Early skate

Up early this morning to meet Inge at Rushcutters.  Again skated out to the middle but too creaky to be safe.  Same crew as yesterday showed up as well.  Wise to skate with the frost.  Great skating, good company and hard to leave the good ice.
On the way home had a short pond skate at Naseby.
Other skating spots had a little new ice - far from skateable.     Very warm for this time of year.

Inge under the dawn

Fun on a pond 

Early start

Dawn and Dusk skate...

Up early this morning to the Lower Manoburn to find good skating in Rush Cutters corner.  Great ice without the usual debris that people throw on it. Great chatting to a few locals and some visitors from Auckland.   Did skate out to the middle once but the ice was a bit dodgy.
After a snow kiting session on the Pisa Range I decided to have a look at Diamond Lake on the way back - not having been there for quite a few years.   There was ice all over the lake but was unable to get out to it as the edges were either melted or very thin due to the trees and reeds.
On the way up I had spotted a smaller pond tucked under the hill and still with frost around it.  Walked down to it on the way back and found some fab ice - very smooth. I think the pond had formed from melted snow.  Good skating but had to watch for a few rocks that had been thrown on.   Fab way to finish the day with a dusk skate on super smooth ice.

pet rock....

Fabulous backdrop

In the shadows

No frost this morning but on the way home found a couple of ponds in the shadows around Naseby that had ice strong enough for a skate despite being late morning.   Lucky to get this as all the usual skating spots had ice that was thin and weak.  

Slim (ice) pickings

Has not been good weather for ice lately but decided to have a look around today anyway after the first good frost for a while.  The wind and rain has melted all the previous ice.  Poolburn had new ice but too thin to skate. Managed to find a couple of ponds near the lake and had a bit of a skate.  Ice was good on one pond and marginal on the other two.  Wondering if it might be the last for this year?
Made the most of the ice that was there and fun to get the skates on again.
Headed over to Pisa for a snow kite to complete the day - great wind and snow!

Checked the Lower Manorburn this evening - new ice in the middle basin.  A frost or two away from a skate....