We’ve seen some unusual below zero F. cold lately and when it gets cold like this my thoughts usually turn to a deep cut rail trail up in Westmoreland that ice climbers call the icebox. The groundwater constantly seeping from thousands of cracks in the stone walls of the manmade canyon freezes into ice columns that can easily reach the size of trees. It can be very beautiful but since it is only November I wasn’t sure what I’d find. Though I doubted there would be much ice to see, last Saturday I made the drive to Westmoreland to find out.
There was some impressive ice to be seen but nothing like it will be in January.
There are a lot of minerals in the groundwater that seeps through the stone and they are the only thing I can think of that would color ice like this.
I’ve seen orange, green, blue, red, tan, brown and even black ice here.
The giant ice columns are like a magnet for ice climbers and members of the New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Mountain Club come here to train beginning climbers. I was surprised to see some of them here on this day since it is so early in the season.
This should give you an idea of the scale of the place. Though the ice might look impressive it is much less so than it will be in a couple of months. This climber said she was a beginner but she had climbed just about as far up as she could. The ledges in this spot I’d guess are about 50 feet high. Though it was cold at about 40 degrees this day I’ve read that the ideal conditions for climbing happen at between 20 and 35 degrees, because those temperatures produce the just right “plastic” ice; not cold enough to shatter and not warm enough to melt. Ice climbers swing sharp tools called picks into the ice and embed them in it so they can hang onto them as they climb, and I would guess that the last thing they want to see is shattering ice. Since the temperature in the canyon is always colder than the surrounding countryside it must have been just about perfect for plastic ice on this day.
This view looks back the way we came in. It can be very cold in here because the sunlight rarely seems to reach the canyon floor in winter. There is almost always a breeze blowing through the canyon as well, even when there is no breeze outside. It’s as if it makes its own wind.
The railroad engineers used a lot of the stone they blasted out of the canyon to build massive retaining walls along the parts of the trail outside of the canyon. They are some of the best examples of stone wall building that I know of and you won’t find a teaspoon of mortar in any of these walls. Note how the wall leans back into the hillside at about a 10 degree angle, as any good retaining wall should. I’d bet next week’s paycheck that a bed of crushed stone or gravel extends out at least two or three feet from the back of the wall into the hillside. This is for drainage so wet soil doesn’t freeze behind the wall and heave it apart. You want the back of the wall as dry as possible.
I like to see how the ice forms according to the conditions. This little grotto scene looked almost other worldly.
This ice looked like a necklace made of clear crystal, all formed by drip after drip of water.
In places the ice was rotten, and you can tell that by its matte gray, opaque “sick” look and the dull thud it makes when you tap it. Ice becomes rotten when air and / or dirt get in between the grains of ice and it becomes honeycombed and loses its strength.
In some places where the sun reached the walls of the cut ice had been falling, and in fact I saw (and heard) some fall while I was here.
I thought how, if I was a teenager once again, I’d find a way to slide down this giant ice slide.
I have a feeling that it’s going to be a good year for ice formations even though the forecast is for rain and above freezing temps this week.
Drainage ditches along the railbed have been doing their job of directing all of this water out of the canyon for around 150 years, but heavy rain overwhelmed them last summer and washed away parts of the railbed. It’s a hard thing to see this place being so severely damaged but there is only so much the snowmobile club volunteers can do, I suppose. One day instead of a railbed here it might be a stream.
In places the stone is stained by years of mineral seepage.
In other places the colors on the walls come from living things, like this algae, but I don’t think they color the ice because they don’t grow where a lot of ice accumulates. This is actually a green algae called Trentepohlia aurea but the same pigment that colors carrots orange makes green algae orange as well. It’s also very hairy, but I couldn’t get close enough to show you.
Colorful foam gathered on one of the drainage ditches in what I thought were beautiful swirling patterns. What caused it to appear and what colored it, I don’t know.
I didn’t have my high rubber boots with me on this trip so I couldn’t get close enough to the canyon walls to get close shots of the algae or the great scented liverworts (Conocephalum conicum) seen here. This beautiful, reptilian liverwort gets its common name from its fresh, clean scent. It will only grow near water that is very clean and it grows here on the canyon walls just above the drainage ditches. Groundwater constantly splashes them and keeps them wet in warm months. In winter they are often encased in ice, which has just started happening to the plants in this shot.
We’re having some wet heavy snows this month but the old lineman’s shack still somehow stands, even though people have been pulling it apart for as long as I’ve known about it. It just goes to show how the railroad built things to last. Their carpenters were as good as their stone masons. I hope it’s still standing a month from now when I come back to see how the ice has grown.
The splendor of Silence,—of snow-jeweled hills and of ice. ~Ingram crockett
Thanks for stopping in.
Incongruous to see ice columns forming with green trees waving overhead.
Yes, but it does happen sometimes in the fall. It’s about 10 degrees cooler in there than the surrounding countryside.
The ice formations there are always spectacular, both on the large scale of the ice on the walls of the cut, and the smaller ones made by the dripping water. Great photos of both!
Also, every time that you visit this spot I’m reminded of the hard work that it must have been to blast the cut out of the rock, then build the retaining walls nearby.
Thanks Jerry! My daughter went there a week later and all the ice was gone, so now it has to start all over again!
I always wonder how they got all the snow out of there so the trains could get through.
That’s a good question, and I doubt that there are many people left alive from back then to answer it unfortunately.
This remains a fascinating place for me, too, Allen…with the mineral tainted colors of the ice and the greenery that you’re still able to find during the deep freeze of winter…and the masterfully created stone walls. Very nice.
Thank you Scott. Everyone I’ve ever brought or sent there has been amazed by the place. It’s almost one of a kind in this area.
You’re welcome, Allen…I know I’d enjoy visiting it, as well….
Oh, my gosh! Some of those photos are like paintings! Stunning, too.
Thank you Cynthia. It’s quite a place!
Reminds me of why New Englanders are called “rock-ribbed”. Did they create this for the railroads?
Yes, and a train called the Flying Yankee once traveled through it.
I love the pictures! That ice is really pretty. Your winter is far ahead of ours: we will have some of that kind of ice eventually, but none yet.
Thanks Montucky! We’re seeing temps in the 40s now with rain, so there’s a good chance that a lot of that ice will have to re-grow.
I am always very happy when you visit this icy canyon. The pictures were excellent.
Thank you, I’m glad you like the photos and the place. It’s pretty amazing!
I remember this area from your earlier posts, and always enjoy seeing it. These are beautiful photos, Allen! Plastic ice is a term I have not heard before, but it makes perfect sense for what the climbers need. It has become quite cold early back east, from all reports I hear. This coming week we should get drier, sunnier but colder mornings in the 20s out here in my area.
Thank you Lavinia. “Plastic” ice will have a little give, and will give without shattering.
It did get cold earlier but we’ve been in the 40s for a little while so it’s bearable.
I hope you don’t see too much cold!
Allen, can you give me directions to this spot? I’d be coming from the east via 202/9
You take 12 north from Keene towards Westmoreland. Just after the entrance to the Keene landfill on the left you’ll see a pull off spot on your right. Park there and walk to its northern end. From there you’ll see a path through the woods on your right. Follow that path, over the plank bridges, to its end and you’ll be at the rail trail. Prepare to be amazed!
Thank you!!
That is a wonderful place to document, your excellent pictures really bring it to life.
Thank you Susan, I know you like ice!