skating away...

Left very early for Central this morning and due to low temps (as low as -5.8) decided to check Coalpit and was treated to a good skate on hard dry ice - bumpy in places but great!   Water showing on half the pond.
Struck thick fog at Wedderburn which made for slow driving.  Had a look at Idaburn - not for the feint hearted and tricky to get on (but hey had to have a wee skate...)

Headed to the Lower Manorburn tonight and was surprised to find thick ice in Rush Cutters.  Quite a bit of water showing in the basin but after a careful step onto the ice I had a good skate on firm but wet ice.  Did not venture out too far because of the water and creaky ice - and gathering dark.

A couple od good frosts and the ice will be on again.... here's hoping.....

Creaky Idaburn

Lower Manorburn

Tasman Skate Video

After warm weather (and a bit of rain) for the past week it looks like the natural ice has gone for this year. A good but very short season.  I don't remember a season finishing this early for a few years.

The highlight for me this year was skating Tasman Glacier Lake - a great experience .  This is a bit of video I took at the time - the ice - the bergs and the color - just great!

Edgy ice...

Water in the Gorge

Woke up to a good frost in Alex this morning so shot out to the Lower Manorburn for a look at the ice and ended up have a great skate over the main basin. Was a bit tricky getting on the ice as (rain) water had refrozen around the edge leaving a water filled ice cap over the ice pack but good hard ice away from the edge.

Ice - 100mm+ in Rush Cutters out to 60mm on the other side.  Water at both ends of the main basin.  Dry and hard but windy by the time I left.  There is a line of weed under the ice out from the big viewing rock - need to watch.  Needs frost!  (was 13 deg this evening in Alex - won't last if this keeps up!!)

Still ice!

Coalpit

Was surprised to see so much ice still around after the last few days of rain and warmer wind.
Coalpit had 80mm plus on the shady side and out to the middle.  Ice was hard but wet and in some places beginning to creak in the warmth.  Wind blown debris on the surface with some wind thaw holes starting to appear.
Hoffman - gone off around the edge.
Idaburn still had good coverage all over - up to 100mm.  Was starting to creak in the main basin but solid in the first half of the gorge  and ok to the dam.  Had a good skate in the gorge on hard ice.
Will break up fast if we don't get a frost or two.

Hoffman

Fresh blades

A skim of water but smooth as..

For a skater there is nothing quite like freshly sharpened skates on smooth ice.  Idaburn was that for me today.  The ice was smooth, solid and hard with water on top and made for a great skate. 100mm+ thick right to the dam and still locked in despite the warm weather.  Rain and wind due today so not sure how it will last.  Frost please!

Solid to the dam

Tasman Lake!

Today I skated Tasman Glacier Lake.  What a great experience.  Although only a third of the lake was frozen and only the jetty end really safe it was fantastic to skate around the part melted ice bergs that had calved of the glacier.  Thick green ice to skate on - rough in places - but lots of variation. The bergs looked small from the shore but a lot different once onto the ice and the skate-able area was quite large.  Well worth it and a fantastic skate.

One the way to Tasman I stopped at various places including Fraser Dam.  The dam water level had dropped quite a bit and left sheets of ice up the side. An interesting skate.

One the way home through Dansy's Pass the river was frozen over in several places. Although a bit risky, I just had to stop and have a skate!  The ice was thick enough - clear and hard  - weird skating over moving water and hearing the rapids either side of the good ice.

Tasman Glacier Lake

Jaws!!!

Fraser Dam

Frozen River!

On the river

Local Thaw

Mahinrangi melting fast

Just a quick visit to Mahinerangi today to see how it was faring with the warmer wind.  Unfortunately it was thawing fast.  Had a skate on hard wet ice with thaw holes beginning to appear.  Be the last here I think for this year.
I did see something that I had not noticed over the last few days - a small river completely frozen over on one side of a concrete bridge and flowing hard on the other. I could stand on the ice near the edge.

Frozen river