Learning to Nordic Skate

Hello!

Lauren Honican here, part of the Lumi team behind the scenes that helps keep the trips gliding along as smooth as possible. I'm based near Craftsbury, Vermont and love spending my winters on cross country skis. Conditions this winter have been perfect for nordic skating, a new activity I discovered this year in that perfect window, when the ice freezes on ponds, lakes, and rivers before the snow falls.

Nordic skates have long, flat steel blades meant for traveling long distances over sometimes rough ice. Clip your cross-country skate boots into NNN or SNS bindings mounted on the blades and you’re nearly set to go.

I'd love to share a few insights as a newbie getting into nordic skating:

Getting connected with my local skating community. I started out by finding a local skate shop, the Nordic Skater, and they pointed me towards local Facebook and Google Groups for the sport. I quickly learned that since the sport is so conditions-dependent, there are no guides for hire, but rather a community of incredibly experienced, generous, and enthusiastic skaters who love the ephemeral nature of the sport and are genuinely stoked to share their knowledge with others. I was fortunate to get connected with one such nordic skating leader who lives near me in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. 

Learning about and acquiring the gear. The nordic ice skating community is big on creating a culture of safety around the sport, much of which starts with the right gear. To get started, Vermont nordic skater Bob Dill has a helpful equipment list on his legendary Lake Ice website. I was able to repurpose gear I had on hand for other sports: a downhill ski helmet, cross-country ski boots, and a dry bag (from previous canoe trips) for flotation. All I needed to purchase or borrow were: nordic skate blades, ice claws, testing poles, and a throw rope. As part of the culture of safety, the acronym ATG, ATT “All the gear, all the time,” stuck with me.

Using a testing pole to check thickness at a boundary in the ice on Harvey’s Lake in Barnet, VT.

Attending safety clinic led by experienced nordic skater. At the safety clinic, we spent the first two hours off-ice learning about equipment, ice strength, breakthrough thickness, freezing degree days, and all the things that can slow the growth of ice even when it’s super cold outside.

Learning about a pressure ridge at a group safety clinic on Joe’s Pond in West Danville, VT.

Then we got out onto the ice together! The first thing we learned was how to use our testing poles to check the thickness of the ice with forceful and repeated jabs. As we set out skating we stopped every time there was a variation in the ice’s appearance to test its thickness. On this one skate we got to see black ice, snow ice, open water, a pressure ridge, drain holes, and of course hear the amazing sounds of ice shifting and cracking beneath our blades. 

Harvey’s Lake in Barnet, VT with black ice in the foreground and snow ice to the right.

The homework assignment was to spend some time visualizing an ice rescue to be prepared for the inevitable plurr (the Swedish word for falling through the ice). 

Learning when and where to scout. There’s a seasonal progression of freezing, starting with alpine ponds. They’re small, shallow, and at high elevation, and followed by larger, deeper bodies of water freezing at progressively lower elevations. Toward the end of the season even rivers and very large lakes can be skatable! If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself surprised to be hoping there’s no snow before the ice forming on that lake you’ve been wanting to skate is plenty thick.

Savoring a skate on Joe’s Pond in West Danville, VT as the snow’s coming in.

Getting to know what’s skatable. Once I find wild ice that’s a safe thickness to skate, I get out on it, always with at least one other person and with ATG, ATT. Texture is a big factor and can be fun to describe in terms of fruit rinds. In my skating thus far, I’ve skated incredibly smooth black ice, ice with tiny bumps all over that feel like an orange peel, ice with wider, relatively smooth bumps like an avocado, and some rough ice that’s more like an obstacle course or trail run.

Reporting on ice conditions on a skating forum. Finding the best skating venues is part of the adventure, and definitely a community effort. It’s fun to get tips from others’ skating adventures and share my findings on my local skating forum. Noting ice thickness, texture, and hazards helps reinforce the culture of safety and community that nordic ice skating is all about. It’s also an awesome place to get connected with more enthusiastic skaters for group skating adventures—safety in numbers!

Skating a section of the Connecticut River between VT and NH.

I hope you can get out and try nordic skating next time the conditions are right. It’s true for any sport, but I think especially for nordic skating which is inherently risky, learning from others with lots of experience is a great approach. If you’re finding that the snow’s not flying and want to get into nordic skating, get connected with your local nordic ice skating community and learn to skate safely. 

While Lumi doesn’t currently have trips that include nordic skating, it’s on the list. If you’re interested, send us a note: info@lumiexperiences.com and you’ll be the first to hear when we have a trip that includes nordic skating. See you on the trail, or the ice, soon!