Well, I have to say that this year was one of the best Ice Cutting’s I’ve seen. We had a great big group of people, though some folks, like Willow Stone couldn’t make it up because of the huge snowstorm in the D.C. area. In Vermont though we had just about perfect weather: cold, clear and sunny. We were also really lucky to be visited by Lights the Lodge who is a favorite FC staffer who fought through some health challenges to make it up for a few hours. We were so glad to have him.
Spring Rhythm, Tundra Warrior Sings and Forest Flame all helped me keep twenty rowdy and wonderful FC campers in line, and helped welcome a crew of new and prospective campers into the fold. The bunk room in the Tamarack Farm basement may have been smelly, but it was sure filled with a lot of laughter and love too.
On saturday, we woke up to perfect weather and a great big breakfast. We hiked up to FC and got right to work opening up the Ice Mines, setting up the Food Shelter and sawing away at the ice. Thanks to a couple of weeks of good cold weather, the pond was frozen up solid and we were getting good blocks out within an hour, which is great. While some people sawed, others chipped and a few brave individuals wrestled the blocks out of the water and into sleds for the ride up the hill.
In perhaps the most energetic and funniest part of the process, teams of six people ran down the hill shouting and panting, pulling on the rope that was attached to the ice sleds. Running down towards the pond, the sleds would come zooming by and arrive at the Ice Mines chock full and ready to be unloaded. Next a crew dumped the sleds, slid the blocks up a ramp and packed them carefully in sawdust. After all that they’ll stay frozen all the way through the winter and spring until we dig them out in June to refrigerate our food.
Though this event is about taking care of FC, we were supported this weekend by a ton of F&W families who just love the community and wanted to come help. When we’re up at the Cloud this year enjoying great meals, I’m sure going to appreciate all the work those folks did for us. If you were at Ice Cutting this year, every FCer from the summer of 2010 is thankful for the great work you did, and I’m really glad you got to have so much fun while you were at it!
If you want to see pictures, you can check out our website, or check out the album we posted on Facebook. Feel free to join the F&W fan page while you’re there!