Snow Shoot

With winter on its heels in Minnesota, Aaron and I rushed up north one last time to capture some images in snowy landscapes. But ice floes were still pounding the ledge rock as we visited a Lake Superior subject, and four foot drifts surrounded the Alex Rouska sauna at the Finland, Minnesota Historical Site.

The most important shot was an attempt to capture the experience of plunging through the ice after sauna into the cold lake. We spent two hours boring with a power auger and sawing by hand through ice to clear a 30"x30" entry, not exactly an Olympic venue. But in just four feet of water above a gravel bed, it was just right for a personal plunge and dunk, and would make for an easy out for the plungers.

But first we had to get four 30-inch-thick chunks of ice out of the hole. (That's 30"x30"x30" for those who are counting, not quite a cubic yard of ice.) That took two long pry bars and a lot of patience. Imagine two mice trying to dislodge ice cubes from a lowball glass with opposing toothpicks to get the proportions. But that was much more fun than the slow march of the handsaw.