Spring 2025
Chasing the Ice
The art of climbing frozen waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park.
Frozen waterfalls are an ephemeral phenomenon found in bitterly cold mountain gullies. Most people are happy just to admire the ice, which can resemble wavy sheets of plastic or heads of cauliflower or glistening chandeliers or a thousand candles all melted together. But the formations are more than eye candy for a small subset of adventurers — ice climbers. They see the shimmering walls as playgrounds where they can test their physical, mental and technical skills, using gear as sharp as the dagger-like icicles that hang all around them as they carefully move skyward.
A NATIONAL PURSUIT
Last year, I took two trips to Yellowstone National Park to photograph ice climbers. In late November, I traveled to Cooke City, just outside the park, for the annual ice-climbing event “Cookeout,” which brings together novice and expert climbers for clinics and festivities. I ran into Alex Shafer, a student at Montana State University, and he and his climbing partner, Jay Alford, were kind enough to let me tag along and photograph them on Park Gate, a climb near the Northeast Entrance. On my second trip, just before the holidays, I joined Baldwin Goodell, a college buddy and longtime adventure companion, and Whit Magro, a friend of his. Many of the park’s ice formations were still too thin to climb, but others were stout enough for their ice tools and ice screws. They ended up scaling a multi-pitch series of icy pillars on the shady side of Abiathar Peak and Plumb, near the park’s eastern edge, named for its extreme verticality. They also hit Rocketman, an alcove east of Cooke City that we reached by snowmobile.
I hadn’t ice climbed in decades, but I realized that the only way to capture images of Whit and Baldwin on the second pitch of the Abiathar Peak ascent was to get on the ice myself, so I dusted off my gear and followed them upward. At Plumb, in search of a top-down angle, I scrambled up an ice-free gully adjacent to the climb, anchored a rope and rappelled down to shoot Whit in action.
When I lived in Bozeman, Montana, in my 20s, routes like the ones in Yellowstone were right in my backyard, and I rock climbed a lot and ice climbed a little. Life (and jobs and kids) subsequently took me away to Idaho, where I turned to river rafting and kayaking because good climbing spots were no longer easy to reach. But inching up that frozen pillar, swinging ice axes, feeling my big muscle groups work and trying to keep my composure, I realized how much I had missed the sport, and I was struck by a yearning to one day call myself a climber again.
Near the top of the aptly named Plumb, a steep formation near Yellowstone National Park’s eastern border, Whit Magro pauses to rest and shake out his arm. He almost gave up partway through the climb, concerned that the south-facing ice wall was too thin, but he found a line where he could twist in some solid ice screws and persevered. To get this shot, the photographer rappelled down an adjacent gully.
©CRAIG WOLFROM
Reaching some of the park’s best ice climbing routes requires a fair bit of backcountry traversing.
©CRAIG WOLFROM
A frozen waterfall in Yellowstone National Park. The ice can take many forms, according to the photographer, resembling “wavy sheets of plastic or heads of cauliflower or glistening chandeliers or a thousand candles all melted together.”
©CRAIG WOLFROM
Rope management is a critical component of climbing, whether on ice or rock.
©CRAIG WOLFROM
Ice climbing is often done in pairs, with the lead climber inserting the ice screws to secure a route and the second climber serving as the belayer before following behind to remove the gear.
On Rocketman, Magro used so-called dry tools to climb up a rock wall before transitioning to the ice.
©CRAIG WOLFROM
Magro ascends a frozen waterfall on the shady side of Abiathar Peak in the northeast corner of Yellowstone.
©CRAIG WOLFROM
One day in the park, the photographer pulled into a parking space near a park peak so he could scan the mountain for ice climbers. He asked a couple looking through their binoculars whether they were searching for ice climbers, too. The expressions on their faces made it clear that they were there for the wildlife. Wolfrom gestured to the hanging ice daggers on the south face of the mountain while the couple pointed out some goats relaxing on a shelf above a cliff. The takeaway: Yellowstone is an amazing place, with something for everyone.
©CRAIG WOLFROM
Baldwin Goodell finishes the second pitch of an ice-climbing route on Abiathar Peak.
©CRAIG WOLFROM
Walking back to the car after a long day of defying gravity.
©CRAIG WOLFROMNear the top of the aptly named Plumb, a steep formation near Yellowstone National Park’s eastern border, Whit Magro pauses to rest and shake out his arm. He almost gave up partway through the climb, concerned that the south-facing ice wall was too thin, but he found a line where he could twist in some solid ice screws and persevered. To get this shot, the photographer rappelled down an adjacent gully.
©CRAIG WOLFROMReaching some of the park’s best ice climbing routes requires a fair bit of backcountry traversing.
©CRAIG WOLFROMA frozen waterfall in Yellowstone National Park. The ice can take many forms, according to the photographer, resembling “wavy sheets of plastic or heads of cauliflower or glistening chandeliers or a thousand candles all melted together.”
©CRAIG WOLFROMRope management is a critical component of climbing, whether on ice or rock.
©CRAIG WOLFROMIce climbing is often done in pairs, with the lead climber inserting the ice screws to secure a route and the second climber serving as the belayer before following behind to remove the gear.
On Rocketman, Magro used so-called dry tools to climb up a rock wall before transitioning to the ice.
©CRAIG WOLFROMMagro ascends a frozen waterfall on the shady side of Abiathar Peak in the northeast corner of Yellowstone.
©CRAIG WOLFROMOne day in the park, the photographer pulled into a parking space near a park peak so he could scan the mountain for ice climbers. He asked a couple looking through their binoculars whether they were searching for ice climbers, too. The expressions on their faces made it clear that they were there for the wildlife. Wolfrom gestured to the hanging ice daggers on the south face of the mountain while the couple pointed out some goats relaxing on a shelf above a cliff. The takeaway: Yellowstone is an amazing place, with something for everyone.
©CRAIG WOLFROMBaldwin Goodell finishes the second pitch of an ice-climbing route on Abiathar Peak.
©CRAIG WOLFROMWalking back to the car after a long day of defying gravity.
©CRAIG WOLFROMAbout the author
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Craig Wolfrom ContributorCraig Wolfrom is an adventure seeker who captures still images and writes about his climbing, skiing and whitewater exploits. In 2024, his National Parks magazine article, "From Peak to Sea," was a finalist in the service and lifestyle category of the American Society of Magazine Editors Awards for Design, Photography and Illustration. Craig lives in Hailey, Idaho.
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