![]() The cable also stops a clock that records the exact moment the tripod hits the 100-foot mark. ![]() When the ice moves and the structure travels 100 feet, a cable attaching it to shore sets off a siren, drawing a crowd to the riverbank. In early March, organizers affix a nearly 30-foot-tall wooden “tripod”-which actually has four legs-into the ice. Residents have developed their own system for determining when, exactly, the ice breakup happens. I would say there’s quite a lot of enthusiasm just about the tradition and the possibility of winning.”Ī sign advertises Nenana Ice Classic ticket sales at Hot Springs Gas, a Fairbanks gas and grocery store. ![]() “It’s unique-I don’t know anywhere else in the world where people stand around watching ice melt and move,” says Nenana Mayor Joshua Verhagen. Whoever gets closest-to the day, hour and minute-will win a substantial pot of money and bragging rights as the Nenana Ice Classic champion. This year, they have until April 5 to buy a $3 ticket and enter a guess about when the ice will melt enough to start floating in pieces downstream. But as the weather warms in the early spring, participants keep a close watch for signs that the ice is starting to soften. Each spring for more than 100 years, residents have organized a high-stakes guessing game over when the ice will break up on the Tanana River.Īfter a long, cold winter, the ice on the Tanana, which runs alongside the town, can measure more than three feet thick. In the central Alaskan town of Nenana, watching ice melt is more exciting than it sounds. ![]()
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