Hudson vs. the Tornado: The ice cream battle

Kids ran up to the cold glass counter. Their eyes shone as they stared down at a rainbow of 20 ice cream flavors.

Hudson Towler was getting ready to have one of each.

For six months, Towler, 17, had gazed at the handwritten "Do you dare? Tornado" sign at the Two Scoops ice cream shop in Anoka. The Tornado is a 20-scoop sundae, and Towler, a senior at Champlin Park High School, dared to become the first person to face it alone.

"I was just like, 'Hey, why not try to take on a monster of a challenge to see if I can do it?'" said Towler, who works at the shop.

He stands 6 feet tall and weighs 214 pounds. In the other corner were 80 ounces of horchata, pistachio, peach and 17 other flavors of ice cream, drowning in five shots of fudge, five shots of whipped cream and topped with five cherries.

Rick Ritter and his wife, Cherrie, opened Two Scoops in the fall of 2010 and named the Tornado after the Anoka High School mascot. Ritter said 24 groups of customers have bought the $29.95 dessert, but, until last week, no one had tried to eat it alone.

Towler set a goal of consuming the 7,000-calorie sundae within a half hour. He hadn't expected a friendly rival to turn it into a race.

"I just want to beat Hudson," she said, staring across the room at Towler.

Don Yates was at the shop to watch his small-built daughter. Earlier, he had dished out this advice to her: "Keep the Pepto handy and don't eat a lot in the morning."

Kathie Towler, Hudson's mom, also was on hand to cheer for her son. "Go have fun and have a barf bag handy," she said.

The parental advice had merit. Sandra Iverson, a pediatric nurse practitioner, said that a person's first reflex when eating too much would be to vomit.

Patrick Bertoletti, a Guinness world record ice cream eater, said in an e-mail that unless either of the two were diabetic (they're not), the attempt shouldn't be dangerous -- although he did warn about "brain freeze." "Flipping the spoon over and scraping the ice cream off with your tongue apparently prevents brain freeze," Bertoletti said.

Towler approached the multicolor pyramid with a mix of stoic resolve and fatalism.

"I am prepared for whatever happens afterwards; I am just prepared to live in the moment," he said.

"Oh, my god!" Yates exclaimed, feeling her body temperature drop just looking at the ice cream.

The two dug in, pursuing the challenge spoonful by spoonful, swallow by swallow.

After 25 minutes, Yates bowed out, her cheeks cold and red in defeat.

Towler kept going, trying to avoid the butter pecan, the coconut bliss and the cherries -- all things he dislikes.

He recognized that he was facing a mighty adversary. "It's like a baby cat eating a lion," he said, his leg shaking under the table as he felt the effects of his blood sugar rising.

A crowd of about 25, including children and adults, watched Towler press on and offered encouragement.

"He needs a bigger spoon!" yelled Kim Schreer of Anoka. "Just scoop, don't think!"

'I advise you ... do not underestimate this beast'

"What you just witnessed is man's pride being destroyed, so what I advise you to do is do not underestimate this beast," he said.

Outside, a gray sky hung over Anoka on this rainy day when the Tornado won.