Outer Mallets Bay Report
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diana hanks
Feb 5, 2023, 4:18:31 PM2/5/23
to Nordic Skating Group, Adirondack Skating Group
Five of us skated on Outer Mallets Bay, from the fishing access on the Milton side of the causeway.
You had to walk a little to get to the good ice, but then there was wonderful black ice to be had. Blaine and I crossed the pressure ridge by the mouth of the Lamoille River, and continued South, into a 26 mph wind. We would like to have crossed the bay, and we got almost half way, before we hightailed it back. I was not liking the situation, having been out there a few years back, in similar weather conditions, when things started breaking up on us. That situation was heavily on my mind.
The section North of the pressure ridge is great for recreational skating. Skating Southward, the pressure ridge itself separates the boys from the men so to speak. It’s a bit tricky to cross and everything is dynamic from there onward. It was very noisy out farther on the bay, with a constant rumble of pressure cracks letting go. We turned around almost half way across the outer bay, because the strong winds along with rapidly changing temperatures, was making this ice very active. Shear lines were all over the place in many directions, with small sections of ice between them. Shear lines, I call them, I am not sure of their real name. They look like ropes made of ice, inside the plate of ice. They are real cool looking, but that is a sign of two plates being pushed in opposite directions. They are the beginning of a pressure ridge. It was too windy to hear the ice when skating up wind, and I didn’t like not having that feedback.
On a calm day when you can actually hear the ice, if you ever hear a ticking noise , the ice is about to blow. If the ticking noise speeds up, you must immediately move away from that ticking sound.
Bob Dill and I were once photographing a big pressure ridge, and I asked him what the ticking noise was. He couldn’t hear well, especially with a helmet. Then I told him that the ticking was speeding up. He said “we need to move back away from this pressure ridge”. As soon as we moved back, it blew with a thunderous roar, and boom.
Today, I couldn’t get off that section of ice fast enough once seeing all those “ropes” crisscrossing everywhere , and very close together. When going downwind we could hear quite a bit of booming going on. Once we crossed that pressure ridge which goes from the mouth of the Lamoille, to South Hero, that plate of ice to the North was quiet, and very stable. There were absolutely none of those rope formations in that section.
Today’s wind and temperature changes, made it not the day to be on that big plate of ice. Hopefully the pressure will be relieved somewhat as more ridges form today, and it can be a bit more stable for future skating. The ice out there was nice for a while , then we did get into some rougher stuff. I’d like to go back out on a nicer day.
The ride back downwind was wild though! That was well worth the slog upwind !
Diana Hanks
You had to walk a little to get to the good ice, but then there was wonderful black ice to be had. Blaine and I crossed the pressure ridge by the mouth of the Lamoille River, and continued South, into a 26 mph wind. We would like to have crossed the bay, and we got almost half way, before we hightailed it back. I was not liking the situation, having been out there a few years back, in similar weather conditions, when things started breaking up on us. That situation was heavily on my mind.
The section North of the pressure ridge is great for recreational skating. Skating Southward, the pressure ridge itself separates the boys from the men so to speak. It’s a bit tricky to cross and everything is dynamic from there onward. It was very noisy out farther on the bay, with a constant rumble of pressure cracks letting go. We turned around almost half way across the outer bay, because the strong winds along with rapidly changing temperatures, was making this ice very active. Shear lines were all over the place in many directions, with small sections of ice between them. Shear lines, I call them, I am not sure of their real name. They look like ropes made of ice, inside the plate of ice. They are real cool looking, but that is a sign of two plates being pushed in opposite directions. They are the beginning of a pressure ridge. It was too windy to hear the ice when skating up wind, and I didn’t like not having that feedback.
On a calm day when you can actually hear the ice, if you ever hear a ticking noise , the ice is about to blow. If the ticking noise speeds up, you must immediately move away from that ticking sound.
Bob Dill and I were once photographing a big pressure ridge, and I asked him what the ticking noise was. He couldn’t hear well, especially with a helmet. Then I told him that the ticking was speeding up. He said “we need to move back away from this pressure ridge”. As soon as we moved back, it blew with a thunderous roar, and boom.
Today, I couldn’t get off that section of ice fast enough once seeing all those “ropes” crisscrossing everywhere , and very close together. When going downwind we could hear quite a bit of booming going on. Once we crossed that pressure ridge which goes from the mouth of the Lamoille, to South Hero, that plate of ice to the North was quiet, and very stable. There were absolutely none of those rope formations in that section.
Today’s wind and temperature changes, made it not the day to be on that big plate of ice. Hopefully the pressure will be relieved somewhat as more ridges form today, and it can be a bit more stable for future skating. The ice out there was nice for a while , then we did get into some rougher stuff. I’d like to go back out on a nicer day.
The ride back downwind was wild though! That was well worth the slog upwind !
Diana Hanks
Martha Cochran
Feb 5, 2023, 6:49:42 PM2/5/23
to diana hanks, Nordic Skating Group, Adirondack Skating Group
Hi Diana. Sorry about the wind. It was pretty high winds at Lake Willoughby, too, though they predicted 10 mph only...
Wow, that is interesting and useful! What exactly do you mean that a pressure ridge "blows?"
Martha C.
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diana hanks
Feb 5, 2023, 6:58:08 PM2/5/23
to Martha Cochran, Nordic Skating Group, Adirondack Skating Group
Martha,
That was my description of when flat ice suddenly erupts with a loud bang and suddenly you have a pressure ridge.
I once heard a thunderous roar , and saw a fishing shanty lifted off the ice. The door flew open, and three guys bolted out. Their shanty was up on top of this pressure ridge. Their launderer most likely would know just how scared they were. ( I am not explaining that phrase).
Diana Hanks
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On Feb 5, 2023, at 6:49 PM, Martha Cochran <martha....@gmail.com> wrote:
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vtnordicskating/CALhs_%3DRn21zWEs9QkDpBrUhJODoR2_9QEmSc%2B-Q2qJ2iTH1%2B%2BQ%40mail.gmail.com.
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