EUGENE, Ore. - When the temperature drops, the massive cascades of water that fall over Oregon's Salt Creek Falls near Willamette Pass turn into a tower of ice.

"We don't get a chance to waterfall ice climb in Oregon very much - it doesn't stay cold long enough," said ice climber Steve Cash.  "So when a cold snap comes and we get a chance to chase down a frozen waterfall we drop our jobs, leave our wives and children behind and we go."

Cash is one of the climbers featured in the attached video clip (produced by Dan Morrsion, a photojournalism instructor at the University of Oregon). In the video, Cash explains some of the gear that ice climbers use and what makes ice climbing different from other types of climbing.

"It's a very unique sport because you're not touching earth - you are on ice only," he said.  "So everything you do is a little different.  You can't take an ice axe and beat it into the side of a waterfall because you may shatter the waterfall.  And everything you are standing on may come apart or you may destroy the thing you are actually trying to climb."

You can watch the video clip for more on the sport and see some beauty shots of Cash and his fellow climbers at Salt Creek Falls. 

Here are some more items of interest as well:

• About ice climbing (from Wikipedia)
• CascadeClimbers.com
• Ouray Ice Climbing Festival
• Blog: Johnston Canyon Ice Climbing
• Ice climbing videos on YouTube