An iceman, a baker, a pizza pie maker. The first job is a cool place to work during record-breaking heat. The others, not so much.
As temperatures skipped over 100 degrees Friday, Eben Rackett was stacking ice in a snow suit, wool beanie and thick gloves at Colorado Ice Works, 3313 South Santa Fe.
The region’s largest ice manufacturer went through 25,000 pounds of bagged, crafted and sculpted ice last week. Friday, eight full-time icemen were preparing for a weekend of parties.
Temperature outside reached 100 degrees, but inside Colorado Ice Works they stay at 18 degrees in an atmosphere where you can see your breath when you talk.
Sight for sore ice
In Colorado Ice Works’ sculpting room, the floor is coated with an invisible slippery-thin glaze.
It’s in this human freezer that Dominic Cutilletta shaved a J-shaped block of ice into a shape similar to an Olympic sled luge run.
“Fraternities like these for their parties,” explained sales manager Mike Bickelhaupt. The trick is to open one’s mouth at the bottom of the luge-like a funnel to catch liquor shots, he said.
Cutilletta, a former metal sculptor, carved geometric designs in the ice luge in a short-sleeved t-shirt, flakes flying until if you didn’t know better, you’d think it was snowing. Inside a building.
Temperatures outside reached 100 degrees, but inside Colorado Ice Works they stay at 18 degrees in an atmosphere where you can see your breath when you talk. It’s in this human freezer that Dominic Cutiletta shaved a J-shaped block of ice into an olympic sled luge run. “Fraternities like these for parties,” explained sales manager Mike Bickelhaupt. Nearby, a large metal machine created a birthday sculpture with a needled contraption which dipped in and out of a flat surface to spell Happy 37th Birthday to someone named Frankie.
Nearby, a metal contraption that resembled a large sewing machine created a birthday sculpture. It involved a needle that dipped in and out of a flat ice surface to spell Happy 37th Birthday to someone named Frankie.
Even this sizzling weekend, “this sculpture will last longer than the party,” said sales manager Mike Bickelhaupt.
Hot as dragon breath
Back outside in the heat, Martin Casas was working at a less-desirable outdoor job repairing a bridge at Platte River Drive and Dartmouth.
Across the highway, someone who did not answer the door to a ramshackle building was taking a dismal hit to the wallet trying to sell firewood for $49 a cord.
Pizza cooks were having a bad day slapping pies into 500-degree ovens where it feels like “150 degrees hits you in the face,” said server Alex Fernandez of Jimano’s Pizza.
Good thing bakers at Trompeau Bakery, next door at 2950 S. Broadway start at 4 a.m. Even in the summer in Colorado, the nights usually cool off, but not this weekend, said shift supervisor Victoria Harvisor. She emanated a lovely glow as she laid delicious fresh-baked buns on a tray.
“When you’re baking and the sun comes up, all of the ovens are on and it gets worse,” she said.
Sweat it be
The Denver Gazette could not find anyone doing roof work during Friday’s heat wave. That could be because many roofing companies do not allow their crews to work on the top of a building in the blistering sun.
“We shut down when the temperature goes above 90 degrees,” said Cory Merz, the owner of A-Denver Roofing. “It’s best not to have guys up there where the air is stagnant, and the heat reflects off of the materials. It’s hellacious!”
There is another reason to sit their crews during extreme heat. The hot sun can soften asphalt shingles, which Merz pointed out can become a gooey disaster when roofers walk on them.
The forecast calls for at least two more days of above 100-degree heat.
Water you gonna do?
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