Skating away in a natural setting

By Marty Basch

Susan Hardy was getting ready to take to the ice. No Zamboni. No bleachers. No roof overhead.She was sitting on the grassy edge of frozen Post Pond in Lyme, ringed by hills, shoreline homes and the dormant swings and picnic tables of a small beach.This is the only kind of skating I do, said the technical writer from Norwich, Vt. "If there is good ice, I skate on lakes, ponds and rivers.Hardy lives on the Connecticut River, a place she paddles and swims in summer. But on those days the river can hold skaters, shes out.Skating on the river, thats special, she said.And all it takes is an e-mail to get her there.Welcome to wild skating.The e-mail comes sometimes 48 hours in advance, sometimes less. Check the inbox and if youve got mail from Jamie Hess, chances are itll direct you to a frozen body of water that hasnt been maintained. Not groomed, flooded, blown or swept. Just wild.Hess, a former software developer who opened a Norwich, Vt. skate shop after a 1999 trip to Sweden, where he got a taste of Scandinavian long distance skating culture, is a founding member of the non-profit Montshire Skating Club. The approximately 100 members of the Norwich, Vt.-based club skate both indoors and out. There is indoor short track speedskating, outdoor long track and marathons and outdoor recreational skating like lake tours and wild skating. I had heard about wild skating and contacted Hess in the early fall, asking to be put on the list so I could give it a shot, another outdoor adventure.It took a couple of weeks, but finally amidst the unsolicited junk mail I always get that promised me something of a wild time if I clicked, here came a message saying ice on Post Pond in Lyme had reached a safe thickness and it was mirror-smooth. Meet at 10 a.m. Sunday. Skaters started drifting in that morning and eventually Hess arrived, with son Charlie. Its Hess who checks the ice for its strength. Carrying a backpack with a throw bag or lifeline familiar to paddlers, an ice testing pole, a set of dry clothes in a plastic bag, he tightened the pack with the waist band which he says would act as a flotation device should the ice give way. He skated around the pond, tested the thickness and proclaimed it safe. Several of the skaters had around their necks what looked like a neon orange necklace. This wasnt jewelry, but ice claws, two plastic grips with steel spikes in one end. Fall in, use them to claw yourself out.Hess lent me a pair and skates too. They were Nordic skates, a form of skates utilizing a cross-country ski-skate boot and free-heel blade between 15 and 22 inches long.I dont wax nostalgic about childhood skating memories of indoor rinks or outdoor hockey ponds. To me, skating is a contact activity between my body and the ice, with the ice winning. The number of times Ive been skating could be counted on my curled toes as I gingerly stood on the frozen shores, holding onto Hess shoulders as blade and boot finally connected.Theres no railing to hold. No boards to crash into to stop. No music. Graceful it wasnt for the maiden voyage on wild ice. Graceful was watching the real skaters float by, with bright colors against the muted sky, picking up speed, arms pumping in seemingly effortless movements of earthbound flight. This day the ice was good, a mosaic of black, gray and white. Various cracks, bubbles and fissures made the ice like a canvas. Starbursts called octopus holes were formed under the frozen surface. A dog watched from shore. When conditions are perfect, you can see the fish swimming under the ice, said Hanover teacher Martha Cochran. You can sometimes see the vegetation right under you when you are skating by. Thats pretty cool.Talk to skaters and theyll tell you conditions are different every time like bumpy, smooth or crusty. They stay warm, dressed in layers and windproof clothing, but also because they are active.Post Pond is the smallest place for the clubs wild skating. All day affairs can be had across the Northeast on lakes like Champlain, George, Memphremagog, Sunapee and Squam. The club also skates on waterways like Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vt. where it holds its Lake Morey Winterfest Jan. 11 and Occom Pond in Hanover, site of Hanover Recreation Departments Occom Pond Party on Feb. 14. And if the conditions are right, an e-mail can actually lead to a really wild time by clicking into a pair of skates.Marty Basch can be reached at rodeman@aol.com.