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Steger Center hosts annual “Ice Ball”

Keith Vandervort
Posted 3/5/20

ELY - The annual Ice Ball Festival recently took place at the Steger Wilderness Center, located deep in the woods a few miles from here.  In spite of a smaller volunteer crew of invited …

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Steger Center hosts annual “Ice Ball”

Posted

ELY - The annual Ice Ball Festival recently took place at the Steger Wilderness Center, located deep in the woods a few miles from here. 
In spite of a smaller volunteer crew of invited guests this year, enough ice was harvested to fill the super-insulated, north-facing, ice house located close to where it will be used, at the heart of the center. 
“The day transformed this winter’s lake ice to the cooling power essential for the coming summer season of community activity at the center,” said Michael Gilgosch who participated in the event. 
A dozen or more sled loads, each carrying close to a ton of ice, were drawn up the icy road from the lake shore by two teams of paired Shire draft horses.  A hearty, home-cooked meal was prepared and served in the cozy, woodstove-heated cabin, called the Lodge. 
Despite a somewhat late start, the day-long task was completed well before the dimming light of the winter sunset.  “This year’s ice quality was deemed of disappointing quality compared to past harvests,” Gilgosh said. “The ice hopefully will last well into the summer months for food preservation. The day’s effort fit perfectly into Will Steger’s ideals of self-sufficiency and conservation of energy,” Gilgosch added.
The Will Steger Wilderness Center is a towering building overlooking a 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 has 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.