The ice is melting

As most Canadians do when the sun comes out and the snow starts to melt, we went out to enjoy some of the warmer temps over the weekend. Spent some time out on the ice of Lake Superior at Sliver Harbor.


While the ice was still over 2' thick in most places, there were spots that looked a bit more sketchy and probably a touch dangerous. Not a place to let your kids wander around unsupervised I would imagine. I guess not every parent is responsible. The 2 kids in the above shot just wandered over to us while their parents sat over 100 yards away seemingly without a care in the world.

These pressure ridges can be highly unstable; 2 feet thick in one spot and near nothing just feet away. Meg performs an unsafety check while we debate the pros and cons of trying to cross to the other side. We opted to stay put.

That doesn't mean common sense applies to everyone. We had a good time watching these guys attempting to find safe passage across this ridge. They got a little wet but didn't go through.


Supposedly someone fell in near here earlier this month. She was pulled out.

It has to be said though that late winter ice is unpredictable at best. Lake Superior is no joke and it will kill you if you end up in the water. A local man found that out the hard way this week while venturing out onto the ice not far from here.

I think I'm done with venturing out on to the ice for another season. I'm not a big fan of cold water and I would rather not die for some photos. Cheers to spring, cheers to good times with good friends and cheers to free ice fishing desktop backgrounds that you can click on and download full size.

Peas.

My hands got so cold

Couple more ice shots from this past weekend and my early morning of laying on a frozen lake.


It's hard to make it through a winter around here without managing a few of these kind of ice shots. Now that it's getting warmer I might have to go out specifically in search of these before everything melts.

And on the eighth day, god created ice.

This morning I got out early in search of something. Wasn't sure what it was or where I would find it but I went out in search none the less. Ended up at my first stop but found the conditions were shit and frankly, boring. Found another spot but the rather large and conspicuous "No Trespassing" signage turned me off that location; didn't feel like running into some moron who might attempt to ruin my otherwise good mood.

I ended up taking a quick jaunt down to the waterfront to check out any possible nice sunrise action. I wasn't disappointed. The sunrise itself kind of sucked; I've seen better. When I was about ready to head back to the car, just as the sun was coming up, I noticed a natural ice formation sticking out of the snow about 100 yards out from shore. Seeing as how the ice is still thick enough I took the walk and was able to come up with this...

I wasn't in search of ice shots; this one kind of found me. I could have just gone home but instead I decided to come to this spot and lucked out.
Had to lay prone on the ice for about 10 minutes to get a series of shots.
It's hard to get a good exposure doing these and I don't practice them enough to nail it right away.
I'm happy as long as I get a couple that I like, maybe one I can print.
Like this one...


These type of shots are always fun to play around with when the opportunity presents itself.
For a real good look at some fantastical icescapes, why don't you quit reading this and go check out the wonderful world of ice brought to you by Mr. Jay Arpin.

Peas.