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How do you remove 3cm of solid ice from a sidewalk? Unfortunately, watching the Top Gear Polar Special had done nothing to prepare me for this challenge¹. I soon realized I should have spent my time diligently sweeping away the snow before it had the time to turn into a layer of hard, seriously slippery ice.

It was too late for that, so I tried pouring de-icing salt on it and smashing it to pieces with a snow shovel. More than an hour later, I had only partially cleared a narrow path and was about to run out of salt and motivation. I realized I needed better equipment, so I headed for the next DIY store.

It was a huge disappointment: No flame throwers, no giant electric heating blankets and more worryingly, no salt². While looking at almost every tool they had, trying to figure out if it would be suitable for ice removal, I eventually came to the conclusion that they're better equipped to handle zombie attacks. Just when I was about to give up, I came across exotic gardening tool no. 3192 by Gardena. It looked like a giant razor blade that might be able to cut through the ice and then lift it up from below, breaking the ice instead of just scraping off a bit.

It worked exactly like I had hoped and I removed the rest of the ice in a few minutes. I didn't even stop to take pictures, which is why the second picture below (taken today) shows the tool breaking some compressed snow instead of real ice (conditions were far worse yesterday):

¹ I was preparing for the day after they run out of salt to de-ice the roads. Still looking for a modified Toyota Hilux.

² Apparently sold out everywhere else in Luxembourg, too.