How's the ice?

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ranger617
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How's the ice?

Post by ranger617 » Tue Mar 03, 2015 5:01 pm

The forum has been very quiet. I haven't been up since the 2nd week in January. How's the ice? There was a layer of slush on top of the ice and about 6 inches of snow if I remember correctly. I hope to get up there for a few days in the middle of March. Hopefully the fish will cooperate!

Phil
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Re: How's the ice?

Post by Phil » Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:16 pm

I was out on Black Lake today. Went on at Chapmans, Wheeler with tracks. Towing two sleds and a rider on the rear. Did mostly OK, got stuck a couple of times - came right out after losing the rider and the sleds.
Ice was 18-20", a LOT of slush (12" mostly) and another 6" of snow on top. Walking was very bad. ATVs on wheels-NO way. Light sleds very good (stayed on top). There are ols tracks out there that are firm but they are very difficult to find and follow.
Fishing was slow.
Lots of exercise today and I am totally impressed with my machine on tracks. If I had been alone and towing just my sled it would have been no problem.
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ranger617
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Location: Walden, NY
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Re: How's the ice?

Post by ranger617 » Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:45 pm

Thanks Phil. What causes the slush layer? My Polaris Ranger won't be good on the lake. I just picked up chains for the rear tires but not sure if I'll get anywhere with the lake having this snow / slush cover. Oh well.

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Re: How's the ice?

Post by Phil » Thu Mar 05, 2015 8:30 pm

Yeah - would not be a good idea to take that out there. With warmer temps on the way it's going to get worse.
Slush and water and snow on the ice is a natural progression.
We get ice, then we get snow, more snow, more snow. The weight of the snow pushes the ice down and water comes up through the cracks (there are a lot of cracks, naturally, in the ice) and floods the snow but not totally. The top layer of snow insulates the the slush layer and it never freezes through. Need a warm spell, which we have not had all winter, to melt that top layer of snow and then it all freezes and the process starts all over again. Usually 2 or 3 times through the winter. This winter and last were similar in that we did not get any warm weather in January or February.
Sometimes we get that early ice, maybe 2 or 3" and then a good layer of snow and ice never thickens. Again, the snow is an excellent insulator, even with the -20 - -30 temps we've had, it does not penetrate that 4 to 6" of snow on top.
I should have taken some PICs yesterday of the tracked ATV in the slush.

It's a lot like this guy -
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Phil

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