We seem to have a nice band if ice between the coastal melt zone and the upland snow belt. Sabattus, Androscoggin, Great Pond and maybe Pushaw. Great Pond now has 5.5″ of older grey ice and 4″ of newer black. There are 8-10″ at the launch.

Looking south from the west side. The narrows at Hoyt Island appear to be tight as viewed through binoculars.

Older ice in the foreground, 4″ black in the distance. There’s a pressure ridge developing a bit to the north, in the usual spot near Camp Curtis.

Meanwhile, Bob Lombardo put some miles under his skates at Pushaw and has this to offer:

“Skated 20miles on some serious junk headed to north end from Goulds. Lots of smooth patches coming back downwind [yes we had lots of wind here today] Pressure ridges posed a real challenge, about 4 major ones pretty much wide open and dangerous looking. Really bumpy sections and really smooth but ratio would be 80% bumpy and 20% smooth. Rock hard ice though. If the ridges healed you could sail but the bumps suck!”

Some of the nicer stuff:

Thanks Bob, and sorry about that wind. It was meant to be delivered to Sabattus.

So where does that leave us? The wind is marginal the next few days so the plan now is to sail Great Pond on the weekend. Nice winds promised, and the ice will thicken in the cold nights. Hopefully the entire lake will be good to go. Hundred Mile Race anyone?