given the big snows we had after the initial freeze up, i was not expecting much of a skating season after the couple of heavenly black ice days we had back at thanksgiving. boy, was i wrong!
--and happy to be so.
last sunday i saw a flurry of texts that friends were going out on mascoma lake. i had heard the night before that conditions were prime. grabbing skates and some outerwear, i went to find them. jonie's and bob's house was the gathering spot, but i assumed they were already out on the ice as i could see a chair and a bag out a ways from shore.
i followed the boot tracks down and geared up. these folks were all using nordic skates--the same kind pam and i have--a ski boot and long blades mounted with ski bindings. the free heel setup and extra long blades, make perfect 'pond ice' skates.
way off in the distance, i spotted a half dozen tiny figures and headed toward them. amazingly, the ice was nearly as smooth as it had been before all the snow. with the wind at my back it was fast. that--the wind direction part, not the speed--surprised me as the prevailing wind is exactly the opposite, not today though. i ran into the group quickly, as they were pushing against the wind. i recognized all the women and figured the remaining skater still back by the bridge had to be billy, the guy in the group. i skated on to meet him.
we were all skating together toward the south end of the lake--against the wind. we ran into a wide swath, crossing the entire lake, where i saw the answer to why the ice was so nice. billy, who lives on the lake, explained that the warm, windy days had 'opened' things and the huge chunks had pushed to this end. last weeks cold refroze it all back up. now the south end was chunky and snowy. the rest, was nice and flat save for huge 'running' faults where water had come up and refroze into a bumpy white network--a lake size spider web.
if i had a drone, that would have made a good picture. instead of photographing, i kept skating. when the women went in billy and i made another end to end loop. we met some other skaters, who warned us we should have hand spikes incase we fell through. as we skated away, billy said he had a pair, somewhere--i gave mine away. billy went off toward his house and i made another big loop back to jonie's launch. as soon as i took off my skates, i remembered i should take a photo.
the 'pano' function, running left to right, would be looking north to the bridge, east toward cloud covered cardigan, and then south, where you can see a couple of houses at the shoreline. the white spider lines are barely visible as is a lone skater on the left, way off in the distance.
it was such a lovely day, i planned to go back. unfortunately, a small storm on monday, dropped a couple of inches of fairly wet snow. that did not promise well. the saving grace was a big drop in temperature and crazy strong winds all monday night. as i headed out the door tuesday, i had my skates with me, and the camera.
still trying to master the panoramic view, i tried for a repeat of sunday's image. obviously the ice is not as clean and hence wasn't as smooth. as i started pushing toward the bridge i noticed my skates were dull and could use a good sharpening. the prevailing winds today were back to northwest-southeast and as don mahler used to say, "the hawk was flying!"--i assumed that was a reference to colman hawkins, but never asked.
wind over ice is always stronger than on land. today, stronger was an understatement. but as i opened 'ttyol' with yesterday, "the hard, uncomfortable, slow struggle was more to my liking than the easy, comfortable, fast success."
--and happy to be so.
last sunday i saw a flurry of texts that friends were going out on mascoma lake. i had heard the night before that conditions were prime. grabbing skates and some outerwear, i went to find them. jonie's and bob's house was the gathering spot, but i assumed they were already out on the ice as i could see a chair and a bag out a ways from shore.
i followed the boot tracks down and geared up. these folks were all using nordic skates--the same kind pam and i have--a ski boot and long blades mounted with ski bindings. the free heel setup and extra long blades, make perfect 'pond ice' skates.
way off in the distance, i spotted a half dozen tiny figures and headed toward them. amazingly, the ice was nearly as smooth as it had been before all the snow. with the wind at my back it was fast. that--the wind direction part, not the speed--surprised me as the prevailing wind is exactly the opposite, not today though. i ran into the group quickly, as they were pushing against the wind. i recognized all the women and figured the remaining skater still back by the bridge had to be billy, the guy in the group. i skated on to meet him.
we were all skating together toward the south end of the lake--against the wind. we ran into a wide swath, crossing the entire lake, where i saw the answer to why the ice was so nice. billy, who lives on the lake, explained that the warm, windy days had 'opened' things and the huge chunks had pushed to this end. last weeks cold refroze it all back up. now the south end was chunky and snowy. the rest, was nice and flat save for huge 'running' faults where water had come up and refroze into a bumpy white network--a lake size spider web.
if i had a drone, that would have made a good picture. instead of photographing, i kept skating. when the women went in billy and i made another end to end loop. we met some other skaters, who warned us we should have hand spikes incase we fell through. as we skated away, billy said he had a pair, somewhere--i gave mine away. billy went off toward his house and i made another big loop back to jonie's launch. as soon as i took off my skates, i remembered i should take a photo.
the 'pano' function, running left to right, would be looking north to the bridge, east toward cloud covered cardigan, and then south, where you can see a couple of houses at the shoreline. the white spider lines are barely visible as is a lone skater on the left, way off in the distance.
it was such a lovely day, i planned to go back. unfortunately, a small storm on monday, dropped a couple of inches of fairly wet snow. that did not promise well. the saving grace was a big drop in temperature and crazy strong winds all monday night. as i headed out the door tuesday, i had my skates with me, and the camera.
still trying to master the panoramic view, i tried for a repeat of sunday's image. obviously the ice is not as clean and hence wasn't as smooth. as i started pushing toward the bridge i noticed my skates were dull and could use a good sharpening. the prevailing winds today were back to northwest-southeast and as don mahler used to say, "the hawk was flying!"--i assumed that was a reference to colman hawkins, but never asked.
wind over ice is always stronger than on land. today, stronger was an understatement. but as i opened 'ttyol' with yesterday, "the hard, uncomfortable, slow struggle was more to my liking than the easy, comfortable, fast success."
 |
| i found pam's spikes... |
when i got to the bridge, i wanted badly to skate under and keep going all the way to the dam on the far north end. open water gave me pause enough that the wind literally turned my body and started me going back south. i went with the wind, prudence seemed a drier choice than valor. that and i didn't have any 'hand spikes'.
flying south, the chunky end came up quickly. when i turned, i stopped to take a picture looking up and down the lake. you can make out the chunky end of things behind my head.
heading back into the wind, i found my bag, took the blades off, and hiked back to the truck parked at drummonds. despite the diminished ice surface, the brutal wind, and my *dull skates--"like a pickle" *according to dick--it was indeed a grand day to be outside and playing!
ps--i went over today to skate a few laps and ran into two other skaters. going along and chatting, one of them casually noted "those skates are pretty old..." as i was agreeing and admitting they also needed to be sharpened--remember they were "dull as a pickle"--i realized it was jamie.
jamie started the nordic skater where pam and i had gotten our skates way back at his original shop in downtown norwich. kerstin, a colby-sawyer professor, was skating with him. i had seen her on sunday, she was the one who suggested we have hand spikes. i noticed she wasn't wearing hers today.
after jamie had to leave, kerstin and i took another loop and discovered lots of connections. her "it's such a small world" let me know she was a kindred soul...
ps--i went over today to skate a few laps and ran into two other skaters. going along and chatting, one of them casually noted "those skates are pretty old..." as i was agreeing and admitting they also needed to be sharpened--remember they were "dull as a pickle"--i realized it was jamie. jamie started the nordic skater where pam and i had gotten our skates way back at his original shop in downtown norwich. kerstin, a colby-sawyer professor, was skating with him. i had seen her on sunday, she was the one who suggested we have hand spikes. i noticed she wasn't wearing hers today.
after jamie had to leave, kerstin and i took another loop and discovered lots of connections. her "it's such a small world" let me know she was a kindred soul...
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