So Broderson and a few other climbers decided to build their own frozen waterfall. Layers of blue ice at least a foot thick cover a skeleton 42-feet tall. Three telephone polls with iron bars stretched between look like an adult-sized, abstract jungle gym. Five months of Minnesota Winter have turned a trickle of water, into a massive wall of ice - ice that Broderson claims is safer than anything in the wild. It could be fragile, it could have running water behind it, you could have a lot of variations that are very dangerous.
Climbers get a short briefing on the basics, and then it's time to head outside and hit the wall.
They put a hockey helmet on for protection, then attach to a line at the base of the tower, which looms 40-plus feet overhead. It stands among the dark woods at the camp. It's hollow, lit from within with powerful outdoor spotlights, and glows an icy shade of blue. As a climber digs his axes into the wall of ice, he slowly pulls himself up. Each move the climber makes sends shards of ice to the ground.