Along Lake Superior near Sault Ste. Marie, photographers return each year for the brief window when caves and curtains of shoreline ice form at just the right mix of cold air, moving water, and wind.
Has it been a longer winter and late spring? It’s a promise, the last of these types of whiteness-and-grey-tones stories. It is mostly about the photos; we should not forget the beauty of the ice and winter as the weather warms and the blackflies and mosquitoes reappear.
For some, ice and snow mean no bugs. It is hands and feet that become the priority. Earlier this year, I was again intrigued by the ice on the Mattawa River and some ice climbers. The translucent colour was magnetic.
Have a read and a look. Ice formations along shorelines and rock faces are an attraction like waterfalls. They are beautiful late-winter, early-spring spectacles. You see them on rock cuts along highways and along shorelines where there is moving water, like along the north shore of Lake Superior.
These art forms are created through a dynamic combination of falling air temperatures, water movement , and thermal expansion. Grade Ten or Twelve science. When cold air cools surface water to the freezing mark initial ice forms, which is then moved, stacked, and sculpted by wind and waves, or pushed onto a beach by the expansion of the main lake ice sheet. It is the same with icicles.
Along rock faces, particularly with overhangs icicles form when frozen snow or ice melts, typically due to sunlight or escaping building heat. Then freezes in colder air as it drips down. This cycle of melting and freezing builds up layers of ice, with gravity pulling the accumulating water down to form a long, tapered spike. There are stories within the ice.
Expert The ice is important beyond putting in summer drinks. I try to highlight our mostly unknown scientists. This story is a chance to do so. There are no hockey trading cards for them, but they are superstars.
If you ask most people, they would be hard-pressed to name a starting lineup. Alison Criscitiello is one of them, though, if we want to continue the comparison with Connor McDavid. Scientists do not make this type of money. It is almost a stipend comparison at this point.
Connor McDavid is playing under an 8-year, $100 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers , which translates into $12.5 million. He signed a 2-year, $25 million extension starting in 2026-27. In 2023/2024, the median salary for full-time teaching staff at Canadian universities was $151,700, with salaries significantly higher at top research institutions.
She was out in the field, but dogged determination led to the eventual contact with a renowned figure, misplaced out there, apart from our sports and entertainment stars. Alison is an ice core scientist, National Geographic Explorer, Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta.
In addition to her academic work, she is a co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada and an avid adventurer and mountain climber. Her daughter’s name is Winter. She knows her ice and goes to icy places. As a world-renowned ice core scientist and a glaciologist, her work has taken her to ice caps around the world, including Antarctica, Greenland, and the Canadian High Arctic.
And to the summit of Canada’s highest peak, Mount Logan. This work contributes much to our growing knowledge of climate change impacts. The research tracks environmental contaminant history using ice core chemistry. Many of the glaciers she has visited are at extreme risk due to climate change.
Criscitiello is at the forefront of data capture and documentation of ice loss in these fragile areas. Ice coring science has been around for more than fifty years, but no one has conducted such an extensive collection at high altitudes. Difficult work. For Winter is a Canadian documentary by National Geographic Impact Story Lab following ice core scientist Alison and her team on a 2022 expedition up Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak.
The team endured -40°C temperatures, intense snowfall, and whiteout conditions to extract crucial climate data. In the trailer, you can see what ice coring all is about.
“Though global warming is expected to be amplified in the world's highest elevation regions, few climate observations exist from these hard‐to‐reach locales. Mt. Logan, the second-tallest mountain in North America , provides a glacier ice core climate record that can help fill this knowledge gap.
“A priority of my research moving forward is to drill non-polar, high-altitude ice cores such as the Logan core, in the great mountain ranges of the world that are some of the places on our planet which are warming the fastest. ” What does she think of ice, beyond the scientific record?
“What makes ice an art form? That's a hard question to answer. I think everything about them is art - the science and history and stories held within, and the physical features that anyone can see with their naked eye. Their changing colour with depth and density, the visible volcanic and melt layers.
” In our backyards You don’t have to climb a mountain to see this beauty. There are ice formations everywhere, including hanging off our eavestroughs. But along shorelines, riverbanks and rock cuts, they bring wonderment. Lake Superior is a favourite haunt for looking at the ice and is an attraction in other seasons as well.
Photographers of all stripes flock here. I asked AI: “How many photos are taken of Lake Superior each year? ” It told us: “There is no exact official statistic for the total number of photos taken of Lake Superior each year, as the vast majority are personal photos taken by tourists and residents.
However, based on regional tourism data and visitor behaviour, the number is likely in the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, annually. Over 3.5 million visitors come to the Lake Superior basin annually. ” Not really a human response. So, lots.
That’s better. Ellen VanLaar takes photos throughout the year, and her inspiration is the Lake Superior shoreline just north of the “Soo. ” “Hi Bill, I've lived near Sawpit Bay since 2003. My inspiration is the beauty here and how everything seems to change form, especially ice.
” Her sense of place, at Cape Mamainse, east Lake Superior, is derived from history and ancestors, geology and plant life, sunsets and water phenomena.
“Our environment is an important part of my lifestyle. “Snow, fog, rain, sun, wind, temperature, wave action, and impediments create sculptural ice forms that catch the light, changing my environment each day. “Sawpit Bay is a wonderful place to explore ice formations,” she said, and in Ellen’s backyard. It is often called a hidden gem, but it is easy to find, 100 km north of the Soo locks.
It is situated just 10 minutes north of the entrance to Pancake Bay Provincial Park. It is roadside accessible. It has been in the news recently. It has been closed to the public and marked with "no trespassing" signs by Ontario's Ministry of Transportation .
The signage follows years of severe vandalism, including littering, spray-painted rocks, cut-down trees, and illegal camping. Some feel it is caused by social media exposure and increased visitation since the COVID-19 pandemic. Dan Grisdale, a photographer working out of Sault Ste. Marie is quoted in the SooToday article.
“…That’s upsetting to visitors such as photographer Dan Grisdale… “Some people just keep going there and dumping all over the place. There’s spray painting on the rocks. Somebody started a fire there last year, and somebody cut half the bush down. Trees were cut down and left lying on the ground.
It's just a constant, and every time you go there, you get depressed to see it,” Grisdale told SooToday. I have been there many times, true. You can see some of his ice formation photography here. Contact was made with the MTO regarding the conflict.
“In response to concerns raised by residents about unauthorised use of the site, MTO installed 'No Trespassing' signage in November 2025, to clarify that lake access is restricted at that location. Other public access points to the lake are available in the surrounding area, where visitors can access the waterfront,” said Julia Caslin, Senior Media Relations Advisor, MTO. Compliance and enforcement are always a challenge in these overused and abused natural areas. Ellen says, “People are too used to convenience.
They've become irresponsible. People want to leave their mark on things, even graffiti, like dogs peeing on fire hydrants. Many don't want to pay to go to the provincial parks, although nearby Batchewana Bay Provincial Park is free. Mostly, people have been compliant; it takes just one group of people to regularly meet for firecrackers and drinks to ruin the opportunity to enjoy such protected locations.
” Batchawana Bay Provincial Park is generally not free for day use; a daily vehicle permit is required for entry to the park and use of the beach. Permits can be purchased via a self-serve system on-site. A plaque erected by the Ontario Motor League highlights Batchawana Bay as the mid-point in the longest national highway in the world - the Trans-Canada Highway. Videography perspective Then, from videographers who know the Lake Superior shoreline.
“We are aware of your Backroads Bill features in media, and have seen your podcast with the McGuffins, so Google is not necessary for us to know you! ” Sheri Tuck and Jay Case live close to the shore of Lake Superior. Their YouTube productions focus on more remote and less-travelled places. They know Sawpit Bay.
Their efforts bring to light the importance of conservation. They said, “We humans don’t protect that which we don’t know. We believe that if you get to know these wild places, you’ll come to love them. If you love something, you’ll protect it.
” Find ‘Beauty of the Backcountry’ - "This is how we camp!
" and their YouTube channel. Their mutual banter and dialogue are homespun and genuine.
“In the winter, if the harsh conditions of winds, waves and cold temperatures occur at just the right time, it creates these awe-inspiring formations. ” “When the ice caves can form, it is a blessing, and we cherish the opportunity to witness them. The uniqueness of each formation, as well as the size and beauty, is what attracts us to the ice caves. They think these features are the epitome of a Northern Ontario winter.
“Cold and harsh at times, but also quiet, serene and beautiful on a cold and sunny day. ” They look at the sensitivity of these natural wonders.
“The ability to walk on the lake and into these caves frozen in time only lasts a short time each winter. They invoke amazement and awe in us, as we realize the sheer power that created them. They also invoke a sense of calmness, playfulness and wonder along the shoreline of Lake Superior, a shoreline we are bonded with as we have shared and explored it throughout many seasons. Their connectivity is sincere.
“We are connected to the calm waters and the not-so-calm waters, and to know the extreme power of the waves and winds that have created these formations is humbling yet invokes respect for the lake. Contrasting that raw power of creation while experiencing the still calmness inside these caves is a stark juxtaposition. ” And then the spontaneity and finality of it all.
“The fleeting nature of these formations reminds us to respect the lake and always maintain the humility needed to safely navigate and appreciate her beauty. Only a few days after our visit, the ice floor had vanished as the winds picked up and the waves below the ice reshaped the area completely.
" Some thoughts on Sawpit Bay. “We do have some thoughts on the Sawpit Bay dilemma and the MTO closure of the area. We believe it was warranted as the area had been spoiled by people abusing it ... so much litter, graffiti, the harvesting of live trees and even a hovel built at the shore off Weston Road. It's not just an eyesore, but an affront to the natural beauty of the shoreline of Lake Superior.
We never like to see public spaces cordoned off by governments, but hopefully this is a temporary first step in the solution. ” They said: “Education is definitely something that needs to be done, as well as enforcement for offences committed. The fine edge of the sword is that we need to use the spaces in order to keep them protected from industry. The natural world needs to be protected in more ways than 1.
” Their YouTube channel has been active for four years. They started documenting adventures to share with families who were not able to do the trips they were doing, along with their love of photography and videography. I like their Wabakimi trip video because of my story on the hermit, Wendell Beckwith, who lived there as a wilderness man. Ice formations, wherever they appear, create stunning, transient, and intricate natural art, something to look forward to again.
Lots of time to look forward to 2027. For me, the final reminder is the distinct crystalline sound of the candle ice. It is a delicate, metallic "clinking" or tinkling sound, closely resembling a chorus of tiny glass wind chimes. You can hear it here on the hull of the canoe.
This has been a transitional article. It is time to move on…spring is here, summer is soon enough. More to see and learn about on the back roads. Where’s that warmer weather anyway?
The last couple of days seem to be the beginning of a warming trend just in time for the holiday.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Here are the new measures at Clear Lake as the boat ban is liftedParks Canada has laid out its conditions for those who are wanting to operate their motorized boats on Clear Lake.
Read more »
Elliot Lake native documents Northern Ontario’s logging past, one hike at a timeThe Elliot Lake Historical Society is hosting a June 25 event that will bring together logging historians from across Northern Ontario—and spotlight Dan Kachur’s latest work chronicling how companies like Cook Brothers, Waldie, and McFadden built their...
Read more »
Traffic stop in Elliot Lake uncovers $25.5K in cocaineTwo people from Elliot Lake have been charged after a traffic stop on Highway 108 recently led to the discovery of what police believe is 259 grams of cocaine.
Read more »
Late winter ice turns Lake Superior’s shoreline into a fleeting galleryAlong Lake Superior near Sault Ste. Marie, photographers return each year for the brief window when caves and curtains of shoreline ice form at just the right mix of cold air, moving water, and wind.
Read more »