Cracks in the Ice

by Viki Mather

The ice conditions of early December were nearly perfect. Lots of ice, not very much snow. I could not wait for it to get thick enough to skate on! But I did wait. Fortunately, it did not take very long. Every day for a week we stepped out into the lake. Easy as it could be. Skates on, we glided out, further each day. Our lake did not freeze all at once. First it was good for a couple hundred meters in all directions. There was just one hole out by the island. And open water beyond that. We skated everywhere else. Shortly after the snow came, so did the south wind. A lot of wind! It blew most of the snow away, leaving a beautiful landscape of snow-patches and black ice. When the wind died, more ice came. After a few frigid nights, more of the lake became skatable. I love this time of year. A whole new world to explore! The magic of water becoming solid; the clarity of black ice; the limitless beauty all around. Skating for hours on end without passing the same shoreline twice. It can be spooky skating over the blackness of the ice. So perfectly clear, I can see the rocks below when near shore. And when I get away from the shore, the blackness of the ice feels even spookier. How thick is it? Sometimes the ice is so clear it is hard to tell how much is there. So I am always happy to see the cracks. Hairline cracks are constantly forming in the ice. As the vast expanse of solid water stretches between shorelines and islands, it moves. It expands and con-tracts with the daily temperature shifts. All through the night I hear it snap and boom. No matter the number of cracks, they do not weaken the ice in the least. But each hairline crack leaves its mark. And that mark is what comforts me as I glide along. I can see how thick it is, and despite the black clarity of the grand expanse, I am comforted. Lots of cracks…lots of ice! Still, the lake is big. It freezes in sections. It takes a long time. There is a desire to watch how it freezes, how much more ice, less open water each day. And when that new ice forms, I continue to watch until the cracks appear. Until I know it is thick enough to skate.

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