How's the ice
 

Anyone know how thick the ice is up thru Tuftonboro/moultonboro? Ready to get sled and ice shack out if we ever get a few inches of snow.

How's the ice
 

Cautions from most of the clubs in the area, say Not Safe. Also, not enough snow to cover the Railroad tracks along corridor 19 & 26, and others I assume. Still haven't had the sleds out of the Clamshell yet. I live right on corridor 26 (Cotton Valley RR) north of Wentworth, and there's been No sled activity. The rails are just to exposed.

Talked to my buddy on 20 mile bay. He is fishing but the ice is only 4-5 inches.

3 or 4 huts on 19 mile bay today..... Nobody on 20 mile yet

6 houses in Alton Bay with 4 wheelers, but no cars when I stopped this afternoon.:)

.....Timber Island trench open water
 

Large area of open water opened up between Timber and Governor's Islands on Friday and Saturday of maybe 1/2 mile in length above the 100' deep water trench. Was a little surprised to see that as it was frozen for a few days with the first cold snap and then the open water returnith. Oh well.....who knows what the ice will do.....it's like a politician.....one day here...the next day gone....then back again.....then gone....then back again???

Getting safe
 

Bob houses and ATVs are appearing in Moultonboro Bay and icehole diggers reporting 8". Haven't seen any snowmobiles yet. There are still a few wet looking spots near the rocks, but for those familiar with reading the ice, it is safe to start venturing out. The path between Powerline and Ambrose cove is probably fine, but the shorelines are not verified. Also, I haven't heard that the Mboro snowmobile trails are officially open. According to the club's web site, they are officially closed - although gates are open and there are many tracks.

Bring on some snow!!!! Get frustrated with machine on trailer.

Anybody know what the thickest ice reported on the lake was?

Off States Landing in Moultonborough 5-10 years ago, I remember running a Jiffy auger almost all the way to the motor before striking water. So that was almost 4 feet of ice.

Last year there was close to 4 feet of ice off the NE side of Bear Is. Had to put the extender on the ice auger to punch through.

ice
 

thin from cattle landing to bear is,then good ice to jolly,mink air boat goes anywhere ice or not

Cattle Landing
 

Ice is usually thin between the town docks and Dolly Island this time of year. Ice eaters create expanded open water off the Dolly Island boat house and a couple of houses on the opposite side on Meredith Neck do the same. Add to that Cattle Landing is sort of a "pinch point" between two larger sections of the lake and thus creates a natural place for two large ice plates to work against each other -- often an ice ridge through that general area as a result.

From the town docks to the North side of Mink, normally the ONLY area of concern is that area off the Dolly boat house. Stay in the middle. Test the ice frequently if on foot. Keep up your speed on sleds/atvs. Look for evidence that others have gone before you (on foot/sled/atv).

With luck, in a a week or so, that area will be more fully locked in. This is still early in a typical year for me to be venturing through there and I won't get out til that last weekend of the January unfortunately.

In bad years to avoid that section of ice, I have gone straight across towards Bear Island and then snuck around behind/around Dolly Island. Some portaging required and there are ice eaters back there too so be aware.

Bear/Cattle landing area
 

Sage advice from that Minkislander veteran. Do not listen at your own peril.

http://i44.tinypic.com/1499wms.gif Allen S Thompson, I was just browsing through the forum and noticed that you are fairly new to posting on the forum and glad you have joined us. Have fun and enjoy the Winni Forum while making many new friends.:)

http://i54.tinypic.com/2e56yqf.gif

Thanks for the welcome
 

I new to posting on the board but have been around the lake for many decades.

Ice conditions Cattle to Bear
 

I Would like to go ice fishing out of cattle landing . Any new ice information
for that area would be great help

... ice boat sailing
 

Yesterday afternoon, Friday, saw a lone ice blade sailboat sail past FL-3 going north, and it was moving along over all that smooth ice pretty good. It looked about the same size as a twelve foot sailboat with a white sail and could have been going from Gilford to Center Harbor......maybe?

How much of lake is Safe?
 

Lot's of huts/trucks on 19 Mile Bay, but not sure how safe the ice is going by Barber Pole, around Tuftonboro Neck or the Broads for snowmobiles?

Now that there is full snow coverage on the lake I am assuming more folks will venture out and explore more areas. At this point in the season with such cold weather the whole lake has to be frozen enough for snowmobiles right?

Be extra careful on the pressure ridges
 

The lake froze late this year, but had little to no snow on it and below normal temperatures for the last few weeks. Except for areas that never freeze, ice on the whole lake should be at least 5" thick, considered safe for a snowmobile. Ice is already over 15" in some areas.

Use extra caution when you are making fresh tracks, especially in the broads. If you are sledding with others, keep your distance so if one goes in, the others are still on the surface to help. And, watch out for the pressure ridges.

As I mentioned in another thread, the rear of my sled broke through the ice going over an ice ridge yesterday in Moultonborough Bay, between Loon Island and Buzzell's Cove. I've crossed many ridges in 20+ years of riding, always with a bit of apprehension, but never had a problem. This year, I left a large puddle in my wake and am glad my habit is to speed up before crossing ridges. I hope that anyone following my tracks hits the gas rather than the brakes when seeing the five foot puddle I left behind. I did not see any better place to cross the ridge (and plenty of worse places), but am confident others will try this weekend and some will succeed.

Do you feel you broke right through completely or was there another layer of ice underneath??

Scary either way!!

Common Dan would you really walk back and look? :eek:

LOL!

No, but many times there's a thick solid layer of ice under that water that can be felt. I was just curious if he thought he broke through completely or just thyat first layer or really wasn't sure. I certainly wouldn't doubt if he broke through completely as the ridges are the worst I have seen in many years!

LOL just busting your chops!

The pressure ridges this year are bad, I really hate getting anywhere near them.

Maybe...
 

Good question. When I went back to look, I didn't get too close, but saw large ice chucks floating in the water and the water was still choppy like it was more than an inch or two deep. Hard to believe that a five foot stretch wasn't frozen deeply, so maybe you are right and it was just a layer. I'll report back after checking again. I'd like to think it wasn't as risky as it seemed. :eek:

Rode the lake yesterday and covered a lot of it . conditions were great ! The normal places we would see ridges like at the post office on bear island or over by Mark island were clear but there was a nasty three to four foot ridge running a long way out at three mile island towards hull island. I didn't go over the broads or head out to Wolfeboro or Alton so I cant give any info on that area of the lake. I hit the trails last night in Moultonborough and covered a lot of ground. Again the trails were good . Over all I rode about 80 miles locally and had a good time. I heard Sandwich Notch was in good shape also so if I have time today I am going to do that run up through Holderness way and check out the ice on Squam. Also heard the trails to New Found lake were good. Have fun and be safe !!!

Any comments on the ice conditions sledding out of Braun Bay via the Broads over to Winter Harbor and Wolfeboro Town Docks, also up to Alton Bay?

Thanks in advance.

Coming out of Braun bay yesterday it was good no problems good snow. However there is a big pressure ridge all the way across the mouth of the bay like from far echo over to long point then it wraps over to five mile isle and must end near Bear. There are spots to cross that we found
With no water kicking up. Once you get out to the open area watch the snow drifts mixed with bare ice. It was rough yesterday couldn't see a thing out there with the wind and snow blowing around. I did see sleds going out to the broads but we went as far as long isle and it was good to that point. Looks to be better today not as many drifts and the wind and blowing snow has calmed down.

Any other pressure. Ridges to report out there. I read about the moultonboro bay one and one near three mile isl

Have fun out there be safe

Here's a pic of a major ridge that basically crosses the lake. If you look just above the tree line in the pic you can see the ridge goes from Lake Shore Park all the way to the east tip of Welch. It then starts again on the northeast side of welch and extends across to Sandy island.

There are also numerous ridges on the west side of welch between Belknap point and Round island. All very active and dangerous!!

Be safe out there!

Dan

Ice In
 

Already a contest for Ice Out, has Ice In been officially declared?? Waiting for the "Groundhog" Storm as one weather station has named it.

A few weeks ago:

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IMO, the ice is still to thin. I went out Sat to the Meredith hockey events and pretty much the entire length of our trip on the lake consisted of very nasty looking BLACK ice. Black == death, Blue == Safe, White == pray. I used our cordless drill to take samples every 50 yrds and it was inconsistent EVERYWHERE. 4" here, 50yards away, 12". Right in the middle of the lake, it was downright scary yet people were buzzing around like it was 30" thick. When we got to Meredith bay, it was like a little city on the ice. I'm just wondering how many people actually realized how thin the ice was. I was not one bit surprised to hear that a truck had gone through the day prior (we went out on Sat). It might be safe for sleds, but in large groups, space yourselves out so you dont create any gaping holes for the guy behind you. It's usually the last guy in the group that goes through, not the first guy ;) I've been in 2 club trips with people traveling to close to each other on 4-6" of ice, they break the ice and continue on but the people right behind them, not so lucky. Skis can easily catch under the ice and end up in cartwheels, or worse, on the bottom.