Comments on: Alaskan Alpine Club Ice Wall Project

Alaskan Alpine Club Ice Wall Project

adzm — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:01:32 -0800

The Ice Wall Project. In Fairbanks, Alaska, where the average temperature is below freezing until May, there is no shortage of ice. By spraying water from two vertical pipes 24 hours a day, a group of climbers create a masterpiece. Ten more feet of pipe has just been added, bringing the total to 136 feet... and still growing.

By: krtzmrk

krtzmrk — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:13:44 -0800

It must get lonely up there in the Winter... I'm frequently amazed - and sometimes delighted - at the things humans will do just because they can.

By: Feisty

Feisty — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:15:58 -0800

Seeing a person in some of the photos gave me a better understanding of the impressive effort. [this is nICE]

By: FreezBoy

FreezBoy — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:19:50 -0800

Very cool. But how do they get prevent the pipes supplying the water from freezing?

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:20:18 -0800

It doesn't seem that impressive until you scroll down to some of the pics of the guy climbing it and you see how huge it really is. And then when you look at the pics of other ice walls it's even grander in comparison. I just hope my giant salt wall doesn't get to close their work.

By: adzm

adzm — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:21:53 -0800

My first link of mefi :) I was nervous... lurked for 3 years.

By: adzm

adzm — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:32:43 -0800

The water pipes don't freeze because they don't turn off, as far as I know. The motion doesn't allow the water inside to get cold enough to freeze until it goes out. They mention problems with the nozzles freezing, which is why they designed all sorts of wierd nozzle shapes.

By: scheptech

scheptech — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:51:22 -0800

Heh, reminds me of something this guy would do.

By: Len

Len — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:53:54 -0800

Wow. Not so much to the ice wall – though admittedly that is pretty high on the wow factor; looks beautiful in some of those photos – but to the rant posted on this page. He makes a joke about global warming, someone fails to get it, and the largely nonsensical response contains gems like this: "There is only one way to reduce their scant effect on the planet. That is to reduce the total number of humans, by sufficiently educating them as to the benefits of producing fewer babies, especially the ones subsidized by tax money seized from working people..." "...believing all those institutionally fabricated, self-serving illusions of greedy government and organization leaders, who do not question their idiot conclusions ..." " ... At this particular moment, 2005, if we can sustain this current warming thing a bit longer, whether real or imagined, primarily by hot air production among those grossly over-funded, otherwise useless government and environmentalists dolts, burning tons of fuel to fly around the country and world, heating and polluting the atmosphere to attend hand-wringing and prediction fabricating meetings ..." Nice guy.

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:58:04 -0800

scheptech, ha, no doubt. Red Green cracks me up. This reminds of of one year when Seven Springs Ski area in PA made snow on one hill 24hrs a day for a season. They ended up skiing on what was left of it in JULY! This is PA we're talking about.

By: Chunder

Chunder — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 07:29:06 -0800

Heh - amazing pictures and concept, and funny text... a combination of things that are rarely found together! :-) Good find adzm!

By: nyterrant

nyterrant — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 07:29:56 -0800

Great post, adzm. I've long joked with friends that if a town like Cicely, Alaska from Northern Exposure existed, I would move there in a second. But this has me thinking that maybe every town in Alaska is like Cicely. Think I'll wait till summer to pack my bags, though. One question - when do they stop climbing in the spring? At some point, that bad boy is going to melt and/or fall down.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 07:50:00 -0800

Nice post. And the thing about tagging is I never knew there were seven interesting posts on MetaFilter about ice, but now I do.

By: DieHipsterDie

DieHipsterDie — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:36:25 -0800

Looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

By: Four Flavors

Four Flavors — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 10:31:15 -0800

Len try clicking around his site a bit more. He's got pages and pages of rants against the National Park service and their policy of requiring licenses for climbing/mountaineering guides, among other anti-any-organization positions he takes. It's a good thing this guy lives in a low population density area. He'd go ballistic if he had to deal with the bureaucracy/idiocy of living in a city. Of course, he likely knows this and has thus chosen wisely. His ice tower is a damn good idea. It's odd to think of water flowing out of a pipe for months on end, ending up encased in a container of air. Then, when it gets warm enough, those thousands of gallons of water slowly collapse into a small lake.

By: adzm

adzm — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 10:39:43 -0800

I loved this guy's rants. He seems to be the type you can't take quite seriously, so read with plenty of salt. I'm sympathizing with some of his thoughts, since I am starting to get sick of city life and layers upon layers of bureaucracy myself. Anyone notice the subplot regarding the crossbow bolt made out of a ski pole? Apparently a guy in Russia claimed it landed there, along with another guy in town...

By: adzm

adzm — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 10:45:14 -0800

In Alaska, you can climb as a free human, if you learn how. The really good places to climb in Alaska, are all secret... If you are a tourist, go to The Park. Stand in line. Do as you are told.... If you don't want to be a tourist, rag the government dolts, to their face, and go where the parks are not. All the information you need for where to climb in Alaska, is on a topographical map. Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains.

By: rhapsodie

rhapsodie — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:53:20 -0800

I live in Fairbanks and, coincidentally, drove out there just yesterday on my lunch break to take a few photos of the ice tower. But how do they get prevent the pipes supplying the water from freezing? As long as the water keeps moving through the pipes, they won't freeze. Same concept of letting your faucet slowly drip if you go out of town for a few weeks.