Fans of ice climbing were not the only ones cheering at the Ouray Ice Festival last weekend. The state’s bosses of tourism and outdoor recreation were watching closely as thousands gathered in Ouray’s famed ice park, a rally supported by an unprecedented wave of grants designed to pull the community back from the pandemic. And […]
Uncompahgre River
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outsider
A 120-year-old water tunnel beneath the mountains is the Uncompahgre Valley’s lifeline. We went inside.
MONTROSE — After more than a half-hour splashing through the dank dark of one of the world’s longest irrigation tunnels, Dennis Veo grins in the sunshine showering the cliffs of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. “The guys who did this were dang sharp,” says Veo, the operations manager of the Uncompahgre Valley Water […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Culture, Environment, News, Politics and Government
“A big year” for Olathe sweet corn as pickers pluck first ears of the season
OLATHE — The sun’s first rays are spilling over Jumbo Mountain when the team clambers aboard the sprawling corn harvester. John Harold joins the pickers as they twist his “Olathe Sweet” sweet corn from the stalks. It’s barely 6 a.m. and the first harvest of the season is underway for the nationally celebrated ears. It’s […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Outdoors, Water
Ouray’s iconic ice park has a plan for its future that could be a blueprint for other troubled Western wonders
OURAY — The glassy tentacles of blue ice are ready. The cantilevered finish line — with some American Ninja-type obstacles to challenge the world’s top ice climbers — teeters over the edge of the frigid Uncompahgre Gorge. Not only is Ouray and its ice park ready for this weekend’s 24th running of its celebrated ice […]