美国国家公共电台 NPR--Word is getting out about Minnesota's winter fun: ice climbing

Word is getting out about Minnesota's winter fun: ice climbing

Transcript¹

Winter is still going strong in Minnesota, where volunteers are creating a unique recreational spot with columns of ice that people can climb.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

For farmers, spring planting season is about to begin. In Minnesota, though, it's been a long, snowy winter. But that means it's still cold enough to grow an unusual crop. It's ice that people can climb. Dan Kraker of Minnesota Public Radio reports.

BRANDY ARREDONDO: Oh, gosh.

DAN KRAKER, BYLINE²: Brandy Arredondo grabs two curved ice axes and warily⁴ approaches a frozen cliff face.

ARREDONDO: I'm super nervous. Yeah.

KRAKER: Her friend Juliet had talked her into trying ice climbing for the first time.

JULIET: OK, so hold on to the ice axes, one in each hand.

ARREDONDO: OK.

JULIET: Yes.

ARREDONDO: She swings an axe³ until it sticks in the glistening⁵ sheet of ice. Then she kicks in her crampons, metal spikes⁶ on her boots that stick into the ice. She slowly works her way up the vertical⁷ wall of ice about 10 feet or so until her hands get too cold to continue.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Should I lower you?

ARREDONDO: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: OK.

JULIET: You did so good.

KRAKER: Back on solid ground, Arredondo says she'd definitely try it again - once her hands warm up.

ARREDONDO: Oh, it was very hard. Yeah, but I enjoyed it. It was fun.

KRAKER: People have climbed here in this abandoned rock quarry⁸ in Duluth since the early 1980s on ice that formed when water seeped⁹ down the 100-foot-tall cliff. But the natural ice was inconsistent. So over the past couple years, a group of local climbers installed an irrigation system that pumps water to the top of the cliff.

(SOUNDBITE OF SNOW CRUNCHING)

NICK FLEMING: From here all the way to the top, it's underground.

KRAKER: Head ice farmer Nick Fleming points out where volunteers buried a water line by hand along the edge of the quarry.

FLEMING: So that's 1,000 feet of pipe that's all underground.

KRAKER: All this for ice climbing, huh?

FLEMING: All this for ice climbing.

KRAKER: Irrigation heads along the top of the cliff spray water down the rock, which freezes into thick pillars and columns of ice.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)

KRAKER: Fleming works 24-hour shifts as a firefighter. When he's off, he's usually here, farming ice with other volunteers or tinkering with the system.

FLEMING: We took what was originally just a partying and dumping area hidden in the woods, and we turned it into a recreational spot for everyone to use.

KRAKER: Most ice climbing is still done on natural ice in the mountain west and northeast, but word of Minnesota's ice parks is getting out.

ERIC BARNARD: Last year, we had multiple groups that came from Texas, North Carolina, Kansas, Nebraska.

KRAKER: Eric Barnard is one of the ice farmers who maintain the Winona Ice Park in southeastern Minnesota on a bluff¹⁰ overlooking the Mississippi River.

BARNARD: I always joke like, running thousands of feet of pipe filled with water in a Minnesota winter - like, what could go wrong, right?

KRAKER: The answer, of course, is plenty. The biggest problem is the lines freezing up.

BARNARD: All you can do is laugh about it. Like, when you're getting sprayed in the face by hundreds of gallons of water a minute and you're soaked and covered in ice, it's really absurd.

KRAKER: The first ice farming system in the country was installed 28 years ago at the Ouray Ice Park in southwestern Colorado. Now four full-time¹¹ farmers maintain routes that draw more than 20,000 climbers from around the world every year. Executive director Peter O'Neil says he's thrilled to see the growth in ice climbing parks.

PETER O'NEIL: I think that's fantastic, right? I mean, the more people that you can introduce to ice climbing and that discover an outdoor recreational pursuit that they can do in the winter is great.

KRAKER: He says one of the hardest parts about ice climbing is finding a place to do it. Minnesota seems to be addressing that challenge. It now has three city-owned parks featuring volunteer-run ice farming systems. Climbers here say that's more than any other state in the country.

For NPR News, I'm Dan Kraker in Duluth, Minnesota.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

4 warily   

adv.留心地

参考例句：

• He looked warily around him,pretending to look after Carrie.他小心地看了一下四周，假装是在照顾嘉莉。
• They were heading warily to a point in the enemy line.他们正小心翼翼地向着敌人封锁线的某一处前进。

5 glistening   

adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》

6 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

8 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

9 seeped   

v.（液体）渗( seep的过去式和过去分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• The rain seeped through the roof. 雨水透过房顶渗透。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Icy air seeped in through the paper and the room became cold. 寒气透过了糊窗纸。屋里骤然冷起来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

10 bluff   

v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗

参考例句：

• His threats are merely bluff.他的威胁仅仅是虚张声势。
• John is a deep card.No one can bluff him easily.约翰是个机灵鬼。谁也不容易欺骗他。

11 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。