The best ice there is...

Clear black ice

Heading up to  Central Otago today I checked out a few of the local spots.  Everywhere looked fabulous in the sun and snow with plenty of ice around.
Every year I like to skate somewhere different and this year I choose a pond on the road to Middlemarch.   Had a good wee skate with a few rocks to skate around - but really if I had time I could have skated in a dozen places.
Next stop was Coalpit Dam.  The whole dam was frozen with hard but bumpy snow ice and I was able to skate anywhere - something you can not do every year.  Some the the ice was frost effected.

Then....... Idaburn Dam and what fabulous ice!  The dam had frozen hard and fast and was covered in about 80mm of hard smooth black ice - the best there is.  In the shallow areas you could see the bottom and in one place the cracked mud from the dry over summer.  I skated down the gorge to the dam and back and across the inlet then just cut some grooves.....  An absolute pleasure to skate and pretty hard to drag myself away....

Pond skate near Middlemarch

Coalpit

Go the Highlanders .... cold game!

Looking back up the Idaburn gorge

The best ice the is...

Ice Report

Coalpit Dam:  whole area locked in with around 60mm of a mixture of snow and black ice.  Hard but bumpy and will improve with a slight thaw.  Snow on track in but passable.

Idaburn:  Whole dam frozen in with up to 80mm of black ice.  Snow affected beside the dam and at the hut back the the rest is smooth and fast.