how to make good ice...

flood an already frozen--but rough--pond or lake with inches of rain and then drop the temperature--

pam and i went out skating for a couple of hours saturday and again sunday, enjoying the resurfacing from the "inches of rain" wednesday and thursday and solid cold friday night.


saturday ice was pretty hard with a few rough spots where snow had built up. the temperature in the teens, twenties maybe, and not too much wind. you could skate just about anywhere and not slow down too much. the first two pictures were taken saturday. the one above shows smart's mtn in the background. we saw three groups ice fishing folk and stopped to talk to a few we knew. nobody had caught any thing of note--yet...


sunday was much warmer. in fact it was so warm--close to fifty--that by the time we left around 1:00, standing water was starting to cover most of the lake. one had to be careful as if you got off the darker, solid areas your skate blades would sink into the softer ice. the fish holes were still about a foot thick out on the main ice.


the edges were a different story. we tried first to get onto goose pond, both south at the dam and north at the boat ramp. the ice was thin to none from the shore to five-ten feet out, some places even wider. i suppose with a plank or waders one could get to the thicker stuff and i assume that is how the ice fishing folk got out there. we saw one spot by the beach that looked all broken up out to the solid ice--that was probably where the people parked at the dam went across. all the rain we have had over the past couple of weeks has raised the water level of lakes, ponds, and rivers. there is a good amount of flood water in the usual low areas too.



still a fine day to be outside and playing around. we saw josh l. fishing again today and his wife and daughter were skating about too. as we skated into the wind one time, i thought about the kite. conditions like this would not be all that bad for a little power kite action. a little wet if you fell, but at least you would go screaming across the surface. water slows things down.

 i made a few videos of pam and loaded one up for your enjoyment. the noise at the beginning is from a four wheeler racing across the ice. it was one of my former students going to pick up a fellow fishing buddy back at the town beach. after that stops you can 'hear' how soft and quiet it was skating.

ice is certainly the salient cover these days. i don't think i mentioned that thursday last week, my neighbor bob and i went up cardigan in the am. the icy sections that i had encountered the week before (with billy b and fam) were even icier this time. the water fall section was super thick ice with six inches of water rushing down different sections. fortunately we didn't have a dog with us--vader elected to stay home.

we are expecting warm with some rain for tomorrow and then "ice pellets" on wednesday. the ten day forcast has nothing all that cold coming in anytime soon...maybe hannah was right, i should set up the ice boat. winter can be strange in new england.

more rain...

i must admit, this weather pattern of some snow, changing to what some weather people are calling a "wintery mix" (kathryn shulz in the new yorker has a great take on this expression--an "airborne depravity", a "meteorlogical pox", exactly my sentiments!), and then going completely over to rain is starting to test my zen approach to the lack of snow.

ok, yesterday i got pam to go out after work and skate around canaan street and the ice was really good, considering. i flew around the bays and across the middle one last time to meet back with pam who opted to stop as it got darker and darker. it was a good workout i felt in my knees until bedtime.

and saturday i went out with billy buffum--a long time friend from pinkham notch, amc days--testing a backcountry set up on the soft, wet three inches atop the thin icy base layer. we made a big loop, scaling up easily and sliding down at mixed speeds. it was right at billy's comfort level which made him happy.



the friday before, i took billy, his wife tracey, and daughter iona up for a winter tour of cardigan. we mixed up the trails to keep off as much ice as possible. that got ridiculous fast and in the end, we all put the crampons on, took them off for the rock on top, put them back on at treeline, and took them off again toward the bottom. i even ferried the dog over a couple of major flows! thank goodness it was sunny and in the 20's for most of the hike. i remember iona being up there a couple of times over her 14 years, once flying the 3meter kite, but this was definitely a first with spikes on feet experience for her. tracey even claimed that at one point on the waterfall section she was as scared as she had ever been.

granted then, i have been outside and playing--but this warm is literally 'wearing'. schools were closed all over new hampshire today, including mascoma. i went out to scrape pam's car windows and was coated with freezing rain in a matter of minutes. but, like i told sawyer the other day, i am holding out--as opposed to holding in the breath--for two big dumps sometime before we give over to spring. after all it is still only february.

still, for this morning at least i am staying in, listening to music* or reading a book, drinking tea, eating chocolate...avoiding the "pulchritude" outside (read that shulz article). *london grammer's sights is playing in the background as i type--they are getting a lot of air time these days..."whatever the weather"!