Stephen Koch

I had a great time at the 2009 Ouray Ice Festival and Competition.

This was the second year I competed and I am very pleased with my 5th place finish. Last year I did not make it into the finals. My success this year must have had a great deal to do with the weight of my outfit!

Photo Copyright Tommy Chandler / www.tommychandler.net

My strategy was to drop the few pounds of clothing to give myself an advantage. It must have worked because there were several of us who fell off the comp route in about same place.

I am thankful to my coaches, Rob Shaul and Dan Corn, at Mountain Athlete (www.mtnathlete.com), who helped me train for the comp. I worked hard in the cave and pretty much stopped the leg workouts, save for my instructing and guiding work, which was plentiful during the latter 2 weeks of December. I wanted to hang from my ice tools as much as possible, which was three times a week at 6 a.m. I am also thankful to all the other athletes at Mountain Athlete who were in at 6 a.m. for your love! Thanks for the motivation, psyche and support. It is so much easier for me to get fired up to workout with other folks, even if we are doing our own thing. Dan Corn had me doing multiple laps in the cave, working on figure 4′s and doing a fair amount of core in addition to shoulders. He had to throw an occasional sled push just for the fun of it!

The comp route was set by Vince Anderson and was of good quality, albeit a bit too difficult since nobody finished it. Josh Wharton, a who fought a good fight on it, ended up winning the comp despite falling near the end. He hung on a LONG time. Nice work Josh!

I gave a clinic on Friday morning at 9 a.m. on Anchors, which went well. It snowed hard for most of the three hours we were together, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time and learning! I had several interesting students from around the country. Their experience varied but all were able to learn and practice making an equalized two screw ice anchor and nobody was injured or killed!

David Stubbs, (www.davidstubbs.com) road tripped down with me for the event. David is a super affable, easy going guy who is an excellent and creative photographer. We were making pictures for Cloudveil, my clothing sponsor. David and I spent a bunch of time with Mark Beverly, (www.strikerescue.com) and Gordon McArthur (www.machavok.com), two Petzl athletes who were a hoot to hang with and who showed us some great moves in the Poser’s Lounge Cave up near Camp Bird.

Photo Copyright Stephen Koch

Photo – Stephen Koch

My roommate, who makes a mean fucking cup of coffee and always has good Single Malt Whiskey, Jack Roberts, (www.jackrobertsclimbing.com), is a treat to room with and was totally cool with David crashing on our floor. We stayed at the Victorian Inn, which recently was sold. I will be staying across the street next year at the Box Canyon Inn. The Vic is done in my mind…drains not working, hot tub was filthy, problem getting a room, the free breakfast…no milk, honey, peppermint tea, bowls, hot water yada yada yada…I wish the new owners success, but they will have to start taking care of the basics or they are going to lose all their longtime patrons.

An amazing dinner was had one evening by David and I at the Great little Italian place (can’t remember name!) with Dana Richardson from the American Alpine Club and her five fun and fine friends. The Outlaw is another great restaurant where David and I split a rack of ribs, had an outstanding beef soup and were taken care of by a lovely waitress who took pity on us, seeing we were very hungry and in need of food after our soak in Orvis, a truly excellent (clothing optional) hot springs 10 miles down the road form Ouray and very well worth a trip each and every year! The various pools at Orvis are all different with pebbles on the floor of the main pool, super hot pots, cooler ones with waterfalls, sauna, kitchen, massage yerts etc…well worth the $14! Guinness at O’Brien’s pub is good along with the Fish and Chips! Enjoy!