Ice Climbers Take Simmon's Cliff

The river cliffs and chilly air west of Smith Falls echoed with “Take rope!”, “Climbing!”, and “On belay!” on Monday and Tuesday of last week as climbers from Kansas, New Jersey, and Colorado converged on the world class ice of the Niobrara. These 180 foot cliffs are deeply encased from top-to-river in pristine Sandhills groundwater that seeps continuously from the top of the Ogalala formation, exposed just below the topsoil by the precipice. Cold weather and the north-facing shade of the wall promotes steady development of the ice formations from early November through March. The ice cliffs have been steadily gaining notoriety and appreciation for their extreme exposure, significant sustained height, and easy access. The spectacular cliff system is located on Lee Simmon’s Niobrara River Ranch, 20 miles east of Valentine. Lee requires climbers to complete a liability release prior to climbing and rents luxury log home accommodations at off-season rates to encourage the activity. Simmons collaborates with Yucca Dune to promote the activity, and plans to offer a ice climbing rendezvous in future years to bring additional tourism traffic to the county through the winter months. A non-climbing face in the crowd was Nebraska’s Tourism Director, Christian Hornbaker, who brought a professional photographer to capture the activity on film. For more information about ice climbing, contact Yucca Dune at 376-3330 (www.yuccadune.com) or Niobrara River Ranch at niobrarariverranch.com.