ELY - The 55th annual Steger Ice Ball was held on a snowy Saturday earlier this month near here when a crew of hearty volunteers worked all day to remove enough ice from Pickett’s Lake to fill the rock ice cavern at Will Steger’s Wilderness Center.
A number of Polar Expedition veterans participated, including Steger’s videographer, Jerry Stenger, and fellow explorers John Stetson, Nancy Moundalexis, and Julie Hignell. Ely-area resident Michael Gilgosh participated in his fourth year at the Ice Ball and supplied the Timberjay with a photographic record and his thoughts on the day.
“This is a good year for nice thick ice. The day transformed this winter’s lake ice into the cooling power essential for the coming summer season of community activities at the center,” Gilgosh said.
The temperature was in the low single digits at the start of the day, in contrast to the 30s last year, according to Gilgosh.
“Light snow fell during most of the event and heightened the beauty of the day.  The wood fired sauna, near the lakeshore, was started early in the morning for use later in the day.  The smoke wafted occasionally over the lakeshore adding more charm and nostalgia to the senses,” he said.
“The lake ice was 18-20 inches thick this year. Will deemed all the blocks usable, but the slag (the top half or so of more porous, discolored ice) was removed so blocks could be handled easier,” he said. “On the lake, the ice was cut into smaller, lighter blocks, making them more easily removed from the open water with metal tongs.”
In spite of the smaller volunteer crew of invited guests this year, enough ice was harvested to fill the super-insulated, north-facing icehouse located close to where it will be used at the Wilderness Center, located deep in the woods a few miles from Ely.
Several sled loads, each carrying close to a ton of ice, were drawn up the icy road from the lake -shore by a team of Shire draft horses.
“Long time Ice Ball devotee Lisa Ringer, who operates an organic farm in Maple Plain, along with her crew, Mike and Al, brought four Shire draft horses up from the western Twin Cities to pull the ice sled up the steep road from the lake to the Ice House, as they have for many years,” he said. “A custom-built sled made for the annual harvest was easily pulled by the hefty team of Shires.”
The building near the Ice House, called the Lodge (one of the original buildings at Will’s “Homestead”) served as a warmup house and kitchen for the Ice Ball attendees.
“In the spirit of the recently published book, ‘The Steger Homestead Kitchen: Simple Recipes for an Abundant Life,’ a trio in the kitchen prepared delicious soups, chili, and sandwiches for volunteers,” Gilgosh said. “Seating was at the ever-present long wooden table that hosted warm conversation and good cheer.”
The ice, packed in sawdust and loaded into the Ice House, will hopefully last well into the summer months for food preservation. “The day’s effort fit perfectly into Will’s ideals of self-sufficiency and conservation of energy,” he said. “Ice and sawdust, nature’s two elements of refrigeration at the Homestead. Job done.”
The Will Steger Wilderness Center is a towering building overlooking the lake just outside of Ely. It is a place to escape the din of modern life and focus on issues of sustainability and problem-solving that can be taken into everyday life, according to the center’s website.
Steger is best known for his legendary polar explorations. He traveled tens of thousands of miles by kayak and dogsled over 50 years, leading teams on some of the most significant polar expeditions in history.
Steger led the first confirmed dogsled journey to the North Pole without re-supply in 1986, the 1,600-mile south-north traverse of Greenland in 1988, and led the first dogsled traverse of Antarctica, a seven-month, 3,741-mile International Trans-Antarctica Expedition in 1989–90.