The opportunity to watch an ice harvest came up this morning and since I have never seen one but have wanted to, I jumped on this chance. We drove about five miles out of Fairbanks to a pond that used to be a gravel pit. I learned this is important because the pond lacks plant and animal debris which causes gas to enter the water. For the perfect clear ice, you need water as free of gas as possible. The ice used for the sculptures here at the World Ice Carving Championships is known as the Arctic Diamond because it is so incredibly clear.
When we arrived, the crew was in the process of cutting out a “holding pond”. This is an area into which the ice blocks will be pushed after they have been cut. It has easy access for a forklift to come right to the edge of the pond and lift the blocks out of the water. From the holding pond, stretching out in an arc on the ice were painted rectangular lines. These lines are the cutting lines for each block. A chainsaw is used to make perfect cuts in the ice. When the block has been cut, it is pushed into the holding pond where a forklift reaches under the block and lifts it up, takes it to a holding area to await transport to the fairgrounds and used by the sculptures.
The blocks have to sit for two days to temper. They have to adjust from a 32-degree temperature to the colder ambient temperature out of the water. If the blocks don’t have time to adjust to the temperature change, they will shatter.
I am definitely not an expert and I apologize for the lack of technical savvy, but it was fun to watch this process I have heard so much about. The crew today was having some mechanical difficulties with their chainsaws, so they were not able to cut and transport more than eight blocks in a day’s time but while the saws were working, the cutting and hauling ran very quickly and smoothly. My one favorite part was how crystal clear the ice is when it first comes out of the water and then within minutes it turns the most gorgeous arctic blue, still so clear you can see right through it. The Arctic Diamond.
