Skating VT to NY 3/9/14

Lake Champlain is completely frozen over for the first time in a while. Maybe 6-7 years? In the summer we have been known to travel from Charlotte VT to Essex NY to a place called the Old Dock, which is a bar/restaurant. This place puts the emphasis on the bar part. The Old Dock is closed in the winter but it seemed like a good destination anyway. Call it practice for the upcoming summer. The mode of transportation was skates. The distance is about 8.5 miles round trip if you went in a straight line. We didn't go in a straight line. There were two large pressure cracks in the ice. One ran the entire length of the bay we started in, had ice chunks 2-4 feet high, and had water around the pressure crack. We decided we could not cross it without going to the end of it where it met the shore. Near the shore there was an area with no water that we could get across. We skated next to a second crack that went from VT to NY in an east/west direction. The ice was mixed. Areas of perfect black ice, areas of bumpy ice, and areas of wind blown snow. There was a fair amount of weaving necessary to stay on good ice. We didn't make it to the Old Dock. It turns out the Ferry was running so there was a water channel going right in front of the Old Dock since the Ferry comes in right next to it. It was a little strange skating on the ice with an open water channel next to us. Perfect blue sky day and little wind.

Pressure Crack

Destination - Old Dock NY

Picture of Steve taking pictures

Steve racing Ferry

Returning after victory