CROW

Wuthrich puts on his red coveralls and hops onto the
ice. At 5’6”, he’s easily the smallest member on the crew
but when he talks, everybody listens. “Your shaving
of the ice is perfect,” he tells a volunteer. Then he gets
to work, throwing 10 boxes of Jet Ice Super White 3000
paint into a large white tub. It’s the only product Wuthrich
uses to get his ice pearly white. He picks up a hose
and starts spraying. After mixing and spraying 1,365 litres
of water and paint, the ice is a flawless clean sheet.
Each step is scheduled to a ‘T.’ Since his first national
event 20 years ago, Wuthrich has documented every job
he’s done in a series of binders. They contain layouts for logos
on the ice, an itinerary of where he should be in the icemaking
process at every hour, newspaper clippings and
reviews of his ice. The binders are his ice-making bibles.
While the fans cheer on their teams, Wuthrich will
spend most of the games hunched over a computer set
up at one end of the sheets. “During the game I don’t do
anything but watch the computer and monitor the tem-
Above: Wuthrich checks the forecast for the
weekend at his command station. Left: One of
Wuthrich’s many binders, in which he keeps
logo layouts, an itinerary of where he should
be at every hour of the ice-making process,
newspaper clippings, and reviews of his ice.
He has a binder for every event he’s ever done.
“I call them my curling diaries,” he says.
perature,” he says. But before the first rock is thrown in
the final game, he’s out on the ice, walking up and down,
sweeping away the smallest specks of debris. Typically,
“99.9 per cent of the players are happy with the ice,” he
says, but “there’s always players that think you’re out for
them.” Despite years of experience, he still feels the nerves.
And that’s not all he feels these days—just shy of 55, he
also feels his hips, knees and legs. Two more years, he tells
himself. The Socchi Olympics, and then retirement. But it
won’t be an easy step for someone with ice in his veins.
When the fans leave the stadium, the ice comes out in
a hurry. Once Wuthrich starts pulling out the centre pins
and hacking away, the relief floods over him. “In an hour
and a half it’ll all be gone,” he says. “The carpet will be
rolled up and the show’s over.” He’ll sleep solid for two or
three days.
54 THE CROW Fall 2012 Fall 2012 THE CROW 55