Winter has arrived — finally, as far as I’m concerned

I love winter. When winter really comes to stay, it’s easy to get out on the lake and into the forest. Cold is the key, cold enough to freeze the swamps in the forest and the ice on the lake.

Lake ice! Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

This year’s ice finally arrived on Dec. 29. Just a skim, just enough to tuck the waves under. Just enough to keep the wind from opening it all up again. I watched, and I waited. I prayed it would not snow before the ice got thick. But it did snow. Just one centimeter deep. Just enough to keep the ice from getting thicker on those -5 C nights. I watched and I waited.

It took five days for the ice to get thick enough to walk on. On Jan. 3, it was barely thick enough near shore to shovel the three centimetres of snow that accumulated over those few days. I just wanted a place to skate.

Then the temperature plummeted. All through the night, the ice talked. Booms and groans, great echoes of the ice stretching and adjusting. Comforting sounds of thick ice settling in for the long term. By the morning of Jan. 4, a solid 10 cm of ice was everywhere! Well, not quite everywhere. This is a big lake. The deep and wide places still didn’t have any ice.

That’s okay. All the narrow places have lots of ice. At last, I can go for long walks on the ice. I can walk comfortably to the island, and beyond to the long peninsula. I can ski to the south end of the lake. And I can skate!

The coming of the ice is a magical time for me. And as much as I love the security of thick clear ice underfoot, I am inescapably drawn to that place where the water still waves in the wind.

Every morning, I look out to see if there is mist coming off the lake, a clear sign of open water. It becomes a destination, an excuse to get out for an early morning walk. I need to know how much new ice has formed or if more water was opened by the overnight winds.

As more lake freezes, I need to know how thick it is, especially before the next big snow.

Good ice makes for a good winter. Thick clear ice is safe. Heavy snow on thin ice is not so good. Over time, that will become white ice...not nearly as strong as the clear ‘black’ ice. I want to know what kind of ice is forming, and where.

Over the next three months (I hope) we’ll be out there nearly every day, walking, skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and even winter camping! For now, I’m still watching.

Viki Mather has been commenting for Northern Life on the natural world and life in Greater Sudbury since the spring of 1984.