A New Perspective
Today we travelled to northeast Iowa to visit a farmer friend of ours outside of Cedar Falls. Don Briggs isn’t your typical farmer – he farms ice! Since 2000, Don and his buddies have been icing down concrete silos around northeast Iowa and growing an entire ice community from the local soil.
Aiguille de Silo, Directissma Route (F.A. Don Briggs 2000)
Don came up with the idea in 2000 after plowing a friend’s fields one cold winter morning. After turning off the tractor, Don approached his pal and said, “what do you think if we hose down that silo and climb it?” The owner of the land took one look at him, set down his tools, and said “I’ve got a hose right here – let’s try it!” Three days later, the ice was as thick as The Schoolyard in Ouray, and an entire new sport was born. That was eight years ago, and Don now hosts weekend climbers from California to Texas on his Iowa ice silos.
Don Briggs, the ice farmer
So as we set off on this first full week of 2009, I’m trying to catch Don’s perspective and look at things in a different light. If Don can turn an old Iowa silo into a climbing revolution, there have to be a few creative tricks to reaching my goals in 2009. Hopefully we’ll uncover them as we go…
The sun always sets too soon when ice climbing...even on Don Brigg's Ice Silo in northeast Iowa.
