I have started tour skating, the kind people do on frozen waterways, like in Sweden. It is fantastic!!! I really love it, it feels just like inlines to me. The same easiness and economy of movement, freedom and travelling range. The only difference is the lower temperature and the amount of clothes one has to wear and bring along.
Anyway, I have found something to keep me sane during the winter months here in Norway, snow not being my favorite through the winter months. But I love ice on rivers, lakes and fjords now!
I did a trip today, my first trip on a river, and that was a blast. Really a lot of fun, exciting, the sound of the ice, the nature around and under the ice... I could have spent hours with a camera on the ice, there were just so many lovely motives. The river went from open water to a foot of ice along the bank to 15 cm thick smooth, clear ice further down river where it was wider. A great trip.
We were just three people who took an early afternoon off to go skating. Here's a pic of two of us on the ice, I'm the guy in the blue jacket:
I have Skyllermarks Blue, a Swedish type with NNN BC bindings that fit ski boots, it gives a clap-like mechanism. Just clip on and off one goes! I can even heel brake, although I haven't gotten around to using my outside edges on them yet. :-)
I like ski-skating on snow better than ice skate touring. The main reason is that the terrain is way more interesting: uphills, downhills, curves, trees. And snow has many interesting varieties. And often you do it in places nearby other fun gliding things like downhill-skiing and snowboarding.
If I lived in a different place like Sweden, where I tried an ice skate tour on the Runn lake near Falun, I might prefer ice. But my basic problem with spending lots of time on ice is that it's flat.
Fantastic mountains/rocks you have there! Too few photos, I could have looked at a few more... :-)
> spending lots of time on ice is that it's flat.
Ah, I like flat, you see. Maybe I'll find it boring after a few seasons. I've never gotten the hang of skiing, even though I live in Norway. Inlines and skates sort of clicked at once...
There is more to the story, I just got confirmation today.
Franklin's UsenetSpamTrap wrote: > I did a trip today, my first trip on a river, and that was a blast.
We were not the only people to think it was a blast. Someone thought "Blasted kids trapped on the ice again!" and dailed 911...
So now we know why the fire brigade/rescue divers truck showed up with blue lights flashing and siren howling and that stopped by the river! They also sent the chopper ambulance to look at us, it circled twice over our heads. The first time I waved, but afterwards I thought that it maybe wasn't such a good idea... :-)
We have been told to call 911 and warn them the next time we go skating... :-)
On Tue, 25 Jan 2005, Franklin's UsenetSpamTrap wrote:
> I have started tour skating, the kind people do on frozen waterways, > like in Sweden. It is fantastic!!! I really love it, it feels just like > inlines to me. > ... > We were just three people who took an early afternoon off to go skating. > Here's a pic of two of us on the ice, I'm the guy in the blue jacket:
Hvordan går det? Det var flotte bilder og en fin historieside om sparkstøttingen! Jeg har sett på alle bildene, jeg tror jeg skal sende lenken til de jeg kjenner. Fine bilder om isen, den ser veldig slett ut på en del bilder.
Jeg tror vi har brevvekslet før, om Amundsen, ikke sant?
On Thu, 27 Jan 2005, Franklin's UsenetSpamTrap wrote: > Hei David!
Hei Franklin,
> Hvordan går det? Det var flotte bilder og en fin historieside om > sparkstøttingen! Jeg har sett på alle bildene, jeg tror jeg skal sende > lenken til de jeg kjenner. Fine bilder om isen, den ser veldig slett ut > på en del bilder.
> Jeg tror vi har brevvekslet før, om Amundsen, ikke sant?
Possibly. I am fan of Roald Amundsen. I have both a Norwegian reprint of his book "Sydpolen" and the English translation "The South Pole", plus Roland Huntford's Amundsen biography. I also posted some questions to some Norway newsgroups in 1999 about a bicycle tour that the Amundsen brothers took in 1899 from Norway to Spain.
Franklin (and others who can read Scandinavian languages) might enjoy this Norwegian article about a Norwegian "exile" living in snowless Stockholm, who discovers ice skating:
It seems that this winter, with a snow shortage, LFS is becoming more popular in Norway. I see several photos of skating on the Skiforeningen site, including the photo Franklin mentions: http://www.skiforeningen.no/cgi/newimgshow.cgi?nr=3781
David Dermott wrote: > I think Jamie Hess might have coined the term "Nordic Skating".
But have you checked the 2005 Powerslide catalogue? There nordic skating is used with pictures depicting offroad inlines and poles. Is it a generic enough term to describe any skating-like locomotion with additional poles?
> Franklin (and others who can read Scandinavian languages) might enjoy > this Norwegian article about a Norwegian "exile" living in snowless > Stockholm, who discovers ice skating:
Use the "Tilbake" link to get some small pics. The group of three depicts Swedish Olle who has a ritual of going to the ice edge and dipping his head in the water before each skate... :-)
> It seems that this winter, with a snow shortage, LFS is > becoming more popular in Norway. I see several photos
There was an article in Aftenposten, one of our large daily papers, about skating on the lakes two weeks ago. The group now interested have apparently been skating about 3-4-5 years, but they are really skiers. A lot of Swedes live in Oslo, I guess they have probably always been a fringe lot, skating on lakes all the time. There is a Norwegian tradition of skating on lakes though, so everybody knows about it. It's often mom&dad&kids on a lake with hocky/figure/long track skates.
Two long track skaters went through the ice last week. The Swede I skated with yesterday talked about how apalled he was over Norwegian flippancy on the ice. No safety equipment etc. But then again Swedes have a reputation for being careful I hear. To their defence is that they have had organized skating for over a hundred years.
Even I have gone through, but just to my knees, on a river route. Silly really, I took the same route with the Swede and he called it quits long before the Norwegian group I was with earlier.
I hear also that there is a big difference between the ice we skate on here in Oslo and in Stockholm. We are skating on fresh water ice, whilst they skate on sea water ice. There is supposedly much more variation in sea ice.
Ah well, the Norwegians will flame me because they say we are THE ice skating nation, and the Swedes will flame me for saying they are not THAT careful... :-)
To my defence I will say that I am an African that never saw snow before I was a teenager. And that there probably is a reason why Norwegians beat the Swedes to the Poles (was there ever a race?), and why the Swedes have the safest cars (Norway had a Troll car in 1950-something and have an ugly City Think now in preproduction).
Franklin's UsenetSpamTrap wrote: > Use the "Tilbake" link to get some small pics. The group of three
I just ul'ed my pics of this weekend, they can be found at http://www.eekhout.net . The 2005 pics are all taken on fresh water ice, on Bogstad lake or on the Nit river.
The tour rapports and a few other pics are at http://groups.msn.com/vallerullere , but since MSN has a 3 MB cap here in Norway I keep my own pics on my website.
I knew you would enjoy this alternative sooner or later.
> We were not the only people to think it was a blast. Someone thought > "Blasted kids trapped on the ice again!" and dailed 911...
> So now we know why the fire brigade/rescue divers truck showed up with > blue lights flashing and siren howling and that stopped by the river!
I can see why--that's a LOT of thin ice and OPEN WATER on the way down the river! I guess you/your friends have learned how to "read" the ice. You would not last long in water that cold if over 2 meters deep. =:0 Do you carry ropes to pull each other out if that happens?
> They also sent the chopper ambulance to look at us, it circled twice > over our heads. The first time I waved, but afterwards I thought that it > maybe wasn't such a good idea... :-)
> We have been told to call 911 and warn them the next time we go > skating... :-)
Yeah, if the helo starts lowering the basket, you could get in trouble. ;') Some jurisdictions/agencies in the USA have started FINING ($$) outdoorsman who have to be rescued, when such rescues are the result of folks disobeying rangers, ignoring 'Trail Closed' signs, or doing outright stupid stuff.
FNGuy wrote: > I knew you would enjoy this alternative sooner or later.
Mmm, how did you know? :-)
I take you skate too then? Where?
> I can see why--that's a LOT of thin ice and OPEN WATER on the way down the > river! I guess you/your friends have learned how to "read" the ice. You > would not last long in water that cold if over 2 meters deep. =:0 Do you > carry ropes to pull each other out if that happens?
The people I was with were very adventurous, I had a feeling of being Amundsen or Nansen on my first trip into the icey wilderness! :-)
I have a safety rope, ice claws, whistle, ski poles, change of clothes loosely packed in plastic bags in a rucksack, thermos and food. The most important safety aspect is supposedly to have minimum one skater left on the ice with a rope.
They say 50% of the time one will not be able to get oneself out of the water. Laces freeze, fingers freeze, etc... :-(
My next safety aquisition is to change out the ski poles with special ice poles. They are heavier and have a conical tip specially suited to checking the ice, but are not that easy to propell oneself with. I also need a strap between my legs to hold the rucksack down for when I take a swim.
> Some jurisdictions/agencies in the USA have started FINING ($$) outdoorsman > who have to be rescued, when such rescues are the result of folks > disobeying rangers, ignoring 'Trail Closed' signs, or doing outright stupid > stuff.
The only people here they fine are the base jumpers in Trollstigen I think. Even if they land safely!
But I guess people are more careless now, more removed from nature. Equipment helps stave off the wilderness aspect, so then one doesn't have to be so careful. Which means one takes more chances. I see some parents are very good at taking their kids out in nature, but say in my son's class there is not maybe more that a handful of kids that hike reguarly.
Well, did another 5 hours on the ice on Sunday. I'm starting to inline skate on the ice, feels almost the same on the right foot, set down on the outsidish edge, a glide, a fall and push, feels very much alike. I don't quite remember from inlines (4 months since last time), but it's like there is a hump I have to cross going from outsidish to flat to inside.
Now if only my left foot would shape up and find the outer edge! :-)
On Mon, 7 Feb 2005, Franklin's UsenetSpamTrap wrote: > Well, did another 5 hours on the ice on Sunday. I'm starting to inline > ... > Anyway, some pics:
> Mmm, I should really check for an appropriate ice group to post too...
Unfortunately, there is no appropriate ice group here! Or I haven't found one. r.s.s.ice.recreational is mostly figure skating.
The Swedish forums on Utsidan.se are probably the best choices. It would be more appropriate to post in Norwegian than English, although they tolerate my English postings :-)
Our ice is now covered with 10 to 30 cm of snow but we had a great time XC skiing on Gaspereau Lake today in brilliant sunshine.
BTW, The Stockholm Outdoor Alliance ice group has a new URL for their photo albums on skating tours (that's why I wasn't seeing any new photos for the last few months) http://www.alliansen.net/greger/index.php
David Dermott wrote: > Unfortunately, there is no appropriate ice group here! Or I haven't > found one. r.s.s.ice.recreational is mostly figure skating.
Yeah, I looked, r.s.s.i.recreational & r.s.s.figure, rec is full of figure skating too. I suppose the "pros" are in figure and all the other people figure skating in rec. Well, we can't let them dominate the rec group now, can we!
I'll have a look at the Swedish groups, thanks.
I was rather sorry afterwards that I didn't take better pics of the spark, I thought you might like seeing it. Normal spark, not that old, but his kicking plate under his boot was oldish. Aluminium plate with three studs and and very old straps, it could be just the straps that were old. Another I saw at a distance used one under each foot; there was father and som crossing the ice out to an island, with two dogs too.
He was out fishing from a hole in the ice, but he also put out a net under the ice by using a diving board (I think it's called that, not sure). He lets it go in one hole in the ice, yanks the attached string a bit and after a while it ends up at the other hole 25 m away... :-)
On Mon, 7 Feb 2005, Franklin's UsenetSpamTrap wrote: > Hi David,
> I was rather sorry afterwards that I didn't take better pics of the > spark, I thought you might like seeing it. Normal spark, not that old, > but his kicking plate under his boot was oldish. Aluminium plate with > three studs and and very old straps, it could be just the straps that > were old. Another I saw at a distance used one under each foot; there > was father and som crossing the ice out to an island, with two dogs too.
I see the photos (IM001115,IM001117) of the spark now. Thanks, they look great. (Last night my internet connection was even slower than usual so I couldn't load the photos)
It looks like home-made "crampons" ("crampon" is actually a French word) I think it's "isbrodd" in Norwegian/Swedish. One really needs crampons to spark or even walk on smooth ice like that. I even use crampons over my ski boots when walking to the skating (or skiing) surface. The worst falls in skating or skiing actually happen when walking in the parking lot with ski boots.
I got another message from Jamie Hess's mailing list. On Sunday he led a group of 30 nordic skaters (a North American record!) across Lake Champlain ( I think it is the 6th biggest lake in USA) from Vermont to New York state.
Well, I am dead tired after about 50 km skating this weekend, about 7 km were against a good northernly wind, the local airport wind info shows about 10 m/s.
The great thing about the wind is that it's fun to coast along on one skate, the bad is getting back! :-)
Another great thing is that it forces one to skate properly. It's easy to skate and use poles to push oneself along, but just skating takes a bit of effort and attention to correct form. Excellent training!
The two latest entries at http://www.eekhout.net show my trips this weekend. Some low-res video clips too, from my backup camera.
Lovely ice most of the time, real black ice. A few slopes too, where the ice had pushed itself up. I only tried a couple of the smaller ones, skating up the slope, crossing the broken ridge, and gliding down the other side. I never thought that was possible! :-)
> Then there is the problem of holding the poles in one hand, a camera in > the other, trying to aim the camera for a good action shot... pole drags > on ice in front of skate ... OUCH ! :-)
> "Franklin's UsenetSpamTrap" <usenetspamt...@hotpop.com> a écrit dans le > message de news: NSORd.2719$Mw3.2529@amstwist00... > > Finished 50+ km on ice today, tired as h...
Franklin seems to share the same ideas about poles that I do. The poles have several uses.
Traditionally, Swedish skaters carried one "ispik" or ice-pike, probably called that because it resembles the "pike" or spear used by foot soldiers in ancient times. It might have had originated from a hunting spear in the ice-fishing and seal-hunting culture of the Baltic Sea. The ice-pike is used to test the strength of the ice. Later, skaters carried a second pole, usually just a regular ski pole. Useful for leaping over ridges etc. Lately, companies are making matched pairs of "ispik", used for both testing ice and propulsion. There are pictures and explanation on this site:
From reading Swedish skating literature regarding the use of poles for propulsion, there seems to be 2 schools. The old-timers say that one should not use poles as "crutches". The "newbies", like me, who come from a skiing background, use them as XC-skiers do while skiing - the "double-poling" technique.
I find double-poling very useful for: 1/ crossing sections of bumpy ice where regular stroking is dangerous 2/ fighting against a head wind, towing a sled, etc. 3/ as a change of muscle use, good for an "upper body" workout
For really fast skating, say in a tail wind, poles actually slow one down. It is difficult to pole fast enough at high speed, and the poles hinder one from getting into the aerodynamic position used by elite speedskaters. (I don't have that problem :-) Then there is the problem of holding the poles in one hand, a camera in the other, trying to aim the camera for a good action shot... pole drags on ice in front of skate ... OUCH ! :-)
xsfred wrote: > What is the use of the ski poles ?
Supposed to help when the wind is against you, climbing out on to ice from land (it's often cracked/slippery/angled downwards), to test the ice (special poles, not ordinary ski poles, for stabbing at the ice), more stable while crossing cracks, going faster, helping to get out of the water, getting in the way and tripping you up... :-)
I started out with poles as everybody else has them, and they are good against the wind and for an alternative propulsion mode, but I find it more and more easy to just skate. I've only been ice skating 7-8 times now, but more and more of my inlines technique is coming through as I find the edges on ice. I think if I was a really good skater I wouldn't really need them, other than for ice testing.
In a light wind it felt better to bend the knees more and skate, in the heavy wind it was nice to alternate. It's a different way of skating, with poles one can be sloppy and still go forward quite fast for a while. I get tired in different places with the one or the other it seems.
Re inlines, here in the city it is not that often one sees inliners with poles, whilst outside Oslo it's more or the norm. Different skating cultures.
> Looks like great fun over uncountable distances. > Is it actually easier to pull the sled than carrying an equivalent backpack > ?
Yes and no! For a simple "day-trip" on skates with a light load, carrying a backpack is less complicated. It is very easy to pull the sled, but there are problems with tow lines etc.
The kicksled is not the ideal vehicle to tow behind a skater. The centre of gravity is too high and it tends to "fish-tail", slide back and forth. A better vehicle would be a ice-pulka, lower and more stable. There was a multi-week Dutch/Swedish skating expedition on the ice of Lake Baikal in Russia a few years ago. They pulled rather heavy pulkas.
We often combine both kicksled and skates on one tour. We rode the kicksleds up the lake and found out that the ice was smooth enough for skating the whole way. So on the return trip, we (or just Lesley this time) skated. The only practical way to skate back and bring the kicksled was to tow it.
I did another short tour on Monday, checking out ice surface on a section of Avon River (still water above a dam). I kicksledded up river 4 km, discovered that the ice was smooth, so returned to start, parked the sled in a safe place, then skated the route.
