What’s a die-hard skier to do when the peaks are bare and the temps remain bone chilling? Consider alpine ice skating, a great hobby for snow-free frozen lakes.
A thin piece of metal gliding across six inches of pristine black ice atop an alpine lake is otherworldly. After all, you’ve likely hiked several thousand vertical feet on terrain typically impassable without skis to get there.
As of late December, much of the western mountain ranges have remained dry with low snowpacks. What’s a skier to do?
One may contemplate heading south on a surf trip, but meanwhile true mountain lovers can accept the unique conditions and embrace a sport that exists only in a finite weather window like this. Enter alpine ice skating.
Weather Patterns: Perfect High-Country Ice Skating
North America’s current rare blend of weather phenomena and seasonality makes for optimal ice skating conditions.
“We are currently in a La Niña cycle in the Pacific with lower than average water temperatures in the central and south Pacific,” explains researcher Anthony Culpepper of the Mountain Studies Institute.
“This creates a pattern where precipitation is driven into the Northwest and northern Rockies, which means dry conditions for the Sierras, Southwest, and southern Rockies,” said Culpepper.
“When you pair these dry conditions with below-freezing temperatures at night and less daylight hours, it sets up the lakes perfectly for ice skating in the high country,” adds Dan McConnell, a weatherman for Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
Secret Skating: A Wrong Turn in Bishop
The sport of alpine ice skating is somewhat underground, with fanatics fervently guarding their stashes of backcountry ice. In fact, most folks don’t even know that this sport exists let alone how seriously these “gangs” of skaters take it.