Not much action on the forum ?. So, as much as I hate all too common and inconsequential selfies, here is a variation of one.

The first week could not be nicer for kiting and winging and sailing. Perfect, curling ice surface, superior – in my view – to black mirror. Great feedback from the surface, hard to beat for cruising and especially jibing. As always, when beautiful ice is served, there are no takers - so for the solo outings it took some time the first day to meticulously survey the area since the strength was acceptable but close to borderline. The thickness has doubled since. Combined with winds just right for the smallest of kites one could not ask for a better start to a season.

Prussik - great that you are already some winter kiting! I'm hopefully close behind you in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Where are you located?

When this lake that Prussik uses freezes up like this it offers the ultimate in " hard water kiting " !

Smooth as a skating rink and very windy. I grew up watching the early ice boats out there way before I ever imagined kite skiing.
SO jealous !

Prussik, great to hear that you have already started your season. Are you at Lac des Arcs? Might see you out there this week.

No pics..video..?....

LDA it is. Yesterday it was up to +7 so there was a thin layer of water – protecting the ice from the warm air so not much damage was done. It would be wet on skis but on blades it was nice. It hasn’t gone below freezing overnight so I’ll take a day off and tomorrow should be dry and firm. There are quite a few small methane holes – it will take much lower temps to freeze those.

I will try to get the studded tires on my buggy for Thursday or Friday but the winds look a little blustery and I hear LDA can get gnarly in the Bow wind tunnel.

Have you been back this week? I hear Exshaw got 50cm from the storm Tuesday.

I am looking for a session on Friday.

LDA is snowed in, the access is blocked by a berm created by snowploughs and it is too far to plough through deep snow to get to the ice. It is possible to launch from the second turnoff but it is less convenient. What’s more, I haven’t surveyed that part of the lake and with all that snow on relatively little ice, it would be a major undertaking. Ghost is completely open. The best bet seems to be Cochrane which has nice glass, marginally thin and no snow. I am hoping it will be ready tomorrow after a cold night.

It may be worthwhile to check Chester and Weed. But I am not optimistic considering what I’ve seen at Cochrane.

Thanks, I might see you at Cochrane tomorrow. I saw a post on Facebook of someone in a dry suit kiting Chestermere from Sunset Beach on Nov 15 and it was open water. I was thinking about checking Weed but Cochrane is closer. We'll finally get some cold weather next week so hopefully more ice will be ready soon.