Last weekend I decided to turn 30 and take a trip up to Cody, WY with Chris. Although the forecast was a little warm, we had faith that Cody would still deliver, and it did. The combination of huge ice routes and minimal crowds make Cody one of the more appealing ice climbing destinations around. Also, the environment tends to lend itself to some fairly adventurous outings.

After a brief and somewhat humorous run in with the law, we made it to our motel shortly after midnight. We got up the next day and climbed the mega classic Mean Green. It proved to be a pretty long day, with some hard (for us) climbing, a somewhat sketchy descent, and some route finding issues on the hike out. Nonetheless, it was probably the best ice climb I’ve ever done, so well worth the effort. We didnt get back to the motel until around 11:00, and after a microwave dinner, an early start the next day was basically out of the question. Instead we decided on a leisurely start, and a climb of Stringer.

Although located in a dark cleft, the route is still on a south facing aspect. Unfortunately, the warm temps had melted out a significant portion of the climb. This was a bit of a mixed blessing, as we were pretty worn out from the day before. We spent the afternoon driving around and looking at various ice climbs, before returning to the motel for a nap and some BBQ dinner.

Day 3 we hoped to climb the classic Moratorium on the lower bench. One of the longest continuous flows in the valley, and rarely as fat as this year, this seemed like an obvious objective. On the approach, we noticed the climb looking a lot harder and thinner than it had the day before, so we opted instead to head up to Bozo’s revenge. It turns out, the climb we were seeing on the approach was not actually moratorium, but Joy After Pain, a much more difficult line. Moratorium was out of view around the corner. Still, Bozo’s proved to offer some classic moderate climbing, with an excellent 50m long main pitch.