December 1–10, 2023
I decided to head up to the Bozeman Ice Fest this year. It has been a couple years since I was there and I didn’t have any work responsibilities so I thought it would be a nice time to go. I opted to go up the weekend before and stay with Case. This allowed us to get some climbing in before the crowds arrived. I was able to work a bit during the week as well.
The fest was a great time. It is always good to meet up with friends and others in the community. The weather was a bit all over the place for the week I was there. The first weekend it was normal winter temps in the mid-20’s during the day up in the canyon. Mon-Wed it flipped and the temps were +50F in town. Then Thursday winter returned and Hyalite got ~8″ of snow in a few hours. Nate, Case and I were heading up towards Mummy 3/4 and opted to bail because of the blizzard. On Saturday the temps hit single digits in the Grotto Falls parking lot.
Case had a bit of a fall on Friday which required a slow walk out. His ankle got banged up and TBD on the exact diagnosis. I’m hoping he’ll be back in action in a month or two so there still a bit of season left to enjoy.