University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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a frigid feat STUDENTS TEST THEIR GRIT AND THEIR GRIP IN THE Relatively new sport of silo ice climbing STORY: JILLIAN HANON IMAGE: COURTESY Cascading ice stalactites towered above and below Darrel Shaw, Se nior recreation and sports management major who had never gone Ice climbing before. He reached up with his ax, ready to dig into the frozen wall so that he could advance. I made a rookie mistake by looking up,” Shaw said. “A chunk of ice came °ose and hit me in the face, breaking my sunglasses and scratching up m Y nose and lip.” s cott Dirksen, graduate education and recreation management major, Shaw against the ice while he recovered. Eventually both climbers ade it to the top, not of a mountain, but of an 80-foot ice-covered silo. dirksen and Shaw, who both graduated from their respective programs ln May 2010, traveled with a team of six undergrads to Cedar Falls to ice- Climb a silo near the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) on Martin Luther n Jr. weekend, Jan. 15-17, 2010. Dirksen facilitated the trip through fr e UA’s Outdoor Connection Center (OCC), where he and Shaw both Vv ° r ked. The program was a first for the UA. did my undergrad at UNI, so I’d helped with ice climbing previously,” frksen said. “As part of my undergraduate coursework, 1 took an ice bing class.” teacher was Don Briggs, who invented the sport of silo ice climbing in 200i. [Briggs] had a friend who he helped on with his farm. He said, ‘Dang, e Sliest thing to climb in Iowa is these silos,’ and then he said, ‘Wait a frat was the beginning of an unorthodox new sport. Wh nen Dirksen presented the trip idea to the OCC, he found an eager frader in Shaw. Ic climbing is something that I have always wanted to do,” Shaw t am trying to get more experience facilitating trips, to help me find a job after I graduate. Scott has really taken me under his wing this year and has really helped me to become a better trip leader.” UNI’s outdoor program lent the UA visitors some cross-country skiing equipment and let them use the fitness center when they weren’t at the silo. “After we had been climbing all day we went to UNI and went hot- tubbing and swimming and rock-climbing,” said Rachel Knight, freshman criminal justice and sociology major who went on the trip. The experience was so enjoyable that three weeks later, Dirksen and Shaw returned to Cedar Falls to participate in an ice-climbing competition, though they did not officially represent the UA. “Scott and I both won a new Marmot down sleeping bag,” Shaw said, “We met a lot of people and had a great time.” Dirksen expressed hopes that the OCC would continue running trips to Cedar Falls and that the UA might someday compete in silo ice climbing officially. “We have a good working relationship with Don Briggs, who runs the ice silos,” he said. “He’d allow us to come up again, especially since we’ve got our own gear.” DARREL SHAW: “A CHUNK OF ICE CAME LOOSE AND HIT ME IN THE FACE, BREAKING MY SUNGLASSES AND SCRATCHING UP MY NOSE AND i i ” SILO ICE CLIMBING

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Clingiiig to the ice, students navigate the 80-foot taM tower. Eight ' students traveled to 1° to participate in the i 1 sport of silo icct climbiw January 1 F Ifff ihi ■ ■■ rWf atm Jl fjl lUfT pij % ' drf w Ml Wf jtljljJ W r -M o jjfj Im ] 11 III Aim Hi

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labor of love FROM SCHOOLWORK TO LATE-NIGHT STUDYING, STUDENTS RELIEVE THE STRESS FROM SCHOOL WITH INTERESTING HOBBIES STORY: BOBBIE FOSTER IMAGES: YASMINE OMARI Willie Benson: Senior, Geography “I started juggling right before I went into 10th grade, so almost seven years ago. 1 had a friend who shared my vision of being a masked juggling street performer with a hidden identity. He taught me how to juggle, but sadly our vision never came to be. There really is no most difficult trick because you can always come up with something harder ... and if all else fails, add a ball. Also, whats really hard to one juggler may be easy to another.”