Hey, grab a cold one

“South FORK ice is the way vertical ice was meant to be,” writes veteran ice climber Don Foote Jr. “Straight up.” About 100 climbers will haul their gear to the remote South Fork Valley this weekend for the seventh annual Waterfall Ice Festival in Cody, Wyo. The area near the South Fork of the Shoshone River sports the highest concentration of frozen waterfalls outside of Alaska, organizers say. Climbers gather at the Boot & Bottle Club to carbo-load on beer and pancakes and then scoot out to tackle one of the more than 100 ice climbs with names like Moonrise and Better Than Golf. Foote touts “the friendliest little ice festival in the Northern Rockies” as a place where newcomers can try their hand at frosty floes while others can drop in just for the nightly entertainment. Foote, a carpenter and ranger at Yellowstone National Park, started the fest when he and his cohorts grew tired of ending a day of tough climbing with a tent full of wet gear and a pot of ramen. Now he spends nine months organizing every detail -- from hiring caterers to planning clinics by ice masters Dawn Glanc and Joe Josephson. Foote says climbers should come prepared for the altitude, which ranges from 6,000 feet to 11,000 feet. Last year a pair of Texans unused to thin air were wiped out after a two-hour jaunt to one of the waterfalls and never got a chance to climb. And he stresses safety. “I’m married and have a family now, so I don’t get as crazy as I used to,” says Foote. Still, that doesn’t squelch his desire to explore the valley’s waterfalls. “You don’t know what’s there until you get there,” he says. The cost is $25 per person; call (307)·527·4326 or go to www.southforkice.com.

-- Bonnie Obremski