Nice Ice Climbing Silo- South of Chicago! Celebrating our 10th Season of Ice!
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Woodchuck ATC wrote: Cool idea of the 'balloon' kind of ice formation...not sure how that would be check-able either for thickness or strength. Our silo is one of those massive concrete ones as described,,,held together with over a half inch steel 'band..but not a flat band,,it's like steel rebar around the whole thing,,in double bands on lower 20 some feet, and single bands' upper. they are like 24 to 30 inches apart. This is on a very old farm,,,and the silo is like a 3Mt bomb proof missile silo...I'm saying this thing has survived a tornado ( I was IN it to escape the storm!),,and many days with winds over 60 mph over the decades. Its suffered natural freezing and thawing on the hot sunny side and the cold north side, (where we do our ice). It look absolutely the very same today as it was on our first year of making ice 5 winters ago..This monster isn't going anywhere. Besides,,most of the thick ice we climb on is not even attached to the silo,,,it's bot a solid thick base (7 ft thick last winter),,and really only 'attaches' to the upper foot or so where water flow originates... It is pretty much a free standing ice formation,,,just like most of the ones at our local state park are formed...Some sections do meet and freeze to the wall,,but hidden behind the thick ice,,we can't confirm how many attachments there are. It's had up to 7 top rope climbers on it at a time,,,all beating away at the ice and not a bit of 'sway' or movement. Only our personal spring , private outing in the meltout are scary,,where we know the ice is gonna come off, and maybe collapse as we beat out our last routes in shorts and Hawaiian shirts, just for fun. I've climbed much thinner ice outdoors, frozen to soft sandstone, on lead,,,in years past. Hope this answers any questions about the condition of our silo and our ice. NOW,,if we only would get a winter to begin out there..it's gonna be 50 on Sunday,,so looks like we will not have a Christmas season of ice climbing this year.Great answer- Ditto Woodchuck! www.PlayWildIL.com |
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Yeah great answer. You can always expect a long winded answer (or response) from woodchuck. |
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That's why he's called- "Capt. Impatient" |
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Haha someone gets its. It's ok woodchuck just some friendly jabs. Keep climbing and be safe. Didn't mean any harm. |
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Taco Tuesday at the silo TOMORROW- Jan. 13th. BE There! |
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Pretty cool lookin these days! Nice work all! |
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Morgan Patterson wrote:Pretty cool looking these days! Nice work all!Thanks Morgan..... see new pix and even shots of climbing INSIDE the silo here: facebook.com/groups/1086077… |
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Chili night at the silo on Jan. 24th. 4 PM |
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Open climbing Sat. Jan. 24th at 11 AM |
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That's Awesome! I love it when main stream media picks up the sport. |
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Sweet!!! Get that word out:) |
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FIRE AND ICE AT THE SILO!
Pizza and Glow (fire Spinning or Poi) night! Sat. Feb. 21st at 4 PM....till ? Join us for some of the best Pizza that YOU guys can bring! Just bring your favorite pie to share....(IF YOU DON'T BRING A PIE TO SHARE THE COST WILL BE $5 IN ADDITION TO THE $25 CLIMBING FEE) We also will have a few of the Dream Team Spinners out to show how us they "Glow" while spinning and throwing real Fire around! Glow sticks will also be available for purchase... |
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Thanks to WCIU TV for coming out today and doing their show live from the ice silo! A great time was had by all! |