51�Թ�

Still, she was shocked to discover, on a recent trip to Namibia’s mineral-rich Erongo region, that her purchase of 250 pounds of mixed crystals—including smoky quartzes, fluorites, and hyalite opals—for just over $10,000 was two years’ worth of wages for both the mine owner and his workers.

Dedicated climbers converge in areas better known for ice, such as Cody, Wyo.; Ouray, Colo.; Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman, Mont.; Valdez, Alaska; and Canmore in the Canadian Rockies.

In Gallatin County, Montana, the nonprofit Friends of Hyalite raises money to pay for winter plowing costs into Hyalite Canyon, an international destination for ice climbing and ski touring that as recently as 2007 was completely inaccessible in winter.

One feature is a six-story “lantern wall” with images of the Hyalite Lake and waterfalls, he said.

“We’re expecting about 500 students in Hyalite,” MSU spokesman Michael Becker wrote in an email.