Four Skate

 Up early this morning to Poolburn hoping the ice had improved.  The whole dam was covered in ice with a light dusting of snow on top preventing much new ice forming. The only skate-able place was the small bay.  Hard bumpy ice.  Care had to be taken as it was hard to tell where the thin ice started.  Next was Coalpit Dam and an unexpected great skate on refrozen snow ice.  Hard to leave.  Visited a possible new spot on the edge of the forest and had a small skate there but being later in the day the ice was weakening.  Finished the day with a skate in Rushcutters corner on the Lower Manorburn.  Lovely thick black ice and a good skate despite the debris and refrozen broken ice.

Coalpit could be great tomorrow with a frost.  Idaburn was near a skate - maybe a big frost might do it.

Sun finally came up.

Light dusting of snow over the ice

Coal Pit - great skate

Possible new place to skate..

Hooked on Ice

 Headed in to Hooker Valley today to see if there was a skate on Hooker Lake.  Fabulous walk in.  Great sights and sounds.  Heard a couple of avalanches and saw the plume of one of them.  Hooker Lake looked amazing with lots of small bergs and tortured ice. Started out with the nordic skates but changed to hockey skates when I found smooth ice. A fun skate on such a varied surface and amazing to be among it. There was smooth ice further out but after testing it seemed to risky.  Was the second one there after another couple but after they left I had the place to myself for an hour or two before the walkers began arriving.  Left after the sun hit the ice.  Awesome time.

Coke and Cook

Lost Ice...

Dave and I headed to Poolburn today to see if any ice lasted the weeks wild weather.  All of the ice from last Sunday had gone but there was a pack of snow ice left in the little bay. We made the best of it with a bit of skating and snow kiting despite the limited area. Ice was bumpy and ok with hockey skates but better with nordic skates. Ice pack was fairly hard but being snow ice you had the take care - this sort of ice doesn't give much warning of danger - especially as it thaws.  I headed off after midday and Dave stayed on to go exploring around the back of the reservoir.  A fun time and a good place to be on a winters day.   Track is now open all the way but muddy in the thaw.

The snow ice pack

Dave heading off to explore

Great to get the kite out

Sensational Poolburn

Another good frost over night. Met Dave at the top gate on the track to Poolburn this morning.  We unloaded out bikes and ploughed our way up to the reservoir with what ever gear we could carry.  I was expecting the ice to be a bit better today and it sure was.  Back ice in most places and fantastic skating.  The ice had firmed up a bit especially near the edge where we got on.  We skated around the back of the main island but eventually had to turn back due to thin ice.  Skated around to the dam and to the far left bays.  Just fabulous.  A rare day on perfect ice in fine weather.  

Note at the moment the track needs 4WD and the top is only for the keen.  Can be wet and messy on the way out as it thaws.  Had a wee skate on Idaburn on the way home - limited area and creaky.

Back to Black

 Good frost again this morning so headed to Poolburn hoping the ice had improved.  Track up was a bit gnarly and impassable from the top gate.  Unloaded the eBike and headed up through the snow to the reservoir.  Great fun but only got there by carefully picking my path.  Ice was fantastic - new black ice that was smooth and glassy.  Not thick but hard and fast giving fabulous skating.  By the time I left it was cracking as things warmed up.  Did I ride the bike on the ice...of course!  Messy drive out in the thaw but a great skate.  Visited a (new) pond in Naseby on the way home and had a bit of a creaky skate - somewhere new to skate if we get a good freeze.

A bit of a slog...

 Finally after a month of wet weather it was worth looking for ice again after the weeks snow storm.  Headed to Poolburn. Bit of a mission getting up the track due to snow and eventually had to stop at the gate before the final climb.  Snow was too deep to drive further without getting stuck. I had forgotten my snow shoes so slogged up the hill in my boots to the lake.  Headed to the small bay and had a good skate on snow ice.  There was new black ice further out but too thin to skate. Worth the effort to be skating in a fab winter environment.

Another winter....and a few early frosts...

Another winter is here and I had intended to make 2020 my last for the ice blog but...... 

After a few good hard frosts I decided to nip up to Naseby to see if any ice had come in - before the bad weather hits this weekend.   Down to -9  in places on the way up. Very dry roads made for good winter driving. After checking a few places I managed to get a skate on two ponds.  Neither place had really safe ice but one was fresh hard and clear.  Great to be back on natural ice with an early season skate.  

Coalpit - a few mm of ice over half the dam - the rest was water.