Photos: Rotary Club places ‘ice device’ at the center of Dillon Reservoir as part of its annual guessing game
Jesus Munoz, a project manager at A Kinder Carpet in Silverthorne, gets help putting on a Mustang Survival Ice Commander suit. The bright-yellow onesie keeps you warm for hours in frigid temperatures, according to Summit County Sheriff's Office personnel, who were on hand Saturday morning for the placement of the ice device. The device is the centerpiece of an annual fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Summit County.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
Jesus Munoz finally gets up on his feet after putting on a thermal survival suit before heading out into the middle of Dillon Reservoir on Saturday morning.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
Jesus Munoz checks his gear while his chariot awaits on Saturday.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
Brian Metzger, a technician with the special operations division for the Summit County Sherif''s Office, prepares to drive Jesus Munoz out into the middle of Dillon Reservoir. The vehicle is a 1987 hovercraft donated to the sheriff's office by the Rotary Club years ago.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
A hovercraft carrying Brian Metzger and Jesus Munoz speed across the snow and ice of Dillon Reservoir. The plan was to take Munoz out to the location. He would then dig a hole for the ice device, which Metzger would bring on a separate trip.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
After digging a hole atop the thick ice of Dillon Reservoir, Jesus Munoz waits for Brian Metzger to return with the ice device.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
Brian Metzger and Jesus Munoz wrestle ice device out of the hovercraft and into a spot where it will sit for the next few months.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
Jesus Munoz admires his handiwork on Saturday morning.
Jesus Munoz stands in the middle of Dillon Reservoir in a pose of triump.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
Huzzah!
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
The Rotary ice device is a 55-gallon drum full of air and weighted on one side. It contains a clock that will stop the instant the ice breaks and the device falls into water.
Ben Trollinger | btrollinger@summitdaily.com
The Rotary ice device is a 55-gallon drum full of air and weighted on one side. It contains a clock that will stop the instant the ice breaks and the device falls into water.
Ben Trollinger / btrollinger@summitdaily.com
As it has every March for the past 30-plus years, the Rotary Club of Summit County on Saturday morning placed its fabled ice device in the middle of a frozen Dillon Reservoir.
Accomplishing this herculean task required some special equipment: Sheriff’s office personnel on standby, a 1987 Scat hovercraft, a banana-yellow Mustang Survival Ice Commander suit, a shovel and Jesus Munoz.
Munoz, a project manager at A Kinder Carpet in Silverthorne, suited up, hopped aboard the hovercraft and, all by himself, dug a hole to contain the device, which, when the ice melts, will plop into the water, freezing its internal clock in time and making some shrewd person out there a cool $4,000.
Every year, the club’s fundraiser sells about 5,000 tickets. Having a ticket means you get to guess when the device — a 55-gallon drum full of air and weighted on one side — takes its spring plunge. After it’s been retrieved, the club checks the clock and identifies the winners. Last year, the device dropped on May 6.
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