New ice season
The 2023 ice season is off to a good start. I’ve been out twice so far, thanks to Evan Perkins’s timely reporting of ice conditions to the Vermont and New Hampshire email lists. First a wonderful midday skate on the black and gray ice of Beaver Pond, second a morning skate on the lightly textured slush ice of Keiser Pond.
The skateable ice window closed as quickly as it opened, due to a round of warming, snow, and rain. The ice should be thickening in the current cold temperatures, and hopefully we’ll get some good resurfaced ice later this week.
New + updated ice entries
I continue to add ice entries to the atlas. New-to-the-atlas ices:
- Green River Reservoir, in Hyde Park, Vermont
- Coles Pond, in Ryegate, Vermont
- Fosters Pond, in Peacham, Vermont
- Kettle Pond, in Groton + Marshfield, Vermont
- Miller Pond, in Strafford, Vermont
My list of places to add is long and growing. The next batch of entries will probably be some of the hike-in (no road access) ice. If you have any suggestions or requests, please let me know.
In some years Long Pond, in Benton, New Hampshire, is an excellent early season destination, since it’s very shallow and at a moderately high elevation. This year, unfortunately, the USFS closed the road gates before the ice was thick enough to skate. I’ve added the gates to the map, with some information about how to get there nonetheless.
— Christopher Boone