A Brief Window for Outdoor Skating

All fall I kept a pair of ice skates in the back of my car, until a week ago, on the off chance that "good ice" might happen on a local lake.  Upon returning from Hawaii I gave up on the chance and put my skates away.  The next day, a friend texted and said, "Lampert Lake is skate-able!  I'm heading out there now. Wanna go?"  Aaaaargh!  I didn't have my skates ready!  So that evening I put my skates back in my car and plotted catching a few laps on the little lake off Kachemak Drive that is usually skateable if any local lakes are skateable.

Thursday I headed over after work, having noted that snow was on the forecast and the window was a short one for outdoor skating.  It was skateable, with a few diehards out there, but not extraordinary like I'd hoped.  Bums from thawed springs and cracks were a tad too plentiful, and then there was the terrifying crrrrraaaaack of small pockets of surface ice cracking under the skates in some areas.  It wasn't a matter of the overall ice breaking, it was just little surface pockets. But the sound is so stressful that it is difficult to enjoy skating. I did enjoy the sunset, though!

Now we've been dumped with 5 plus inches of snow, and with this delightfully cold winter (it actually feels like winter!!), it is unlikely the lake skating window will open up again this winter.  Maybe if I take my skates out of the car....?