Isn't It Ironic?

These men need pseudonyms to escape the ridicule of their peers. Why? Because they are extreme ironists. No, not like John. The other kind. The kind that combine rockclimbing with ironing.

Sometimes the ironists lug electrical generators, but other times they heat their irons on portable gas stoves. A German ironist, Dr. Iron Q, has treated an iron with a chemical that heats up when water is applied.

Shirts have been pressed from Everest to the Brazilian rain forest, on bicycles and scuba dives. One of the few American ironists once cut an iron-shaped hole in a frozen lake in Wisconsin and, with a Black and Decker Quick N Easy 410, "ironed" a shirt underwater. But his shirt, upon surfacing, froze.

Next week, Mr. Shaw's crew will iron on Mount Rushmore and among alligators and bison.

Boosters hope to make extreme ironing an Olympic sport, on the grounds that such "sports" as curling and water ballet are included. I, um. Big whatevs to Olympic ironing.

Comments

[Gary Farber]

Ah, yes, the lovely extreme ironists. I blogged about them back mid-Febrary, with a bunch of links. Have you checked out their home page, which I linked to?

[Jason Kuznicki]

I wonder if their husbands and wives can get them to iron around the house, or if they view ordinary, non-extreme ironing as beneath them?

[Belle Waring]

Thanks Gary, I'll check it out. Jason: they damn well better do ordinary ironing. Who would put up with them otherwise?

[Saheli]

I'm sure they do the regular ironing---they must view it as a kind of training.

"Honey! I need more wrinkled clothes! I've got to get in top condition for Thursday's freestyle event! Quick, roll around on the floor!"