Aardwolfs Natural Ice Reports | |||
19th July 2013 11.47pm |
Aardwolfs Ice Hockey Club |
DISCLAIMER: These reports are based on: phone calls, emails, trips to the ice, lakes and ponds. Please NOTE that YOU SKATE AT YOUR OWN RISK and these reports only give you an idea of what to expect when you arrive. Conditions can change very quickly in the mountains and though we make every effort to keep these reports current in season, please be careful when skating.
Remember: ICE SKATING on NATURAL ICE can be dangerous.
Having a tow rope on hand works well for this.
More
Safety Tips |
HELP US TELL YOU WHAT ITS LIKE ON THE ICE
If you have been to the
Ice Recently, Please
send
me a report:
|
|
Weather information |
|
Natural Ice Reports for 2013 | |
Skate Hire: Clive 033238293: 0274504399
SGI Ice
Skate Services Looking for a ride Skating or have a spare seat. Check out: this Facebook page. |
|
Tuesday
16th July 2.24pm: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Too warm to skate with no frost at night and daytime
temperatures at 12deg. But, there is no wind and large areas of ice still
exist at the western and eastern ends of Lake Clearwater, and a small area
at the east end of Lake camp as well as in shaded near trees. This ice has
withstood very strong westerly and northerly winds. So don't give up, all we
need is frost and it will be all go again. Im driving north today, but might come back if there is a freezup. |
|
Tuesday 16th July 8.39pm:
Idaburn and Poolburn From: Dave Young at :http://chipofftheiceblock.blogspot.co.nz/ |
|
Poolburn 70-80mm snow/back ice. Deteriorating quickly
in the sun and becoming weak. Get there early for a skate (maybe) but it
won't last. Track messy when it thaws. Idaburn 60-70mm snow ice in main basin - thins out to water in the gorge side. Hard and bumpy while frozen. Need frosts!! The ice does not feel as though it is here to stay and unfortunately warmer weather and winds are due. Cracks appearing at Poolburn as the day warms. Photo by Dave Young Testing before crossing pressure cracks in the ice. Photo by Dave Young |
|
Tuesday
16th July 2.42am: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Ice thickness 9cm - 11cm on
the west end of Clearwater and the length of Lake Camp. We can skate about
300Mts x400Mts on Clearwater and Camp on the north side and at the east end.
I haven't checked the eastern end of Clearwater but sure it will be OK. Its
mostly thawed snow refrozen so its slightly rough except were water has
frozen on the surface. All going off about midday. Temp at 2.14pm was +6deg. last night it dropped to -6deg. Calm with bright overcast. |
|
Editors Note: 15th July 7.18pm our apologies for the lack of timely updates for the last few days we have been locked out of accessing our server, I'm pleased to say we are back on track and the the reports have now been updated to current. | |
Monday
15th July 9.33am: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Overnight low of -4deg,
currently +2deg light overcast with blue sky visible. Yesterday offered good
skating in the morning on 9cm of hard ice with 3cm of new snow at the west
end of Lake Clearwater. In the afternoon Lake Emma had 8cm of softening ice
with 3cm of sticky snow and big wet patches melting through the snow that
clogged the skates. If we get a freeze tonight there will be plenty of rough snow-melt ice to skate on most lakes. |
|
Sunday
14th July 9.33am: Lake Ida
and Lake Evelyn From: Russell Clark by txt |
|
Lake Ida 40-50mm of snow and more falling now,
not skateable currently with that much snow, tried to access Lake Evelyn but
the Ice round the edge wouldn't support me to get on. Sophie Clark Skating on Lake Ida in the snow Photo by Russell Clark |
|
Saturday 13th July 4.43pm:
Coalpit Dam,
Idaburn, Manorburn and Poolburn From: Dave Young at :http://chipofftheiceblock.blogspot.co.nz/ |
|
Coalpit Dam is a mix of black and refrozen ice.
I had a great skate overall but it thins on the sunny side. Idaburn is good in the main basin but skate early as the sun softens it. Manorburn has black ice everywhere but it varies in thickness, Rush Cutters corner is safe to skate on. Poolburn needs another frost or two to thicken, but I had a good skate on black ice , the access track is muddy when the frost lifts. |
|
Saturday
13th July 7.35pm: Lake Ida
and Lake Evelyn From: Clive Murphie |
|
Had a good skate at lake Ida today the ice was
marginal when getting on in front of the chalet (50-60mm of black ice) ,
however once you got out there was a large area of firm ice (80-90mm black
ice) , the lake has ice over 2/3rds with about 1/3 good skateable ice, there
is snow due tomorrow so conditions will change quickly. Lake Evelyn was mostly frozen however round the edges there was not enough ice to support getting on, about 40mm of black ice. The Ice Hockey game and some figure skating. Photo by Clive Murphie Looking down to the Western end of Lake Ida. Photo by Michael Row by Quadrocopter |
|
Saturday 13th Sunday14th
10.38pm: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Fred van Slooten by email |
|
Saturday we skated Lake Camp.
Nice ice but limited areas as it was fairly thin. I had a foot go through,
so tripped and my other knee then punched a hole through. Stayed on top but
a little sore!! About 70mm of snow overnight and through Sunday.
We skated on the West end of Lake Clearwater, it was nice but slow.
Skated on Lake Camp in the afternoon, the snow was thicker so we made a
skating course. After a frost I would say it will be very hard to skate on, plus very hard to pick the safe areas. Saturday: Sunshine and sweet ice..:) Photo by Fred van Slooten Sunday: Snow and grey clouds....:( Photo by Fred van Slooten |
|
Friday
12th July 9.48pm: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Ashburton Lakes report
Friday, Last night the temp dropped to -10deg, now it is -3.5deg, after a
day of 0deg, calm and clear with thin high cloud. Lake Clearwater: all water between the batches and the island; at the western end the ice is 8cm but weak, as checked late in the afternoon, it was skateable with care. Lake Camp: the eastern end is skateable and looking good for tomorrow, the whole lake is nearly covered. Lake Roundabout: locked in and skateable at the road end, and will be skateable with care tomorrow. Lake Emma: completely ice covered but only 3-4cm in the middle. I skated to the outlet hugging the old ice by the shore. the Western end into the swamp is skateable with most peculiar ice, where the wind pattern on the water has frozen. All the lakes really need two more good frosts. Skate tomorrow with care!!!! |
|
Thursday 11th July 11.30am: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Last night the temp dropped to -12deg, and it stayed at -5deg all day today. Weather fine and still. Skiffs of ice appearing all over Clearwater and forming well on Lake Camp. Emma looked well covered when viewed from the road. Temperature now -7.8deg and dropping. Still snow covering at about 6cm everywhere down to the lake edges. Road in is rough condition but no problems. There will be skating tomorrow, Friday. | |
Wednesday 10th July 11.30am: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
The ice which only covered the top swamp yesterday increased in size 50-fold down the lake past the big bay today. The rest of the lake is still water. Temperature is a warm -5.5 deg and rising. Sky clear, no wind. The 9cm of snow that fell last night is still there after a clear cold calm day. No skating yet. | |
Tuesday
9th July 5.36pm: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Lake Clearwater: Its -.3deg,
snowing heavily, 8cm on the ground, no wind, no ice. Last night got to -7deg briefly, most of the time it was -3deg. |
|
Wednesday
3rd July 1.19pm: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
No Ice left at Clearwater or Camp Temperature
today 14 deg C Photos from 27th June to 1st July Skating on oily smooth velvet quiet Ice Photo by Alan Knowles Blue Whale Kite fling on Sunday. Photo by Alan Knowles |
|
Monday 1st July 3.46pm: Lake
Georgina and Lake Evelyn From: Hayley Bykerk by Facebook |
|
Lake Georgina had 160mm of ice on Monday, it was
wet initially and firmed up later in the day. Lake Evelyn was still
skateable. Not much snow left now. Photo by Philip Buchanan Perfect mirror smooth Ice on Lake Georgina Photo Philip Buchanan |
|
Tuesday
2nd July 1.26pm: Lake Clearwater
and Camp From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Temp +13 deg C wind about
30km/h Lake Clearwater: Huge holes have appeared and growing fast. Cannot get on the ice below the village, so we drove to the western end and had a good skate on that, 12cm of thick black ice. The whole lake is softening. Lake Camp: Nearly all water now. |
|
Sunday
30th June
23.16pm: Lake Ida From: Phil Abraham by email |
|
Visited Lake Ida on
Sunday for a family stake. Accessed the Lake from the Mt Olympus Rd and
it was hard work with an 1hr+ of plugging through 0.5-1m of soft snow. Lake Ida itself is completely frozen with 6-10 cm of snow ice over a base of black ice. The whole lake is skateable, although the best skating is along the western edge where the ice is smoother with less ice crystals. The hockey rink adjacent to the A Frame is frozen over with snow ice, and is not worth skating due to the large (>5cm) ice crystals covering the surface of the rink. Kelly, Bowen (7) and Kieran (5) relax after a couple of hours of hard skating on Lake Ida Photo by Phil Abraham The Boys plug steps through the snow between the main lake and the ice rink. Photo by Phil Abraham The Boys checking out the the hockey Rink Photo by Phil Abraham |
|
Sunday
30th June
23.16pm: Lake Clearwater From: Ron James by email |
|
100mm of Black Ice over the whole Lake Jeff and Joe on some stunning Ice. Photo by Ron James The rest of the crew at Clearwater. Photo Ron James |
|
Sunday
30th June
2.24pm: Lake Clearwater From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Lake Clearwater fine, locked up with clear smooth black ice 9cm - 12cm thick, light westerly wind with wispy high cloud and good sun at 9am Sunday 30 June. | |
Saturday 29 June 9.22pm: Lake
Lyndon From: Steve Lord Potty Reekie by Facebook |
|
We ended up at Lake Lyndon today . The
Lyndon-Evelyn and Ida Road was closed to all except snowmobiles and Husky
teams..:) There was enough ice on the side of Lyndon for a decent skate
though we did get our feet wet at one point!! Testing the Ice at Lake Lyndon Photo Steve Lord Potty Reekie First Skate of the season: Lake Lyndon. Video by Steve Lord Potty Reekie |
|
Saturday 29 June 9.22pm:
Coalpit Dam, Lower
Coalpit and George Pond From: Dave Young at :http://chipofftheiceblock.blogspot.co.nz/ |
|
Coalpit Dam fantastic skate all covered with
hard snow ice, access is 4WD only at the moment. George Pond smooth snow ice
a good skate. Lower Coalpit also frozen, a rare event. First Skate on George Pond. Photo by Dave Young A Rare Skate on Lower Coalpit Dam. Photo by Dave Young |
|
Saturday 29 June 9.22pm:
Idaburn Dam From: Dave Young at :http://chipofftheiceblock.blogspot.co.nz/ |
|
Idaburn , the main basin is ok in some places but needs care | |
Saturday 29 June 9.22pm:
Poolburn Dam From: Dave Young at :http://chipofftheiceblock.blogspot.co.nz/ |
|
Poolburn has limited ice and needs a few frosts
the track is muddy getting there. Poolburn Dam. Photo by Dave Young |
|
Saturday 29 June 9.22pm: Lake
Georgina and Lake Evelyn From: Clive Murphie |
|
A busy day skating at Lake Evelyn today, 24
carloads of 50+ people enjoyed a fantastic day on the Ice, no wind, blue
skies and bright sunshine, the hockey game went for a couple of hours. The
firm snow ice was a little rough due to the big frost Friday night. 130mm of
ice meant little movement of the ice during the day. Lake Georgina had the best Ice of the Day with black ice over most of the Lake. Lets hope the NW winds due this week do little damage. Car Parking at a premium but tons of ice Photo by Clive Murphie Early as people start to arrive. Photo by Nathan Kline (Quadrocopter) Ice Hockey Lake Evelyn Style Photo by Carl Mcilroy First touch of the NW'ers over Lake Georgina Photo by Mike Atkinson |
|
Saturday 29 June 12.37am:
Lake Georgina From: Ron James by email |
|
Friday Night Skate, The whole of Lake Georgina
is skateable. Mostly black ice but even the snow ice is hard and fast. Brent having his first Natural Ice Skate for the season Photo Ron James |
|
Friday
28 June
10.19pm: Lake Clearwater From: Alan Knowles by email |
|
Lake Clearwater is locked up
with black ice and no pressure ridges yet. Ice depth at western end 11cm,
between village and island 7-9 cm, thinnest seems to be 6 cm. I
circumnavigated the lake today and skated from village to island and back.
8pm Friday -10deg and dropping. Last night (thurs), cloudy and only -2. I will be on lake to skate with all comers Saturday. |
|
Friday
28 June
12.00pm: Ice Reports Newsletter 2 Sent Fri 23 June 12.00pm From: Clive |
|
Ice Reports Newsletter 2 | |
Thursday
27 June
8.41pm: Lake Evelyn and Lake Georgina From: Clive Murphie |
|
Lake Evelyn is frozen end to end with better ice
than we had last year, today we had a fantastic skate on 50mm of good
skating, snow ice over 60mm of black ice, with 4 of us skating the ice made
very little noise all day. Lake Georgina was frozen with good black ice, though care getting on and off is needed as its softer round the edges. It was so good we are heading up that way on Saturday for the day. I would recommend gumboots for getting on at the western end of Lake Evelyn as its a little swampy with about 800mm of snow. Sundays weather forecast is for rain and North Westers. Looking West from the middle of Lake Evelyn Photo by Clive Murphie Looking East from the middle of Lake Evelyn Photo by Clive Murphie Sydney, Clive Izzy and Ron, T shirt weather..:) Photo by Ron James Clive skating through the Islands at Lake Evelyn Photo by Ron James Ron having his first skate on Lake Georgina, Photo by Clive Murphie |
|
Wednesday
26 June
9.45pm: Lake Lyndon From: Karl Barbet in Person |
|
Lake Lyndon has some surface ice with a lot of open water, there is no way on to what looks like good ice (strength and thickness unknown) !!! | |
Tuesday
25 June
5.01pm: Ice Reports Newsletter Sent Sun
23 June
6.49pm From: Clive |
|
Hi Folks, I'm sorry to say that all clear.net.nz, paradise.net.nz, and ihug.co.nz email addresses didn't get my first Ice Reports newsletter due to the Vodafone servers deciding they are spam and blacklisting my Slingshot email address. You will need to check this Ice reports page for updates, Whenever I email a Newsletter out, a link will appear here with a copy of it, that way you can read it as a webpage. 2013 Newsletter 1 Sunday 23 June 6.49pm: From: Clive | |
Monday
24 June
9.42pm: Hororata Domain Ice Rink From: Ron by email |
|
5 to 10mm of ice Wont hold my weight today.
Not enough.........yet, but soon!! Photo by Ron James |
|
Monday
24 June
9.42pm: Lower Manorburn Dam From: Lyndon by email |
|
Lower Manorburn has ice, 25mm covering
the middle basin, bit more in Rushcutters bay, I will report when
its good for a skate.
Testing the Ice in Rushcutters Bay Photo by Lyndon |
|
Monday
24 June
1.05pm: Lake Lyndon From: Karl Barbet by Txt |
|
Most of the Lake has about 25mm of nice clear (see through) ice covering most of the Lake, but there are a couple of currents running by the shore not frozen. Not quite skateable yet but I'd say its not far away! Next report Wednesday on the return trip. | |
Sunday
23 June
5.34pm: Lake Ida and Little Lake Ida From: Tom Pearson by Facebook |
|
Lake Ida, Looks a little frozen if you ask me.
Great aerial shots and flying today Photo by Angus Ward. Lots of snow about, Mt Ida behind Lake Ida Photo by Angus Ward. |
|
Sunday
23 June
5.34pm: Lake Evelyn and Ida and Georgina From: Andrea Rowe by Facebook |
|
Good day out at lakes. Lake
Evelyn is frozen but not quite thick enough. Lake Georgina is completely
frozen too. Attempted to get to Lake Ida, the first gate was open, but had
to park at bottom of track to the second gate. After about 25 mins of
walking in pretty much knee to hip high snow and not even getting to second
gate we gave up. I would say that Ida would be good ice but it would have
taken ages to get there! Way too tiring!! Matt at Lake Georgina Today, No Skating Yet..:( Photo by Andrea Rowe Lake Evelyn with a covering of Ice Photo by Andrea Rowe |
|
Tuesday 11 June
8.44pm: Lower Manorburn Dam From: Dave Young at http://chipofftheiceblock.blogspot.co.nz/ |
|
Visited the Lower Manorburn
Dam this morning. A skim of ice across the main basin and 12 to 15 mm in
Rush Cutters corner. Wet and foggy but great to see some ice at least!
Hoping for frost!! 12-15mm in Rushcutters corner Photo by Dave Young |
|
Wednesday 12 June 9.42pm:
Fairly Ice Rink From: Tony Pope by Facebook Message |
|
A few pictures of the Fairlie ice rink frozen
over. Was about 1cm thick maybe a little more further in from the edge. Too
thin to get on it around the edges though. Another great day in Fairlie Photo by Tony Pope Put you Ice Glasses on.... Photo by Topy Pope Ice, but not enough yet. Photo by Tony Pope |
|
Monday 3rd June 6.34pm:
Lake Lyndon/Red Lakes/Hororata Domain From: Joe Morgan by email |
|
Lake Lyndon is definitely
liquid with no sign of even snow settling to help with cooling. Red lakes, the gate is still locked. On the positive side the little lake at the Hororata Domain is now filled and was filling when I was there so we may get a skate on it this season, that's if it gets cold enough! |
|
Saturday
1st June 9.30pm:
Lake Evelyn From: Andrea Rowe in person |
|
Had a look for Ice at Lake Evelyn today, no Ice no snow, lots of water.....bring on the frosts. The gate to lake Ida is locked. | |
Monday 27th May 1.36pm:
Lake Lyndon/Lake Pearson From: Karl Barbet by Txt |
|
Lake Pearson has a frozen slurry over the Lake, no signs of ice yet at Lake Lyndon but there is still ice on all the puddles round the Lake, the temp is down to 4 degrees at midday, with snow and ice all through Porters Pass. | |
Wednesday 8th May 2.45pm:
Lake Lyndon From: Karl Barbet by Txt |
|
The puddles round Lake Lyndon were all frozen and had ice on them this morning, no ice on the main lake yet, but Ice this early has to be a good sign. | |
Monday
22nd April 9.45pm:
Tekapo Springs From Facbook: Tekapo Springs |
|
Tekapo Springs Ice Skating Rink opened on the
Monday 15th of April. Open 10.00am-9.00pm daily. Website: Tekapo Springs or follow them on Facebook |
|
Monday
22nd April 9.45pm:
Queenstown Ice Arena From Nathan Kline by txt |
|
Queenstown Ice Arena opened on the Friday 19th
of April Open 10.00am-9.00pm daily Website: Queenstown Ice Arena or follow them on Facebook |
|
Monday
22nd April 9.45pm:
Alexandra Ice Arena From Nathan Kline by txt |
|
Alexandra Ice Arena opens on Friday the 17th of
May Visit them at their Website: Alexandra Ice Rink or follow them on Facebook |
|
Archives: 2012 (3) Wednesday 18th July to Tuesday 7th August |
|
Other Places to visit for Skating Videos and Photos | |
Aardwolfs You Tube site:
here Joe's You Tube site: here Glens You Tube site: here David Young's Blog: here iceblock.org.nz Ryan Hellyer's Homepages: here |
|
Archives | |
2012
(3)
Wednesday 18th July to Tuesday 7th August 2012 (2) Sunday 30th June to Tuesday 17th July 2012 Sunday 28th April to Sunday 24th June 2011 (2) Monday 1st August to Tuesday 23rd August 2011 Saturday 4th June to Sunday 31st July 2010(3)Wednesday 14th July to Wednesday 11th August 2010(2)Wednesday 8th July to Tuesday 13th July 2010Saturday 29th May to Wednesday 7th July 2009(3)Thursday 9th July to Saturday 15th August 2009(2)Tuesday 30th June to Tuesday 8th July 2009 Sunday 6th June to Saturday 28th June 2008 Saturday 31st May to Sunday 27th July See older Photos on the Photos Pages for the individual locations for Ice Skating. |
|
Some of the events above may have no association with the Aardwolfs Ice Hockey Club |