Broken Hearts has one of the more milder approaches in Cody. Allow 45 minutes. The gully is 3.4 miles from the Ishawooa Mesa Trailhead. Park by some cottonwood trees when you can see the first 2 pitches from the road. The route meanders in a gully and some short WI3 steps 5-20 feet high are encountered in between the main pitches, which are a short slog of 5-15 minutes. Pitches 6 & 7 (both WI6) are rarely formed. This is probably one of the longer ice routes in the lower 48 esp. if all pitches are in. Pitch 3 tends to be baked. In the 5th pitch amphitheatre the climb on the left is the Carotid Artery (M7 and/or WI6-FA Alex Lowe, Todd Cozzens, early 1990's) and the climb on the right, My Only Valentine, is the 5th pitch of Broken Hearts. Cheers! P1: WI3 P2: WI3 P3: WI3+ P4: WI3 P5: WI5 (My Only Valentine) P6: WI6 P7: WI6
Descent: Use V-Threads. Trees can be used to rap a few of the pitches. One can also walk-off from before the 5th pitch amphitheatre. Check out Doug's comment below for more info.
By Doug Shepherd From: Fort Collins, CO Feb 26, 2007
A quicker descent is to cut climbers left above the "fourth" pitch (before you enter the ampitheatre with two large pillars). Follow the cliff walls around for a ways, past another climb, until you reach a ridge which takes you right back down the gully.
It's a bit slippery, but faster than rappelling and downclimbing the first pitches of the climb.
There are fixed anchors climbers left of the "fifth" pitch which allow you to get down without dropping ice/rappelling on top of other climbers. As of Feb. 17th the sixth pitch was not touching. However conditions change quick on this climb, so check it out when you get into the valley.
South Fork Shoshone (Ice)
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