Ticklenaked Pond, just off the interstate in Ryegate, was in gorgeous shape today. 4”+ of solid ice, a mixture of snow ice and black ice and combinations of the two, strong and smooth as can be. Everywhere I checked, other than the extreme edges of the pond, was thick and stable. The surrounding moat was minimal, maybe 2 feet of thin ice, easily bridged. Symes Pond, also in Ryegate but farther off the main roads, was also very nice. Not as perfectly smooth as Ticklenaked, and not as consistent, but still great.
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There’s a nascent nordic skating group based in Montréal, with a new Facebook page: Patinage sur glace sauvage / Nordic skating Québec.
Launches, parking areas, and trailheads with toilets are now marked on the map . I’ve started with just the small number of places I’m absolutely sure have toilets available in the winter (or at least had them available other recent winters). Nothing worse than expecting a toilet and having it be chained up. For the most part these are chemical toilets (Porta-Potties) or moldering / composting toilets.
If you know of any launches, parking areas, or trailheads that have toilets that I haven’t included yet, please let me know. Thanks!
So far the list is only:
- Kinsman Pond , in Lincoln, New Hampshire
- Lake Fairlee, in Fairlee, Vermont
- Lake Morey, in Fairlee, Vermont
- Lonesome Lake , in Lincoln, New Hampshire
- Mascoma Lake, in Enfield, New Hampshire
Ice I’ve added recently (bringing the atlas to a total of 30 entries). In the gazetteer, ice that requires hiking in is now indicated with the trailhead icon. It’s now easier to tell where to click to get directions from ice atlas entries. Each location that has pop-up links to mapping apps is now indicated by a little DIRECTIONS button. There’s now a button on every map that will reset your view of the map to its original state. If you’re viewing the overview map, then you’ll go back to the overview of Vermont and New Hampshire; if you’re viewing an individual entry’s map, you’ll go back to the starting view of that entry. I’ve also made a number of behind-the-scenes changes that should improve the site and map’s performance.
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In the past few weeks I’ve made some useful updates to the Ice Atlas. One that’s already been helpful to me out on the ice is the addition of bathymetric contours, also known as isobaths. It’s a great tool for planning outings, but maybe most powerful when used while actually out on the ice.
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The Ice Atlas now has a gazetteer. Well, more of a geographical index at the moment, but I plan to make it fancier and more useful, and the word “gazetteer” is too fun not to use. So here we are.
For now it’s just a list of all the entries in the atlas, organized by state:
The “Blog” section is now the “Updates” section. And the “Updates” section (this page!) has a new design — hopefully cleaner, simpler, and easier to read.
Some entries (like this one), will be short updates, instead of full-length blog posts.
- Added Umbagog Lake to the ice atlas.
- Implemented highlighting when hovering on ice-related features on the maps. For example:
All the ponds seem to be coming in (for those who aren’t traveling to Maine for early season big ice), all with similar conditions.
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- The Ice Atlas now includes hiking trails. They don’t show up until you’re zoomed in a bit.
- As a result, it now makes sense to include hike-in ice (not accessible directly off the road). The first three are:
- Kettle Pond, which is just a short hike in from the parking lot during the winter.
- Lake Solitude, a beautiful pond just off the summit of Mount Sunapee.
- Long Pond, only reachable by closed-to-vehicle dirt roads in the winter.
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. I’ve also been adding ice entries to the atlas.
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