Markite could you post a notice when it looks like Lake Simcoe is kitable.
Feyd could do the same for NH .
I'd like to chase some early ice.
Thanks

It'll still be a little while. The lakes were starting to get ice building this weekend but just patches and not even a skim over the lakes yet.

There are a few reports of skatable ice in New England on the Yahoo kitewing board...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasaskimbat/messages

And Jaime at www.nordicskater.com sends New England ice reports via Emails if you sign up.

Be careful and wear ice claws.

Thanks for the reports and web sites , I also found at iceshanty.com , quite a variety of reports.

Posting on iceshanty.com indicates Sandy Pond off lake Ontario, 3-4" ice , 2" snow cover , some areas blown clean.
Probably try there and /or Tug Hill this w/e

Just got back from Sandy Pond , 4-6" ice , 12" or more snow cover at the south end near the Wig Wam , would have been good on a board and big kite , I have neither, winds 10mph fading to near zip by 1PM.
Oneida lake has a layer of slop predicted to freeze up by next week end , hopefully.
Any report on lake Sacondaga?

Looking forward to Oneida being ridable. Nothing to report on sacandaga but we've had some very cold nights so it should be good soon enough.

We were out on Chaumont Bay yesterday, NE wind at 15-20 or so. I had the buggy out there with the 4M Pansh Flux (thanks WG) Pretty nice kite, pulls like a truck, and handled well in the lumpy winds. Snow was kind of funny, sugar snow, we call it, kind of like riding in the soft sand at the beach, made for tough going sometimes, but it was fun anyway. Here's a short raw vid of the fun!

Oneida is good to go if your on skis. The west end is rattle your teeth rough up to Borios Restraunt on the south shore. In front of Borios begins an area of smooth black ice , east 200 yards? is a pressure ridge and beyond that an occational ice fisherman for as far as I could see. I did not get down to the east end , may check it out Saturday

Iceshanty reports indicate 6" ice at Sylvan beach.
Sandy pond had 2" - 6" of snow cover as of 12-28-10 but I would guess most of that was blown off teus. and wed.

Here In Northern NH Lake Chocorua is in good shape with about 6-7" of black ice. Bumpy now after the las storm with patches of windslab.

White Lake is good but crowded.

Further north any consolidation to the slush sandwich situation on Umby and the Conn lakes is gone to hell after this last storm. Snow depth about 1-2' with windslab all floating on slush.

Parts of Winne are freezing but are mostly covered by ice fishermen.

Oneida lake once we got out past the rough is miles of smooth ice. Warm temps today made a very thin crumbly wet surface over 4" ice , 4 wheelers and snowmobiles still out. 5-10mph West wind , Morgan clocked 35mph with the 5.3 Viper.
Started to become fully water covered by 2pm. If there is no wind when it hardens up this week it will be almost entirely glass smooth.

Bob that is a great video. What kind of skis are on there? I have a set of snowmobile skis I am moding to fit mine with sharpend rails for ice.

Oneida lake has 4" of powder with a hard black ice base that has a slightly dimpled surface. Forecast is for 6-10 inches tonight but if its windy I think it will all blow off.
I checked out Lewis point near the south east end of the lake , it has a parking area cleared out and is approved fishing access to the lake.
There is a small pressure ridge out front that runs N-S across the lake but west of it is the entire lake 3miles across 20 miles long , the point puts the launch zone a 1/2 mile out into the lake anything but a south wind will be coming across miles of open space.
I found a web cam site pointed at it but I'd have to go searching for it again and then I'd have to paste and stick or cut and gob , maybe some one could find one and post a link.

www.oneidalakeveiw.com
The snow on the railing is a good indication of whats on the lake today

looks decent from the webcam, you going out this weekend?

sunday looks good if the wind comes on as predicted . If the ice fishermen dont take up all the parking I'll be at Lewis point , if no parking then its over to sylvan beach.
After thee days of snow cover I'm guessing the snow will bond to the ice.
The sleds have'nt laid tracks every where , should make for huge expanses of virgin powder.
At this point it looks like ideal conditions shaping up for boards and fat skis.

Sounds inticing. There's talk of some folks going out on sacandaga lake on Sunday as well. I may start there as it's only 45 mins away from me instead of 2 hours for Oneida.

Edit: Looks like sacandaga is a go for tomorrow, conditions are looking good. I'll be launching in broadalbin, either from Benedict or the state boat launch.

Shaping up to be a good snowkiting weekend.......finally!

Just had an epic day on sacandaga. Wind was primo, ice was thick, most importantly snow was perfect. A healthy foot of powder on glare ice, but it was sticking well.

Probably 12 kiters out on the broadalbin side, all skill levels, everybody was killing it!

Super fun day, love frozen lakes.

update: video in this thread:

http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=16420

Flew Chaumont bay saturday near blizzard conditions around noon , twice I lost site of ice shanties and the shore line and experienced some vertigo , pretty creepy making a turn just feeling the kite and the wind.
The whole bay had 6-8 " soft snow cover bonded to the ice. Working my way out from the state boat launch there are multiple wet areas chopped up by the sleds and 4 wheelers , not fun to cross and occasionally cracking through a skim layer.
I did not run into any rough out in the middle and had some good long fast smooth runs. The ice shanties are set up in rows running east and west so with the south , s-w wind I could fly and not have to weave thru them . A west wind would be a different story you would be picking lanes to go thru then wide open to the next row of shanties

Onondaga lake in Syracuse should be good by this w/e . I checked it last night and found a sandwich layer of 2" slush that is freezing up and 2" hard ice under that. Its got a sand paper surface that should hold an edge well , 1/2-1" snow cover over much of it. Will be fast and smooth on skis.

Onondaga lake froze up pretty ugly whole variety of rough , bumpy ,smooth and a few areas of 6" snow cover with 1" ice .
Not safe now may need a couple more cold nights.

Local lakes in Northern NH all seem to have either death crust or slush or both.

Rode Champlain at Sandbar. North side was a 40mph bump field. SOuth side was smoother with occasional bumpy spots. Better than what we have here!

Onondaga lake is good to go. Myself and two others covered the middle third of the lake , encountered a couple of small wet spots but with the good wind I had to look back to see that I had gone over them. After rattling and banging across Oneida near Borios last w/e one nice thing about this about this lake is there are no snowmobile tracks roughing it up. Had a couple of hours of fast smooth cruising on 2" soft snow cover with a damp crumbly base.

Rode Winnipesaukee yesterday out of Ellacoya. 10" of fresh windswept pow and the only place I've seen without slush.

The broads have frozen over and we did two crossings without incedent. Didn't stop to check the ice thickness so if you ride it, don't stop just pin it.

We hiked out past the bob houses so as not to disturb the fishermen.

Best conditions I've seen in a month. Some of the best riding I've had this year. Going back today fo a big kite/lightwind session.

Quote:

Originally posted by Feyd Rode Winnipesaukee yesterday out of Ellacoya. 10" of fresh windswept pow and the only place I've seen without slush. The broads have frozen over and we did two crossings without incedent. Didn't stop to check the ice thickness so if you ride it, don't stop just pin it. We hiked out past the bob houses so as not to disturb the fishermen. Best conditions I've seen in a month. Some of the best riding I've had this year. Going back today fo a big kite/lightwind session.

Great to see you back at it Chris. Can't wait for the video ;-)

Onondaga lake In Syracuse , had 1-2" wet snow cover when it freezes it going to be hard and fast , no tracks and no pressure ridges.
Oneida lake at Sylvan beach yesterday had 8-12"snow cover, but after todays thaw will probably freeze a "death crust" when it cools off.

Lake Simcoe in front of Barrie is bumpy, some wash board , a few ice covered mounds , and out by the ice santies a few formations that could really mess up your day.

Onondaga lake Syracuse , tiny bumps to glass smooth , no ridges , winds 20 gusting to 30 mph this evening , edges sharp , pads will be on, I hope the video and gps's work.

we had the bumpy ice after the weekend you were up in Barrie, followed by a surprise snowfall - with zero wind, then warmer temperatures to get wet snow and very light wind, then a melt a couple of days ago but just enough to leave all the track marks and quickly re-froze. So, really windy today but the ice is all rough, rutted and needs a good melt or snow. This winter has been crap!
Glad you are getting some rideable conditions. Have fun.