we can finish our water pipeline and bring you more ice and more terrain than you have ever experienced before! Thank you all for your continued support of the Ouray Ice Park and we will see you in the park!