25th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War

There was still snow and cold at the beginning of last week.

The lake area got a bit more snow every day. On some days, we got more than a bit.

When it wasn't snowing, it was winding. Snow devils whirled down the lake, stinging any exposed flesh in its path and making drifts.

Last Tuesday was the day that the old fort forms were pulled out, dusted off, set up, and filled with snow.

The building process can take a few days or a few hours depending on the fanciness of the forts and the stamina of the workers.

By the weekend, the Southern fort was only waiting for the stocking of the cafeteria and the installation of weapon systems.

With just hours before the event, the South fort boasted chairs, snacks, and 7 Krispa class rocket tubes housed in 4 firing ports.

The North fort, being manned largely by ski show performers, had a water show theme. It centered around a snow boat "pulling" a couple of pyramids

The snow driver and snow observer were a nice touch.

Its superstructure included a large internal support. The warmer temperatures made the beefier building a wiser way to go. Saturday's heat punished forts not built to 40 F specifications. The Southern fort was to suffer.

Minutes before the first rocket was launched, the Southern fort had 30% of its front wall collapse!

Combat engineers were pressed into service. Parts of the back wind-wall were combined with the rubble and a launcher was salvaged just before the conflict began.

The first shots were launched just after 7:00 PM CST.

In the past, we used a one minute exposure to get the pictures. This year we went with a 15 second exposure time.

There was a breeze from the South that aided the shots going North.

Some of the North's shots hit the repaired walls, but many of the almost 2000 rockets fired at the South were short or long.

The South's rockets skipped right into the North's wall and snow boat. At one point, the port side of the boat was on fire (Really!). There were also small fires reported below the Southern wall and all along the North's.

After the last rocket reported, the gathering at the bar turned out to be the most well attended in the 25 year history of the Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War. Thanks to everyone who came.

Those that attended The Great Stick Pickup of 2016 can attest to the pummeling of the North Fort's walls.

The snow boat was listing 5 or 10 degrees to port and will need some dry dock time for repairs

The warm night broke the South's walls. Rescue and salvage teams combed the wreckage for survivors, material, and snacks.

Less than half the wind wall and the West entry way are all that remained of the once proud bastion.

The 25th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War was one for the ages. The warm weather facilitated huge volumes of fire! With Report! You're all invited to next year's war. Until then, the snow-go trails are open, it's easy to keep the beer cold, the walleyes are biting under the ice on Mentonga, and ice-out is only a month or three away. We'll post the ice-out contest in the next few weeks.

-Nemo can hardly wait till next year.

25th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War

January 25th through 31st, 2016