We have reached a ‘cryo-historical’ moment – cryo signifying ice and snow, directing our attention to the historical powers of human forcing in the Anthropocene. This is a moment that demonstrates humanity’s hegemony over Earth as manifested in a retreat of one of its elements as a result of human action. This paper presents a brief history of knowledge of ice in the Arctic in the light of recent science and scholarship. Its central claim is that ice has become historical, i.e., that ice is an element of change and thus something that can be considered as part of society and of societal concern. This idea is followed across a set of themes, such as the trope of an ice free Arctic Sea, ice as a systematic scientific endeavor, as a strategic element especially during the Cold War, as viewed by Arctic residents, and ice as a dimension of the emerging scholarly interest in a planetary consciousness, especially in the field of environmental humanities which in recent years have expanded into the Arctic.