Farming Ice in Boulder County

Hey,

I just came back from a neighborhood party and some older climbers were telling me how they use to farm ice in Boulder Canyon in the narrows. They did 2-3 pitch routes near vampire rock!!!!

I guess you can buy water for this (they have some weird unit). Does anyone know anything about this?

Kevin

"Some Older Climbers"...........

Geeze it didn't seem too long ago that the ice farming was tried......

It's kind of a dead horse....................

Just keep going to parties and asking around to the old folks they will tell you the stories....

Jim,

I did not mean any disrespect or anything by saying "older climbers".
I guess I should have said, climbers with much more experience and knowledge than myself. It was a bad choice of words on my part.

Anyways can you give me the scoop on what and when the attempt was made on farming ice?

Kevin

The infamous farming took place about ten years ago, pre-drought.

Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.
-Mark Twain

Mark Scott-Nash wrote a bit about it in the Daily Camera last year.. I just googled to find the article... had to sign into the website, but here it is...

Scott-Nash: Impediments to ice climbing in Boulder

dailycamera.com/news/2007/j…

Funny how people respond to the article about traffic the climbers make .... I live 1 mile from Castlerock and climb during the week and barely ever see anyone else especially in the winter.

OK, if one was to farm ice in the canyon, what is the best spot? I will ask my neighbor about rights for this since he operates the watershed and Barker dam.

Kevin

mebbing wrote:Mark Scott-Nash wrote a bit about it in the Daily Camera last year.. ... Impediments to ice climbing in Boulder

Civilians vs Ice Climbers??

Well, I always knew my tools were weapons!

OK,

I talked with a watershed guy and they do not care, they will put a tap on the pipeline with a meter and lease the water out. The problem I guess is with Boulder open space so .... if you had private property I think you would have no problems.

Kevin

I live on a flat property but most people have 5 acre lots that go all the way down to the canyon.

West of boulder falls, a person who is pretty cool owns all the land ... I will talk with James (the one mentioned above) who is a neighbor also and see what is up.

Kevin

Go Coopman!!

Back in (2004?) we talked about tapping, and even had a few plans. Culp had some good ideas that were submitted, before the commission nixed the plans - might want to talk to him at his shop.

I can see two big potential problems to farming ice on north side of the canyon.

First, it's too sunny.

Second, all of the runoff has to cross the highway to drain into the creek. I don't think CDOT would appreciate that.

Keep brainstorming, though. I would love to see farmed ice return to Boulder and maybe some fresh ideas could resolve the current impasse.

yup, it was about 97. the Access Fund hosted a public meeting at BRC, and about 75 people showed up. James Castro strung some hoses and made a veritable playground for the hearty. yup, the bolt drillers at Vampire had heartburn about ice over-top their installations. it was a couple great years of sick routes. some yahoo's got into an ice axe fight over something. Public Service yanked the hoses, and fixed the cracks in the pipe. then sold the operation. about a half dozen dedicated souls formed the Boulder Ice Climbers Collition (BICC). we had many monthly meetings that included lawyers and tryed to hash out an honest approach. it didnt fly. have at it young man. its better to ask for forgiveness, than it is for permission.