Fwd:

[Matt Steinberg]

Hello Everyone,

While I am not ready to give up yet with several high altitude outings as well as a trip up to the hinterlands of Quebec near the end of the month, the sight of boats on the wide open lakes and the rapid degradation overnight of the ice Jamie and I skated on Thursday morning means that for all intents and purposes, the skating season is coming to an end. I think that now when at least some of you out there are still engaged and not dreaming of the inevitable heat, humidity, and bugs headed our way, is an appropriate time to do a seasonal wrap up. I think we can all agree that this has been an epic season, one for the (modern) ages. Early black ice and late snowfall made for many incredible adventures. Being of German descent and more than slightly insane, or so I have been told, I am a bit obsessed with numbers and overanalysis of everything. That said, I am approaching a personal record season. My first skate was my earliest yet on Oct 29 and I am still going into mid April. I have skated 63 days on 37 different bodies of water and 1,058.4 miles thus far. If I can reach 1,100 and / or April 15, those will both be records. I know many of you have logged an impressive amount of skating this year and for those of you who are just getting into the sport, what a year to get started.

There have been many highlights this year. Perhaps the tops of my list was the glorious Lake George emerging from a long skating slumber and treating us to several days of incredible black ice in impeccable scenery and bluebird skies and sunshine. What a long awaited treat. On the other side of New England, long sleeping Sebago did its best to counter Lake George with a seemingly endless two weeks of black ice outings. There were many skates on the usual big lake targets such as Winne, Newfound, Champlain, and the Connecticut River all four of which at various times treated us to many incredible outings on peerless black ice. A few lucky Mainers even made it out on salt water for the first time in living memory. Long Lake in Maine was a star for me, putting on a visual feast for three days as the flawless black ice matched with stunning sunrises, sunsets, and puffy white clouds, all reflecting without blemish in views that brought me to my knees. I even had the opportunity to skate this lake under the light of the full moon. And of course on the East's highest lake, the surreal vision of my friend and her graceful figure skating  juxtaposed with the stark and bleak beauty of Lake of the Clouds on Mount Washington.

To my partners in crime, you can now relax a little as you will get a break from the endless late night text messages and calls cajoling you to get up in the wee hours and drive many miles to a venue with the possibility of finding something amazing. To the many dozens of others I skated with or crossed paths with this winter from northern Maine to northern New York, It was wonderful to see you out there. Last year while at Flagstaff Lake in Maine, Evan told me he thought we lived in perhaps the best place in the world for nordic skating. I agree. Alaska has the Instagram scenery and glaciers but they often cannot skate nearly as much there due to vagaries in weather, distance and access issues, etc.  Scandanavia has history and tradition and when it's good it's very good but their season becomes more unpredictable each year. We appear right now to be in the Goldilocks Zone for nordic skating and hopefully that lasts for many years to come. Perhaps more important than the conditions though, it is our community that really makes this the best place to practice our sport. We are truly blessed to have such a vibrant, engaged, and caring community of skaters who are so committed to growing the sport that Jamie spearheaded decades ago. Whenever I am out, no matter where it is, I always manage to find a familiar smiling face on the ice. I truly feel this is a tight knit family and I am very lucky to be part of it.  So many new people were reporting this year and we had several examples of how something as simple as a photograph from a passing car or someone's back porch or a quick poke of the ice could lead to the enjoyment of so many people on the ice that otherwise would not have been possible. I hope this only continues to grow in the coming years. 

This year also saw the formation of a group of experienced skaters with the goal of creating  and formalizing training materials that were previously lacking. The hope is that these materials  will work to educate and empower people to grow and become more confident in practicing the sport and introducing it to others and the community at large. This will also serve to normalize nordic skating in the view of the public and first responders and hopefully promote a culture of safety. I did one ice extraction and rescue training this year and hope to do multiple per year in the seasons to come. I see so many more people out now wearing helmets than just a few years ago. I am honored to be part of this group although I am still behind the deadline on some of my work, so hopefully I can complete it this summer when there is no ice to compete  for my attention.  

As the summer draws near and we soon are sweating in the New England steambath swatting at the bugs, I will look forward to the time in late Sept where my stomach fills with butterflies in anticipation and I start dreaming of the coming ice season, planning for my first high altitude outing. Soon after,  the black ice will start to form in the familiar spots and  everyone will pull out their gear and our nordic skating family will reunite once again as the beauty of winter unfolds before us. Have a great summer Everyone and I will see you out on the ice soon. I have attempted to embed a few favorite pics from this past season.