Awesome Ice

(PG-13: Language) The guys from Beyond the Press were inspired by CarsandWater’s red hot nickel ball experiments, but they supersized things by dropping a ridiculously hot steel weight into a thick sheet of ice-covered lake to see what would happen.

For their latest bit of action carporn, Pennzoil headed to the frozen tundra of Alberta, Canada with a 2016 BMW M6, and driver Rhys Millen behind the wheel. While many of today’s car commercials are done with CGI, the driving in this impressive clip is 100% Millen.

NOWNESS and photographer Ian Derry visited freediver Johanna Nordblad, the woman who holds a world record for diving under ice. Her fascination with the frigid, yet peaceful conditions came after she was subjected to ice water treatments for a serious leg fracture.

Freeskier and car enthusiast Jon Olsson outfitted his Lamborghini with studded tires and proceeded to drive it to the summit at Norway’s Fonna Glacier Ski Resort. It’s not the most practical way to traverse the snow and ice, but it might just be the most entertaining.

We’ve seen lots of fancy “making of” videos from blacksmiths making awesome metal weapons. But it turns out that with a mix of frozen water and layered toilet paper, you can make a sword that can also smash helpless fruits – at least until the sun melts it.

Munchies dropped down Ginza, Japan’s Bar High Five to get a look at owner Hidetsugu Ueno’s perfectly balanced and artful cocktails, and his ability to individually carve chunks of ice into glimmering diamond shapes. Ironically, Hidetsugu doesn’t even drink.

While we’d all love to have perfect ice cubes in our drinks, it’s not always feasible. Nate Cotterman’s glassware has a cube or sphere built in that resembles a crystal-clear block of ice. The highball gets a pair of cubes. While they don’t improve cooling, they don’t melt either.

Holland recently coined the term “straatsen” – a mashup of “straat” (street), and “schaatsen” (skating) – after ice covered the country’s roads, making them impassable. TasteLikePizza compiled this video of residents turning their frozen lemons into frozen lemonade.

Back in 2012, percussion group ЭТНОБИТ (Ethnobeat) transformed the sheets of ice on Siberia’s frozen Lake Baikal into a wondrous natural musical instrument. The recording engineer for this clip deserves just as much praise as the musicians.

Step up your whiskey game with some spherical ice cubes. These silicon rubber ice molds create a 2.5″ ice ball that will help keep your drink chilled for a long time, and looks cool doing it. The set makes two ice spheres in about 4 hours.

Cool your drinks with freedom. True Fabrications’ U Ice of A lets you make ice shaped like the Continental United States. Or at least most of them. The East coast was compressed in the service of serviceable ice.

With Winter gasping for its final breaths here in the Northern Hemisphere, editor Scott Duffy pays tribute to the sport of ice hockey – sampling sounds related to his now melting backyard ice rink. Well, there’s always the indoor rink.

Hikers in the High Tatras Mountains in Slovakia came across a crystal clear lake that was frozen solid. Walking out on the slippery, transparent surface was a surreal experience which must be seen to be appreciated.

Skip the ice cubes and keep your cocktails cool by wrapping them in ice. These silicone molds sculpt a wall of ice – using water, juice or other drink mixers to dramatic effect. Available in martini or rocks versions.

Firefight Films shot this awesome footage inside and around some incredible ice caves in Alaska, using a GoPro HERO3+ Black Edition and a DJI Phantom drone. The behind the scenes reel is loaded with amazing shots as well.

You’d think that ice and motorcycles wouldn’t mix, but stunt rider Jorian Ponomareff proved just the opposite as he pulled off some awesome drifts and tricks on the slippery stuff. An oldie, but a goodie from 2012. Fun BTS video here.