Updates

It’s time to get your skates sharp! I’ve added links to a couple of videos on how to sharpen Nordic skates. I’ve also added a couple of interesting papers on ice feature formation. And I’ve updated and reorganized the Nordic skating groups list.

In my introductory post I highlighted some useful features of the new atlas. Here are a few more.

It’s the start of another ice season and it’s time to relaunch the Ice Atlas. It’s an atlas for real now, with maps on every page. I’ve added launches and parking (and even a couple of restaurants!), useful links, lots of information, and of course photos and videos. For now it only covers ice in Vermont and New Hampshire, and just under two dozen spots to start with, but I’ll be expanding it steadily. Maine and New York will be along, I’ll be adding more detail to the existing entries, and I’ll be adding features like being able to see the latest satellite images right in the atlas.

Local ice boating and ice rescue expert Jay Whitehair is giving a talk at the Norwich Public Library on Wednesday (tomorrow), from 6-7pm. I’ll be there and am looking forward to it.

Very sad news: Bob Dill is gone. He was an inspiration for me, as for many, and this website would not exist without his example. His family published an obituary in Seven Days, and the IDNIYRA published their own memorial. And, of course, Lake Ice will continue on. It’s almost ice season, time to read what Bob wrote again.

We checked out a few ponds and lakes today. Nothing was great, all variations on semi frozen but very flimsy snow ice on top of harder, older ice. Will it be cold enough for long enough tonight to make a decent surface in the morning?

Grafton Pond is in excellent shape: 100% skateable, and the ice level is significantly higher than it was the last time we were out on it in December (and than the water level was last fall), so there’s more to skate and more islands in place of peninsulas.

We spent the morning skating on Smith Pond. It’s in excellent shape: 100% skateable, all decent, some large areas of smooth-like-glass ice, some fruit peel ice, a very few snow drifts, some frozen pedestrian and animal tracks, some bumpy areas, a tiny amount of shell ice.

Additional notes on satellite imaging for ice scouting, in the form of Q+A.

Getting the images while on the ice (or otherwise on the go).

Examples. Looking at images of Lake Winnipesaukee and Sunapee Lake to understand the ice.

Visualizing the data. Now that you have something to look at in the EO Browser, what do you look for?

Using satellite images to scout ice can be super helpful. The data that’s now freely available is absolutely incredible. But if you’re not up-to-speed on how to acquire and interpret the images, they can be a little confusing at first. Thus, I’ve written this primer.

Play video For the third time in three days I skated from the north beach to the gap. Each day it’s been a very distinct experience, all of them amazing.

We tried to skate south along the eastern shore of Lake Sunapee this afternoon, putting in at the Georges Mills town beach, but conditions didn’t allow us to get very far. After 45 minutes we had only made it about 2.5 km, most of which was walking through dense foam-like snow, sometimes postholing, often breaking through the crust into ≈4” of slush. There were a couple short stretches of skateable ice, mostly covered with a light skim of snow. But mostly the top layer of the ice sandwich was still soft (presumably from yesterday’s warmth), and the snow had drifted and solidified. It ranged from grabby to tackle-and-throw-you-to-the-ground-y.

Welcome to Catamount Hardware, now home to the Nordic Skating Atlas. My short-term goal for this project is to collect and make easily accessible a range of useful information about places to skate in northern New England, including launch sites, parking, weather, bathymetry, and other commentary. I’m starting with places I’ve skated recently, and I’ll continue to expand from there.

As many others have reported, Waterbury Reservoir’s in good shape. Very consistent gray ice, ranging from very smooth to citrus peel to lightly scalloped. Some snow cover, and today, with an air temperature of 40º F when we started mid afternoon, that was mostly soft and not great to skate on / through. Occasional small areas were soft enough to slice down into with our blades, firm 1 cm slush. Once it all refreezes it should be even better.

Another great day on Moore. Lots of list folks out, everyone happy and friendly and having a great time.

Amazing day on Moore Reservoir, thanks to Evan for the prompt update this morning. I believe a number of folks on this list took advantage of it.