Ice farming in Illinois

Yup. I've given up on any ice forming at Starved Rock this season. So in a sudden urge to do something with the severe cold spell, I joined with a couple friends in starting our own little 'farmed' ice formation. Location to remain secret, of course. It isn't going to be as spectacular as the Peabody Ice climbing club in Fenton Michigan, but a frozen silo is still the thing to do in desperate times.

Here's the first 36 hours worth of frozen efforts. Hope to have it sturdy and ready to go by this coming weekend. About 35-40 ft. high is what we've got. Would appreciate any good tips or hints on how to avoid the frozen shut hoses and how to get the best results from those of you out there who have made similar climbable backyard ice.

Just one concern. Those looks like some old silos. Is it safe to add all that weight to them? Hate to see them collapse. They are made for holding outward internal pressures not so much with outward external forces. Just a thought.

You might try getting into contact with these folks in Iowa. I haven't been out there to check it out but I know they've been doing the same thing for the past few years. Judging by their pictures it looks like they know what they're doing.

Silo Ice Climbing

Bill Lamoreux wrote:Just one concern. Those looks like some old silos. Is it safe to add all that weight to them? Hate to see them collapse. They are made for holding outward internal pressures not so much with outward external forces. Just a thought.

What are you using for your nozzle? I have had great success using soaker hoses. They put out a mist which I have found freezes really well. I have also used a "spot sprinkler" which I super glue some of the holes shut to decrease the flow rate. I however do not have a structure to farm on, instead my ice is free standing. I just use conduit to raise the sprinkler up high and let the water flow down.

Woodchuck,

There are some landscaping irrigation materials that heat the hose which keeps the hose warm enough to stop ice from clogging the nozzle. We used this hose and it helped us build this;

ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-54…

That OkCity ice looks alot like what ours is turning out to freeze into. Just a simple sprinkler hose and pvc pipe is doing the job so far. A couple frozen hose nights below zero, but working good in the teen temps of the day right now. Thanks for the tips. We did get hose heaters going a day or so ago.

Wow, good luck Woodchuck!

day 4. ice overflowed inside the silo so we now have another climb to consider. Hope to be on it by Wed. night or Thursday.

Woodchuck that is lookin' nice! Keep it up! You got anchors setup?

First day/night of climbing on the silo. Nice and steep, thin in places, needs another couple days of water running over it to patch up the holes we made. Sweet to have right in our backyard.

Ice is growing just fine. New sprinkler heads installed tonight. 4th night of climbing and doing great. New climbers arrive tomorrow AM.

More climbers today. Ice is excellent!.

woodchuck,

here is another photo from our ice climb.

and another

Cool you guys have some good ice going We've been working on building ice for about the last 13 or more years and changing our set up every year. right now we have 3 outside climb's and 3 on the inside. anywhere from wi3 to wi4+. I've found that I can build ice as warm as 22 degrees and as cooled as you want as long as you have the volume of water to build good ice. We use a pvc pipes with misting sprayers for spraying fields. moving it up and down depending on where we need to build.

Nice tower Charlie! Here's how thick ours has gotten over the last 7 days of snow and cold temps. A bit wet today at 48 degrees, but should last this short meltout. Wednesday near 50, we will climb in Hawaiian shirts if possible..

AAAaagggh!! 50 temps and rain coming in by Wedneday. Hawaiian shirt climbing today, not too wet or dripping. Looks like our 3 weeks of ice might come to an end any day now. And it was just getting really thick throughout all routes too.

Update: Meltout has started, with water polished surface that pops off dinner plates just about every smack with a tool. But still fun.

bye bye ice it's been fun!

we hope to squeeze another day or two out of it before the collapse.