At eight o’clock the ice was still hard, even though it was forty degrees. But we rigged slush runners anyway and pushed out past all the hazzards in the pit area:

The main body of the plate was sublime: hard enough to not create the slightest sound from the runner, and soft enough for the runners to bite. The overcast extended this sweet spot for some time, but by ten is was getting soft.

The surface will recover beautifully tonight if we get the forecast low temps, and tomorrow should be a stellar day. Is February the new April?

The only hazzards in the main body of the lake that we could find are drain holes, and this one large patch of black ice on the approach to the narrows which looked very suspicious. Bunting was good enough to stress test it for us. Suffice to say that he’s still dry: