It has been a frustrating week watching the weather get warmer. Finally cooling down again last Thursday night. Decided to wait till next weekend and hope the ice will settle in ready for skating. Visited a small skating spot near home but only a thin ice sheet left in a shady area.

Going through the ice....

One of the best ways to be safe is work out safety routines and then to practice - if possible. As skaters we ofter talk through safety issues and one technique recommended (a few years ago) by a skating old timer was to hook your foot onto the good ice and roll out of the ice hole thus spreading your weight across the surface. Dave P has a practice (in the video below). This practice highlighted to usefulness of ice claws (which we did not have with us on this day) to help grip the ice.

Ice Claws - >>>>

Poolburn Panorama 18 June 2010

A clear winters day! Poolburn panorama - thin cover of 15mm ice
with snow ice at the edge. Click the picture to view full size

First ICE 2010

Finally the first trip to the ice for this year! We have been waiting for the frosts but have only had a few so far. Visited Idaburn and Poolburn Dams. Weather was disapointingly warm but there was a bit of ground snow in the Naseby area. Idaburn dam had a big pack of 75mm plus snow ice in the main skating area. Was strong enough to skate but softening in the sun and melted at the edges. A plank was needed to get on. The gorge had flowing water and the river was in flood. Needs a good few frosts.

Track to Poolburn was muddy but in good condition. Main bay and some other areas had a covering of thin ice estimated at around 15mm (too thin!) - but melting in the warm windy conditions. We had a bit of a play on some thicker snow ice in one area and Dave did some ice safety technique testing. Like a spring day!

ICE Safety fact sheet

An Ice Safety fact sheet - while written for ice fishing it has some worthwhile information about ice, ice formation and ice safety. Well worth reading for back ground information and will help in decision making for natural ice users.

Read online here

Download here

Black Ice

Still waiting for the ice this year but plenty of snow - hopefully the ice will follow.

A little snippet from last year skating. Black ice - the best! Smooth and glassy. Here