May 4 at Nenana: the tripod is still standing, but the ice beneath it is breaking apart and water is closing in on all sides. | BorealisBroadband.net
Tripod Still Standing as Breakup Pressure Builds on the Tanana River
By Gina Hill | Alaska Headline Living | May 4, 2026
As of May 4, the Nenana Ice Classic tripod is still standing, but it is clearly on borrowed time.
Live webcam views from Borealis Broadband show what can only be described as a shrinking ice island in the middle of a river that is waking up fast. The ice around the tripod is no longer solid and uniform. It is darkening, breaking, and surrounded by widening bands of open water that look like a loose moat forming around the base.
That’s the part that catches your eye. The tripod isn’t sitting on a clean sheet of ice anymore. It is sitting on something more fragile, with water moving around it and under it, eating away at what’s left of the structure holding it up.
Up and down the Tanana River, breakup is clearly underway. Channels are opening, ice is weakening, and pressure points are starting to give way in the usual spots. Nothing has fully released yet in Nenana, but the river is in that late-stage shift where everything looks quiet right up until it is not.
This is the stretch of days where locals know better than to blink at it for too long. The tripod can hold on like this for a while, then it can go in a heartbeat.
For now, it is still standing. Barely. Stay tuned!
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