Ice tower proposed for city
Climbing facility suggested for Old Town
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Winter is coming, and two Yellowknife climbers want to build a wall.
A six-year-old scales a tower similar to the one proposed for Yellowknife at the Big White Ski Resort in B.C. - photo courtesy of Jim Ongena |
Jean-Francois Dufour and Kimberly Balsillie presented their idea for an 18-metre ice climbing facility called The Icicle to council at Monday's municipal services committee meeting.
They are hoping the city will partner with them to provide the land and construct a small building nearby for storage, training and washrooms.
"Ice climbing is just like rock climbing, but on frozen waterfall, with the use of ice axes and crampons," Dufour told city councillors.
Normally, participants have to find a natural site, such as a waterfall, for ice climbing, but Dufour says The Icicle's four vertical ice walls would be "easy, inexpensive and accessible to beginners."
The Icicle would consist of four telephone poles, permanently anchored in the ground, braced with wood.
The thick layer of ice would be formed by hosing the structure down with garden hoses.
Dufour and Balsillie proposed it be constructed on land at the entrance to Old Town, on the corner of School Draw and Franklin Avenue.
"It will add a wow factor," Balsillie told municipal services committee.
Construction would cost around $60,000 and require "very little maintenance," said Dufour. He and Balsillie are willing to take on that cost, if the city will help them with the outbuilding and land, including access to water and electricity.
"That small building is where we really want the support from the city," Balsillie told Yellowknifer. "We would find funding for the tower itself, that would be our responsibility."
Because it would be a private enterprise, The Icicle would cost money to use. Balsillie says those rates are still being discussed, but based on similar towers such as British Columbia's Big White Ski Resort, it could be in the range of $25 per climb, $65 for the day or $250 for a season pass. Climbs would be available for ages 2 and up, with four climbers able to use it at a time.
"But we have other ideas than just to climb it," said Balsillie.
A suggestion to use lights to turn it into an art installation by lighting the tower as a frozen Robertson Headframe memorial literally raised eyebrows among councillors.
There is also a plan to keep it going year-round by installing panels with handgrips in the summer months.
Christopher Oland, president of the Yellowknife Climbers Club, said with the new climbing facility coming to the Fieldhouse, the city's climbers might be covered.
"We're very happy to have any infrastructure that involves promoting the sport of climbing," he said. "In terms of whether it would get used to the extent that you would want to see for a piece of infrastructure that had that significance going in, I'm not sure."
Coun. Adrian Bell was enthused about the idea. He said he's heard of the ice-tower concept before in his work with Long John Jamboree.
"I would love to have a discussion as a resident and as a city councillor to try to see what can be done to move this forward," he said, adding they should perhaps begin considering a plan B location, as plans for that corner are already being discussed.
And maybe making it bigger - he wondered if Yellowknife could potentially be the home of Canada's largest ice climbing wall.
Monday's municipal services committee did not have quorum, so no decisions could be made at the meeting.
