Inge Wegge and Jørn Ranum have had a simple yet surprising idea. They want to make surfboards out of ice.
The Norwegian filmmakers, who have already released "North of the Sun," are shooting a very special documentary about the limits of surfboard design.
Between February and April 2019, the coldest months in the Arctic region, the duo is gathering a group of surfers, a shaper, and an ice sculptor to try to build surfboards using ice as their core material.
"We know it will work, but first, we have to cut out pieces of ice from a lake or something. But those blocks of ice only last around five or ten minutes," explains Wegge.
"Our biggest challenge was getting the boards to last as long as possible out in the ocean and to have time to actually surf it. So, we had to freeze it in a fishing factory."
The makers of "Ice Edge" are crowdfunding their work, and the documentary will be broadcasted on NRK, the Norwegian public radio and television network.
Eco-Friendly Surfboards
Wegge and Ranum believe that they are doing something really unique - the world's most eco-friendly surfboards - and plan to test them featuring fins, sand grains instead of wax, and eventually embedded LED lights.
The team behind "Ice Edge" have already made a few tests and produced over 20 boards. Some have crashed into pieces; others resisted the impacts of wave riding.
"The waves must be good, the board should not be too thick or thin, and the surfers need some help to get enough speed in the water."
"But we still have to come up with a solution for the slipperiness of the whole surface."
In the past, Jørn had already created a similar project - he built a half-pipe for skateboarding made from frozen sand. The result can be seen in "Northbound."
"I'm not sure what we're going to freeze next," jokes his filmmaking partner, Inge Wegge.