Lake Willoughby, Westmore, Vermont – 2/1/24
81 views
Skip to first unread message
Chris Boone
Feb 2, 2024, 10:03:29 PM2/2/24
to VT Nordic Skating
I skated about 13 miles on Lake Willoughby today, from around 2:30 until 5:30. All in all, a fun skate, but not a casual one. It required constant attention to subtle visual and aural indicators (tricky with the wind ripping) and constant testing with the poles, and offered a decent chance of face plants. But the views were stupendous, as always.
I got on the ice from the parking lot at the south beach; access was easy, I just walked right on, though there was water around the edge and shifting ice might mean a board is needed some other time soon. No real rubble to speak of, but rough ice for the first hundred meters, gradually getting smoother. Aside from that southernmost area, all the ice was pretty decent, very skateable.
That said, a fair bit of snow had accumulated by the time I arrived. It was thickest in the gap and south to the beach, where it was at least 1” everywhere, with some thicker drifts and lots of small barchan dune style drifts forming. For the most part the snow was just soft and pleasant, though of course it completely obscured the surface of the ice.
The wind was blowing steadily and strong from the north the whole time I was out. So on my way north I was moving slowly and I had no trouble skating through the snow. That’s the line along the west edge of the lake on my track below, as I was trying to stay out of the wind as much as I could. But of course that meant I was also where the snow was building up. On my way back south (the squiggly line, playing in the wind on my return) I was tripped up by drifting snow half a dozen times; no injuries, but not ideal. I’m not sure whether it was more because snow had built up or because I was moving faster and it was darker out. From north of the gap north there was less snow on the ice, thinner drifts with just a skim of snow between them.
You can see how far I made it on my track. The sudden about face was because I found myself on one poke ice, with (of course) no visual indication of any change. As I skated I was constantly using my poles to check the thickness of the ice, and other than that northerly area it was always many inches thick and quite strong. And also constantly smooth. I saw a few flat ridges / cracks where water had seeped out during the day and there was some slush that was rapidly freezing, and I saw some open water towards the fishing access area (as there often is and as reported previously).
https://catamounthardware.com/atlas/vermont/lake-willoughby/
Chris
catamounthardware.com
I got on the ice from the parking lot at the south beach; access was easy, I just walked right on, though there was water around the edge and shifting ice might mean a board is needed some other time soon. No real rubble to speak of, but rough ice for the first hundred meters, gradually getting smoother. Aside from that southernmost area, all the ice was pretty decent, very skateable.
That said, a fair bit of snow had accumulated by the time I arrived. It was thickest in the gap and south to the beach, where it was at least 1” everywhere, with some thicker drifts and lots of small barchan dune style drifts forming. For the most part the snow was just soft and pleasant, though of course it completely obscured the surface of the ice.
The wind was blowing steadily and strong from the north the whole time I was out. So on my way north I was moving slowly and I had no trouble skating through the snow. That’s the line along the west edge of the lake on my track below, as I was trying to stay out of the wind as much as I could. But of course that meant I was also where the snow was building up. On my way back south (the squiggly line, playing in the wind on my return) I was tripped up by drifting snow half a dozen times; no injuries, but not ideal. I’m not sure whether it was more because snow had built up or because I was moving faster and it was darker out. From north of the gap north there was less snow on the ice, thinner drifts with just a skim of snow between them.
You can see how far I made it on my track. The sudden about face was because I found myself on one poke ice, with (of course) no visual indication of any change. As I skated I was constantly using my poles to check the thickness of the ice, and other than that northerly area it was always many inches thick and quite strong. And also constantly smooth. I saw a few flat ridges / cracks where water had seeped out during the day and there was some slush that was rapidly freezing, and I saw some open water towards the fishing access area (as there often is and as reported previously).
https://catamounthardware.com/atlas/vermont/lake-willoughby/
Chris
catamounthardware.com
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages