Photo Carol Savage www.carolsavagephotography.com
Ice towers are popping up all over the place lately. ¬†There’s the trio (M√©nage √† trice?)¬†in Jeffersonville, Vermont, and the once hulking monolith in Bethel, Maine. ¬†I heard about Bethel’s ice tower a couple weeks back and nearly drove across New England to check it out. ¬†Of course, I wasn’t too surprised that Bethel had done such a thing, given their history with¬†snowpeople. ¬†You see, engineer Jim Sysko of Newry, ME was in charge of constructing the project, which involved seven braced 1-inch pipes pumping water at 90 pounds of pressure. ¬†They were hoping to build the ice tower to be 140 feet, but that good ‘ol reliable New England weather got in the way.
Photo: Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce
On Saturday night, the 120-foot ice tower came crashing to the ground after warm weather and 80-mph winds got the best of it.¬† The Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce’s eulogy is a classic: “Ice Climbing Demonstrations — two days — Cancelled. The ice tower collapsed Saturday night, February 19, 2011. No one hurt. All is well, just a little sad. 
” ¬†Which poses the question: if an ice tower falls in Bethel, does it make a sound?
Legendary Maine climber Bob Baribeau planned to give ice climbing demonstrations this week, but luckily he and a couple other climbers took a test run last week.  Check out this great video of Baribeau, Landon Fake and Chris Hayward climbing the ice tower:
If you’re interested in building your own ice tower, go to¬†the Alaskan Alpine Club’s site, which includes pictures of one formation that was 80 feet tall and 140 feet long! ¬†And, if you happen to be climbing on ice next week, be grateful that you’ve got it naturally.
Sources: Carol Savage carolsavagephotography.com, sunjournal.com
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