Oh Shit! What are we to do? No easy top ropes within a 5 min walk from the car? No retreat to the hot tub if it got too cold in the canyon? Would we HAVE to pack a lunch?!? WOULD WE DIE?
We thought long and hard (4 seconds), and then decided to man up, buy some ice screws, and hit the "real" ice. It ended up being a super fun trip in the end. Much more adventure than rolling up to the ice park, climbing all day, and rolling back to the hotel. The climbs that we did, we earned. I'm hooked!
We did alot of walking around (them San Juans is BEAUTI-FUL!) to look for ice. Ended up on some routes, no idea what they were called, or rated. Even did some dry tooling! Mostly a rock-type-of-guy, I think I could really get used to these huge hooks on my hands! Maybe the novelty wears off, but I doubt it.
Bottom line: The ice is IN if you want it. So go climb it!
Here are the photos: