Lake Ninevah, Mount Holly, Vt – 12/31/23

[Chris Boone]

I skated Lake Ninevah yesterday, in Mount Holly, Vermont, just north of Ludlow. We don’t get a lot of reporting on central Vermont ice, so I wanted to be sure people knew about this one.

It’s a pretty lake, mostly undeveloped, up in the mountains. There’s only one road in in the winter, and the only public access is at the Fish and Wildlife fishing access area. (Access to the lake is slightly controversial; a web search can find you some articles about that, if you’re interested.) It’s in a cold spot, at medium elevation (1,762’), not super big and not too deep. It has a varied shoreline and an interesting marshy section in the southern reach.

I skated about 10 miles on it. Currently it’s 4”+ of snow ice, refrozen on top into a slightly bumpy but consistent and very skateable surface. It was a little soft still yesterday morning, but is probably great by now. Parts of the ice had a thin snow covering, just enough to soften the sound of my strides.

Parking is limited, and this is one of the few spots that I would worry about access being a problem, given that ice fishers have priority (exclusive use, technically) at the access area. (Lake Fairlee’s boat launch is the only place I’ve seen this be a problem in practice, since it’s so incredibly popular.) If you go, don’t believe your GPS if it tells you to go on anything other than Shunpike Road from Route 103; the other roads in are closed in winter, which I verified (just curious, given the odd weather and winter).

More info, directions, details: https://catamounthardware.com/atlas/vermont/lake-ninevah/