Ice cutting competition in Norway

 

More than 100 years ago, collecting surface ice from lakes and rivers was a very important industry in southern Norway. Many of the ice blocks were exported to other countries. As mechanical refrigeration technology became widespread, natural ice harvesting is very rare today. In memory of this traditional industry, an ice cutting competition was held on Sunday on a frozen lake in the Asker area, southwest of Norway’s capital city of Oslo. A total of six teams participated in the competition. Each team had use one ax, two hand saws and two ice picks. The aim was to cut 12 blocks of ice and get them up as soon as possible. It turned out that experience was the most important thing in the competition, as the winners were the oldest team of all. After the ice cutting completion, a new game began: some people started to, or tried to, take a dip into this icy lake through a hole left behind by the ice-cutters.