Feel like heading
south? Sick of the cold? Can’t stand the stinging wind one more day? Who knew that
we would have to endure ANOTHER polar vortex!
Some folks refuse to be
undone and devise a multitude of ways to brave the elements. Like frying fish
in a tent at a campsite in Lake Superior Park when it’s -19 (check out
lakesuperiorpark.com to see the hot tent video). Others rebel and stay inside to
cook up steaming pots of soup. How to survive it all? Well, humour helps. I
laughed when I heard last week about a jesting Facebook post from the Nova
Scotia RCMP. The faithful horsemen said that Old Man Winter was on their wanted
list for causing “numerous highway closures, excessive shovelling and visits to
the chiropractor.” I imagine that one could add disrupting water mains and
blinding snow storms to the charges. Plus, there must have been complaints
about his homegrown recruits, Willie Windchill and Frieda Frostbite. The
Mounties warned folks to not approach Old Man Winter because he was “armed with
ice pellets” and to protect themselves with sand, a snow blower or salt!
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| ice tree |
But you’d need an
infinitesimal amount of salt to eradicate Old Man Winter’s effect on the lake.
For, as of this week, ice smothers 90 to 100 percent of Lake Superior. We can see
ice on the lake straight to the horizon and beyond. That vast expanse of white
is such a compelling surface.
About a week ago we decided that it was safe
enough to hike said ice sheet. Housed in snowpants and woolen layers of
insulation under my biggest warmest coat, I ventured down to the icy lake with
scarf over my mouth and two pairs of socks in my boots. I walked like the
Michelin man. (To get to the lake we have to navigate over drifts and around
ice cliffs.) Frieda and Willie terrorized my bare fingers as I released my
hands from cosy mitts just long enough to buckle the straps on my snowshoes.
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| michelin woman |
When
we reached the shore of lake Superior, we stood there for a minute, listening
to the thundering voice of the ice. The scene was magnificent. The walk was
amazing. The sight was pure artistry. Snow resembled mounds of whipped cream.
Where the ice was clear, lines and cracks converged to create a beautiful
geometry.
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| What is all this frozen
stuff anyway? Painters and musicians and
poets often offer their insights. Scientists have their interpretations too.
They say that pure ice is white with a blue tinge. Well the turquoise hidden in
the ice caves affirmed that point. Science also says that ice is a mineral, or at
least it has the 5 properties of a mineral. The first two properties are easy
to understand. Ice must occur on its own, not be manmade. And no other organism
must be able to produce it either. The rink makers, who embrace the frigid
nights with hose in hand, know too well that their creations only result from
just the right combo of water and temperature. Next, to be a mineral, ice must
be a solid. Uhhh..I sure hope so. A lot of ice trekkers and snow machinists are
counting on that one. The last two properties deal with chemistry - a finite
number of chemical compositions and an ordered atomic structure. Hexagonal
crystals put ice straight into the mineral category. Science sure has a hoot
analysing this ever mysterious, ever changing substance. Check this out. Under
the Antarctic ice field lays the Russian-named Lake Vostok. Researchers claim
that the lake has a surface area of about 14,000 sq km and is 670 m deep. (Lake
Superior is approx 82,100 sq km and 406 m deep). The Antarctic scientists add
other interesting tidbits. They say that 3 km of ice has hidden Lake Vostok from
the sun for about 15 million years. Other discoveries include DNA from single
celled organisms encased in the ice. Scientists call them extremophiles. Yeesh. I think that some of us feel like we are turning
into one of those. |
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| snow cornice |
But take heart. Right
now Old Man Winter is using the last of his energy to make his getaway. (The
Mounties will have to nab their man next year.) The fearless frost maker is heading
to the shores of Lake Vostok on a March Break ice diving holiday. After that,
he reports back to work in Brazil, Australia and other places south of 0 (aka
t
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| Locked in to the island |
But take heart. Right
now Old Man Winter is using the last of his energy to make his getaway. (The
Mounties will have to nab their man next year.) The fearless frost maker is heading
to the shores of Lake Vostok on a March Break ice diving holiday. After that,
he reports back to work in Brazil, Australia and other places south of 0 (aka
the equator). By then, spring will be making her presence felt here. You will
find her sleeping in a sunny window, standing by a south facing wall or luxuriating
from a warm windless day on the ice. Ahh. Such is our life. For, indeed, as the
slogan goes, “We the North.”