photos by Jared Boyd

OK, basicaly it goes like this: At the highest point in the ice-making assembly line, there is a giant reservoir filled with water. Below the reservoir are large cooling vats, called evaporators. As water is released into the evaporators, it circulates around a cylinder containing a coolant (freon), which makes ice form on the inner and outer walls of the evaporators. Once enough ice has formed, hot gas is used to up the cylinder, forcing the ice to fall inlarge chunks into an ice cutter below. From here, the ice is cut into blocks or cubes and dumped into a bin which, by the way, can contain several hundred cubic feet. From the bin, the ice passes through a sorting machine, and with the push of a button, is released into a bag . The bags are then passed through a sealer and loaded onto pallets. At Durangos Southwest Ice, Thomas Vanderleest and his crew of five churn out about 3,500 bags of ice every day, seven days a week. And given all the equipment that is used, something is always breaking down. Nevertheless, the ice making must go on.