Illinoistocht

The good news is that the ice is likely pretty thick in spots.  The bad news is that the ice has a few inches of snow cover and also probably has some holes in spots.

I found an ice fishing report that mentioned they drilled through 10 inches (25.4 cm) of ice on December 28, this after a couple of days in the 50s (~12° C) and even a little rain.  By mid-January, after the record breaking cold snap (as low as -27°F / -33°C at Moline airport), the ice was nearly 18 inches (45.7cm) thick according to a second report on January 17.    

The bad news is that besides the snow cover, the ice isn’t uniform.   I heard a story in one of the local papers that stated the ice is unsafe due to the repeated freezing and thawing, which has left some pockets of air under the ice.  Also, despite the length of the cold snap, at many of the earthen road bridges, the water in the pipe tubes where the canal passes underneath isn’t frozen.  Haven't heard any snowmobile reports about the ice--right now the towpath trail is closed to snowmobiles due to lack of snow.   

Since I’m not a local icemeister, I probably won’t be making a trip to the canal in the near term.  However, if you’re nearby, send me an ice report or some photos.  It may not be the year for a marathon skate of the Hennepin unless the weather cooperates--that or somebody with a plow or power broom attachment makes an excursion on their ATV and clears the snow.  Ahhh...one can dream anyway. 

This is the best video of a skating tour that I found as its shows the requisite shots of windmills in the background (for this American), tour cards getting stamped at the checkpoints, and "kluning", or "portaging", around obstacles or weak ice spots on the canal by walking over carpet or plywood.   (Click on the video below or better yet, the URL link and then view in high quality at YouTube.)

There will be outdoor ice of some form in Illinois at least, the Glen Ellyn Speedskating Club (suburb of Chicago) plans to host an organized meet on Saturday on Lake Ellyn on an oval course they will clear of snow with sprints of 500m to 1500m.   Unfortunately, the Hennepin may be too snow covered to skate.

For those desiring long distance skating who can make the journey, there is always Weisenssee skate week in Austria starting on January 20th...

Molentocht Alblasserwaard 2009  See it at http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=QLO3cf0TNOo and click on the 'watch in high quality' link as the video quality is better. 

AP Photo of Kinderdijk mill area near Rotterdam on 3 January 2009.
 

This past weekend of January 10 and 11, nearly 1 million Dutch people took to the ice of the canals of the Netherlands.  It was reported that “…over 100,000 people took part in or­ganized skating tours through the Dutch countryside on Sunday, the skating as­sociation KNSB told news agency ANP.  In total, there were 23 organized routes, ranging in length from 10 to 200km. It was the first time in 12 years that skating tours over natural ice have taken place. All over the country, experienced and novice skat­ers flocked to rivers, lakes and outdoor ice rinks and there was heavy traffic conges­tion along the narrow country roads in popular skating areas. In total up to half a million people enjoyed the ice this week­end, ANP said.”  (from DutchNews.nl 12 Jan 2009).

The photos are really amazing to see.  One is reminded of the paintings of Dutch baroque artists such as Hendrick Avercamp, albeit with the addition of lycra, Gore-Tex, and better skates in the modern photographs.  Every world class art museum seems to have frozen Dutch landscape paintings, with the exception of maybe the Chicago Art Institute, which to me seems a glaring omission.  Maybe in the renovation they'll add one. 

Link to more photos: http://www.knsb.nl/upload/natuurijs/2009/

Hendrick Avercamp, A Scene On The Ice, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

A little belated, but last Friday marked the 100th anniversary of the first official Elfstedentocht in the Netherlands held on 2 January 1909.  As if on cue to celebrate, Europe had a cold snap and the canals were frozen.  While a thaw is expected, dreams of the first Elfstedentocht since 1997 were shared by many a Dutchman (and skaters around the world as well).   It appears from several videos and photos of the recent freeze that the ice was good, with the skaters comfortably skating over smooth ice in clap skates and traditional long-track speedskates.   Not every Elfstedentocht had it so well...the 1963 race was infamous for its difficult conditions and the winner was 3 1/2 hours slower than the winning time in 1954. 

Video from Radio Netherlands Worldwide.  http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/090102-Eleven-Cities-Tour-mc

Europe's recent cold spell has managed to freeze the canals all over the Netherlands.  While it has been less cold in the north and a warmup may come before there can be an Elfstedentocht, there are many skating tours .  This weekend, Jan 9 - 11, a variety of tours will be held with distances from 5km to 100km (see http://www.knsb.nl website, and then click on the button for "toertochten op natuurijs", which means 'tour on natural ice" tab, or the "toerschaatsen" tab (skating tour).   The website is inundated with demand right now as skating fever has gripped the Dutch.   A midweek tour with a marathon distance of 40km near the village of Kortenhoef attracted 20,000 skaters  with some 250 members of the newsmedia.  A check of www.videos.nieuws.nl/binnenland shows the news media has already done a fair amount of skating stories and now has managed to do a feature about people falling on the ice and getting injured.  Local media everywhere do similar things--in the US the features on safe winter driving tips and sending the local reporter to the grocery store to show depleted bread shelves never fail to amuse, as if that 6 inches of snow is going to entrap your household and make your neighborhood into the Donner Party. 

I don't have a report on the canals in Amsterdam.  An earlier news article suggested that it may be the first time since 1997 that ice skating is possible on even some of the canals.  The canals are often kept free from ice for working barge traffic and to protect houseboat / tourist boats from ice.  Often, of the 17th century canals in the old section of Amsterdam, only the Keizersgracht has been closed to boat traffic to allow an ice layer to build there.   (The photos on this website from 1996 were a very rare event).