This past weekend, my girlfriend and I made a quick trip up to Cody, Wyoming for their annual Cody Ice Climbing Festival. Despite the warm temperatures, the festival went on and there was still plenty of climbing (both ice and rock, it turns out) to be had.
Being new to the sport, I did a beginner’s clinic, all of which took place in the South Fork of the Shoshone River Canyon. Our approach to the falls being quite a bit steeper and more rugged than I was expecting. A few spots had me a little nervous, but our guide seemed to know exactly where he was going so I continued on with everyone else to our destination, a route named Wake and Bake.
Though warm, the waterfall was still well suited for a beginner. It had one or two short, but completely vertical segments, with the rest of it being slightly inclined, ideal for beginners.
We had two top ropes set up, one route being a little trickier than the other. My first attempt was up the harder route and proved that my technique was completely wrong since my legs felt fine, but my hands turned to jelly, preventing me from finishing. After a rest and giving the others their turns, I tried the easier route, and ascended much easier with an improved technique, but soon discovered my calf muscles weren’t ready for the entire ascent up. I had a lot of fun, but clearly need to do it more to be able to truly enjoy it as much as I can.
That night, my girlfriend and I left the fest to go camping in the Bighorn Basin, an area that I’m quite fond of and that I believe deserves significantly more protection than it currently has. I was hoping for clear skies since I still haven’t been able to do any night photography out there, but as we found a place to camp, clouds were already rolling in with an incoming winter storm.
Morning brought the clouds of that storm beginning to break up, leaving the badlands and the Bighorn Basin lit with dramatic light, the distant desert mountains sprinkled with a light dusting of snow. I got a few shots of what I could before the bitterly cold wind left my fingers numb. We soon got everything packed up (more like hastily thrown in the car), and then headed back for Jackson.