Surfing on the Ice: A One-of- a-Kind Excursion

Most surfers will take a reluctant break from the water when ice and cold weather persists—but for others, these are nothing more than minor bumps along the way.

In today’s blog, we’re taking a look at an extreme kind of surfing—ice surfing—and the steadfast surfers who do it every winter.

Why it works

When you think of “ice surfing,” what image comes to mind? Surfing monster waves frozen in place by flashes of icy weather?

It may sound like a spectacle to see, but this isn’t exactly what ice surfers encounter on the water. Instead, they surf waves filled with (and caused by) broken-up chunks of ice in some of the Earth’s coldest waters. Even in calm waters, where an active ice break isn’t happening, many adventurers with a passion for the untouched outdoors will simply lie down and paddle past icebergs and icy ocean landscapes.

Equipped with a wet suit and experience on the water, the cold isn’t enough to keep these extreme surfers away—rather, it calls to their daring side and beckons them closer!

Amazing feats of ice surfing

In 2007, big-wave surfers Garret McNamara and Keali’i Mamala took to the frigid waters of Central Alaska to ride the waves made by glaciers as they calved, or broke apart, into pieces of ice. The waves they rode were larger than life—since the chunks of ice were so large and fell into the water in unpredictable patterns, McNamara and Mamala didn’t have the relative uniformity of basic beach waves to lean on. Still, they were successful, riding alongside the edge of the glacier as the cold conditions persisted.

While by no means a widely publicized sport, we do know a bit more about ice surfing (and the extreme adventurers who do it every year) thanks to the help of photographers like Chris Burkard. His penchant for photography and desire to capture places rarely seen (extreme surfing, breathtakingly remote aquatic landscapes, etc.) has led him to snap quite literally “chilling” photographs of surfers beside gigantic mountains, shores laden in ice above and below the surface, and even ocean scenes under the glimmer of the Northern Lights of Iceland. With such awe-inspiring scenes associated with the sport, it’s no wonder that ice surfing is actively sought out by a brave (and bold) few.

While these surfers prove to us that anything is impossible, we still prefer surfing (and, occasionally, tumbling into) warm water. What about you—would you ever try this extreme take on the sport? Let us know below!