Kirt Cozzens

Details at Kirt Cozzens Gofund me. For anyone climbing ice around Cody, a lot of thanks go to him.

Sorry to see Kirt's passing. Another old Teton climber.

Kirt Cozzens was my “Big Brother, Kirt”, always larger and bolder than life. He had a huge influence on my life and influenced the dynamics of the climbing community in NW Wyoming from over 40 years ago.

Kirt began climbing with the boy scouts around 1976. They were mostly into rappelling and Kirt quickly figured out that somebody had to scramble to the top to get the ropes set up. Over the next few years, he found a real climbing mentor with Mark Deforneau (sp?) and recruited his life-long friend Monte Madsen. They spent a tremendous amount of time bouldering and establishing trad routes in Shoshone Canyon, just west of Cody, WY. He also introduced “sport climbing” to Cody by bolting Seam Dream. I started tagging along in 1979 when I was approaching my 14th birthday. I recall the stories of their “epic road trips” to the Black Hills, Devils Tower, Tetons and beyond. These were the days where “sticky rubber” shoes did not exist and spring-loaded cams were just being invented. If you had a pair of Chouinard Canyons (Blue swede shoes), that was the best. I eventually started travelling and before I was able to legally drive, Kirt had “drug me up” the Bastille in Eldorado Canyon, multiple spires in the Black Hills, Walt Bailey Memorial on Devils Tower and introduced me to mountaineering. Kirt gave me Yvon Chouinard’s book, Climbing Ice, for my 16th Birthday. Kirt introduced me to many “famous” climbers before I graduated High School. Todd Skinner, Paul Piana, Mark Twight and Mark Wilford to name a few. Kirt was instrumental in the early development of the waterfall climbing on the Southfork of the Shoshone River. He and Monte established several of the very first ascents. In January of 1985 Kirt was involved in a plane crash deep in the wilderness. This near-death experience put an end to his adventurous climbing nature. Kirt continued to provide the local climbers inspiration for another handful of years through his store, Alpine Style. He always had the very best in climbing, biking and ski gear.