Ice Run Report

December 19, 2007

Here's what I faced on today's ice run....all by myself. Vaguely reminiscent of last January although the weather was a bit better.

My Assistant had failed to connect with me and I was facing hauling 1800 pounds of ice up the hill by my lonesome.

Unfortunately, the Four wheel drive went out on my truck, too. Because of this, I could only get as far as the bottom of the hill (if you look close, you can see my truck in the left pix) and had to haul the ice about 200 yards, when I normally get it to within 5-6 FEET of the shed. I had to haul the ice up the hill and then haul it up the path in the unplowed driveway.....Whew!!

If you look close, you can see the front driveshaft hanging down. Trying to haul well over a ton of material and equipment up a snow packed road is tough on man and machine.

 

 

I found out later (when I went to drive back down the hill) that when the U-joint shattered, it clipped my brakeline and I had essentially no back brakes. Fortunately, (and I was not aware of this until it happened) Fords have a dual braking system and my front brakes were still operable.

 

 

So, there I was....hauling three 50 pound blocks of ice at a time, up the slick, icy road (I had to carve out steps to be able to pull the sled up the packed down snow/ice on the road) and then stomp a path up the driveway to continue on to the shed, where I had to dig out the door to even open it. All in a day's work, eh?

 

 

 

I finally arrived at the shed and started to open things up and prepare to off load the ice....

At least the temperature was almost -90F....pretty good.

Notice the empty wrappers from upper blocks. We had some bigger blocks of ice left, mostly lowest level ones in the bottom of the boxes...

Then there was some of last times leftovers still around.......all for a grand total of about 200-250 pounds.

 

 

We had some nice crystal formations....

Although some crystals appear square, it's really a half-hexagon.

 

Due to the fact that I was delayed by waiting for a no-show assistant and blowing out my 4x4 on the truck, I was running pretty far behind schedule. Having to haul all that bloody ice 200 yards uphill on varying snow conditions (it took about 30 minutes per round trip....at 150 pounds per trip...and it was extreme cardiac workout.) and then prepare and stock the cryonic chamber...it was only an hour or so til dark and I had moved and stocked only six loads.

I've got over 1000 pounds of ice loaded at this time. I still have to get my equipment and personell back down the hill to Ned at least and hopefully back to Boulder to store the rest of the ice and if the gods are willing, back to where I can get the truck repaired.

 

It's starting to get dark, and I'm headed back down for the last time.

I'm real glad I didn't have a heart attack or fall and break something hauling that ice up the hill, since there wasn't anyone around and no one would find me until spring......

Hazards of the job...

 

Post Script.....

I actually made it back down to Ned by using the gears as much as the half-assed brakes.....and then back down Boulder Canyon doing the same. Made it to the Ice Place right before they closed and after discussions on sublimation rates and howcumyicewashort talk, they agreed to get me more ice and store the ice I had until I could get equipment and personell problems worked out....maybe by the weekend.

But they're closed on the weekend......

And then it was Xmas.....

And then it snowed.....a bunch.

Next Ice run scheduled for completion in twelve days. Watch for Part II.....