When I crawled out of bed last Saturday morning, the temperature was 7 degrees outside here in Idaho Falls. The wind chill made it feel about minus 2 degrees.

My two choices for outdoor play that day were rock climbing or cross-country skiing. Because the forecast was for sunny skies, my friends said, “Let’s go climbing.” My sweetheart stayed home to work on other projects.

We tried to time it for the warmest part of the day. I drove to Shelley where my friends live and we carpooled south to American Falls and beyond. As we drove south, we noticed that while the ground was still snow-covered, the depth was decreasing. “This might work out,” I said.

Our goal was Teddy Bear Cove, a climbing area about 11 miles west of the American Falls reservoir dam on the northwest side of the Snake River off the Lake Channel Road.

When we arrived at the launch point from the gravel road onto the last quarter-mile of jeep trail to the parking area, we found a parked Subaru Outback. The folks in the Outback decided not to brave the 4 to 5 inches of snow-covered jeep trail to the final parking area. Although we were in a Toyota 4-Runner, we also opted to walk the last quarter of a mile through the snow. It was probably the wise choice. The road was a bit spongy and there were soft spots under the snow. We followed foottracks in the snow made by the people in the Outback.

When we finally arrived at the wall, we found three other climbers in T-shirts, already cued up on a route. “It’s a pleasant day for climbing,” they called to us.

Along the tall basalt rock wall, the sun had melted out all the snow to about 15 feet or more from the base. It was as if summer was pushing back against winter along the cliff. We soon removed our coats, hats and gloves and enjoyed the day. Although the air temperature was supposed to reach a high of about 40 degrees, the reflected heat from the rock walls made it feel 15 degrees warmer or more.

One extra benefit courtesy of the snow was that it was quiet. Often during the spring, ATVs and motorbikes buzz past the cliffs and their engine sounds are amplified with echoes from the rock walls. This time of year with the snow-covered ground, climbers had the area to themselves.

We first warmed up our muscles on a couple of easier climbs, then tried our luck on two routes rated 5.11 (moderately hard). The nice thing about the climbs in this area is that the route developers have placed a tiny metal tag at the base of the wall indicating the route’s name and its rating. Once you find the walls, the tags will give you an idea of what you’re up against.

Most of the routes at Teddy Bear Cove fall into the 5.10 to 5.11 difficulty range, with a few easier and a few harder. There are about 170 routes on the several walls in the Teddy Bear Cove area.

The first 5.11 route we tackled was called “Upside Down” and turned out to be our favorite climb of the day. We liked the challenging features and variety of rock.

The second 5.11 was called “Blackout,” and it had a short slab section about 20 feet off the ground. Slab climbing tends to make me whine like a baby because the holds are often more imaginary than real, and if you fall on the lower-angle slab rock, you slide along the surface (like a cheese grater) as opposed to sailing through the air.

We packed up to leave at about 3:30 p.m. when the sun started to fall behind distant hills and clouds. The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.

On the way home, we stopped off in American Falls at the Falls Grill — a hamburger spot apparently under the command of a half dozen high school kids. The food was good and the shakes even better.

This is the time of year to venture out to the sun-facing rock walls. If you choose a sunny day, the basalt rock in our region should be good to climb. As the days warm up to above 60, these areas can become too hot to climb.