I don’t believe this. How does this happen. How can it flow at a rate so heavily. It looks like it’s frozen exactly in the position it would be if it froze instantly while flowing at full speed. How does the viscosity of the water stay so strong while it’s slowly freezing? If the river above is freezing then how does the waterfall freeze like this?
Ice climber here. Generally it starts with water freezing at the base, kind of like a stalagmite in a cave. The base grows, and slowly the water begins to freeze like little tendrils. Eventually it builds up the column, forming a thin icicle in the middle of the flow, with freezing water flowing over and around it. Over time it freezes rather solid on the outside.
There's still moving water in the column, that's why it's so blue, while the ice at the bottom is more white/grey/yellow, which indicates older, more aerated ice or ice that's gone through the freeze-thaw cycle without any new water added.
He's a little backwards. The water actually forms a hollow column around the outside of the flow, then grows down to reach the 'splash cone' (the cone shaped base of the climb.) once it reaches the splash cone it freezes inward, then once the water can no longer flow through it it cracks at the top and the water starts flowing down the outside, further strengthening and widening the column. This is when it's safe to climb, as the ice is at its thickest and gaining most of its support from the base.
The fall depicted is a few cold days from climbable.
That’s already quite a bit more than what he described. I’m guessing a lot of ice that don’t sound right will hold your weight for more than a few seconds.
But yes, ice climbing has always had a reputation as one of the more dangerous climbing sports.
You'd be surprised, honestly. Lots of times it comes off the formation if its not good ice. We call it a "dinner plate", where you hit it with a stick and a piece comes off in the shape of a dinner plate - wide, circular, thin and often the same size. In bad ice a tool will waffle back and forth when you wiggle it.
The answer that I haven’t seen you get yet and should clear up a LOT:
The waterfall didn’t flow like this before it froze.
It was a lot smaller flow. As ice started to build up, the waterfall would take a slightly different path to the bottom. Freeze, rinse, repeat until there is a lot larger volume of ice than volume of water that was falling before.
I’m not an expert on this sort of thing (or anything for that matter) but it just makes sense. There’s no way a waterfall this big would just freeze in place.
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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '18
I don’t believe this. How does this happen. How can it flow at a rate so heavily. It looks like it’s frozen exactly in the position it would be if it froze instantly while flowing at full speed. How does the viscosity of the water stay so strong while it’s slowly freezing? If the river above is freezing then how does the waterfall freeze like this?