Southfork Vacation (Cody)

[Knuckles]

I live in the Midwest and have not yet been to Cody. Is it really like a small chunk of Canada dropped into NW Wyoming? Why don't we see any stories/photos in the mags if this is truly a "world class area"?

[Ryan]

It's good and it's not too crowded. You'll dig it...come on up to Bozeman and check out Hyalite Canyon as well; come mid-November, the majority of the routes in Hyalite should be formed.

[jshamster]

Can't remember the name, but Joe Josephson has a new, and supposedly comprehensive, guide to Montana and Northern Wyoming. Cody, Hyalite, etc. If it's anything like his Canadian Rockies guide, it'll be top notch.

 

Cheers, Jimbo

[mike_m]

The book is called Winter Dance, it was supposed to ship on the 22nd and be available tomorrow. I know both Feathered Friends and the Mounties bookstore have copies on order.

[JayB]

Check www.coldfear.com for conditions info.

 

The potential there is amazing - but I wouldn't expect to get more than one route a day in. I went there in late March last year during a freakish warm spell an everything was collapsing - but what I saw looked great, however - if your goal is mileage at trip to Ouray might be the way to go.

 

Bring the pepper spray and/or 12-gauge if you are hitting the valley early or late in the season.

[JoJo]

The new guide is called, "Winter Dance: Select Ice Climbs in Southern Montana & Northern Wyoming" will be available next week (firstascentpress.com). It features 100 Cody routes with almost 10,000 vertical meters of ice climbing in the South Fork.

 

Our government, in their infinite wisdom, seems to think the new guide is a threat to national security and ordered it to sit in port for an extra week. It is now scheduled to arrive on the 26th and thus should will be available in stores by the end of the week.

 

There will be an article about the history of ice climbing in the South Fork in the December 1 issue of "Gripped" magazine. There have been a number of other articles written about Cody over the years with a cool photo essay appearing in Rock & Ice a few years ago. And from 1994 to about 2000 there was a significant contingent of traveling ice climbers from Canada, Montana and Utah that would "Gather" there. The February Ice Roundup (southforkice.com) is now attracting a few hundred climbers.

 

The main reason its not in the spotlight is that be that it's pretty far from anywhere populated. Also, the rock in the area is best described as kitty litter and there is little mixed climbing. With the media winds blowing towards the latest and hardest M routes, Cody gets overlooked. It is truly the land of hard water ice. Despite what many people think, the magazines only print what they are given. Epic approaches, capped by long routes, some of the best ice pitches in the world and not getting eaten by a grizzly are the experiences found there. Unlike Colorado and Canada, not too many people are tromping around the South Fork thinking about how they can get into the latest "Hot Flashes."

 

Go there. It's awesome. The climbing has already started in a few limited areas (Carter Mountain). It has been perfect weather patterns thus far and is looking to be a banner year. If temps stay mild there will be good routes to do by mid-November and most years you can climb there until mid April. Of course, "freakish" warm spells can hit anywhere at anytime and that's just bad luck.

 

The biggest problem many climbers have had over the years in the South Fork is most things are invisible from the road. I've driven down that valley many times thinking nothing is there but, in any year there will be over 150 pitches to do. In a good year close to 300. By describing the area in detail for the first time, the whole goal Todd Cozzens and I had with including Cody in the new guide was to give climbers more success in finding pitches.

 

And I respectfully disagree about finding more miles in Ouray. Go to the top of Mean Green or Smooth Emerald Milkshake and you'll do more feet of ice than three average days in Box Canyon. I will admit though, there are no real beginner or top-rope areas like Ouray, Genesis in Hyalite Canyon, or the Canmore Junkyards. If you can climb well in the South Fork, you can climb well anywhere.

 

Pray for an arctic front,

JoJo

[Knuckles]

Thanks for the beta.. Especially to JoJo. I've already been to the Land of "Radans", Utah, Montana and the Great White North and I'm searching for the steepest icicles that I can find.

 

How about a hit list of long routes and rad pillars available in Cody.