Early season ice

[Matt Steinberg]

Greetings Everyone. 

I don't know about you but now that we have made it past Labor Day and this dreadful heat may have finally broken, I am ready for ice. Being somewhat impatient as well as an avid hiker, I am planning on attempting to get some early season ice up at higher elevations this fall. I am researching some high altitude ponds and lakes and will start planning some hikes in late October, cold temps willing of course. The idea will be to catch some skateable ice before the snow comes. My first target will be Lake of the Clouds on Mt Washington. It would be novelty skating as it is small but it is also above 5000 feet and could be frozen before Halloween. Other possibilities in Nov could be Kinsman Pond at 3700 feet and Lonesome Lake at 2700 feet. Both are bigger (maybe Occom Pond size) and would offer real skating. Sterling Pond in VT at 3000 feet might be a possibility as well. All of these would require at least a moderate hike and in the case of LOTC and Kinsman, a pretty significant outing. If anyone may be interested in joining me on these endeavors, reach out and we can start to plan. Of course a warm or unusually snow early fall could dictate otherwise but I am hoping for the best.

I have attached a recent pic from LOTC. Small but spectacular and well worth the effort I think.

Matt

[diana hanks]

I really don’t enjoy hiking, as a mater of fact I find every step to be quite unpleasant. However, I have hiked up and skated Sterling Pond. Several of us did it the day before Thanksgiving, a few years back, and that was worth it. If Smugger’s is making snow, but not opened yet , skinning up and skiing down after skating makes it extremely worth it. I would join you on Sterling. But I walk uphill slower than the speed of a snail.  Once on the ice, that slow-pokiness is entirely gone. Then the need for speed awakens in me.

I am sure Lake In The Clouds will be frozen before Halloween. Just last week at the end of our heat wave, they hit 32 already. But that hike would take me all damned day, and there would be no time to skate, then it would get dark and I would be in a heap of trouble. 

Do you have a drysuit? When on early season ice, especially so far away from the warm car, a drysuit is highly recommended.

Diana 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 6, 2022, at 1:22 PM, Matt Steinberg <fios...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Matt Steinberg]

Wow. Thank you so much everyone for the overwhelmingly positive response. I am getting quite excited to think that the first possibility of ice could be less than 2 months away. I will monitor the weather closely and keep everyone well informed about my plans with as much lead time as possible. I frequent the high elevations of the Whites so I feel pretty good about knowing the conditions but I know we have an active group so any reports from anyone that is out and about will be very appreciated, especially in VT. Thanks again and let's hope for some early season cold (without snow)

Matt