Lake effect snow

I was digging around in some old files and came across this satellite photo that TheCommish sent me of a massive lake effect snowstorm that covered most of the Great Lakes states. I believe this photo is of the blizzard of 1999 when Northwest Airlines, who I am at war with at present, was sued for 'imprisoning' people for up to 8 1/2 hours in aircraft that had been routed into Detroit even though no gates were available to deplane the passengers.

The average surface lake temperature at this point in the winter is about 33.9F(1.05C) and there is less ice than last year. This means the cold winds can sweep out of the northwest as they are in the photo, pick up moisture, and dump it as snow once it hits the colder land. In the photo the north shore of Lake Superior is snow free and northern Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan are getting hammered. You can see the snow taper off so that most of eastern Wisconsin, Door County, Green Bay, and Milwaukee are relatively snow free. The cold air then hits Lake Michigan, picks up more moisture and dumps it all the way through Michigan, Ohio, and into Pennsylvania.

Spring is indeed on the way, Canoecopia is just around the corner, and some lakes should be open in another month. We here in the midwest are aware however, that the usual state hockey tournament blizzard is right around the corner and that winter will most certainly have one last blast....or two.

Spirit Mountain and a great brewpub

Saturday found me, Galway guy, and younger brother GuitarMatt schussing down the slopes at the Spirit Mountain ski area in Duluth, MN. You Colorado folks have some great views in the mountains but you ain't looking out at Duluth harbor and Lake Superior as you cruise down the hill. You may have a tad bit more vertical than 800' also, but we won't go into that. After all the cross country skiing the past month we figured it was time for a little lift served fun. GG had conventional dowhill skis, I had telemark skis, and GM was knuckle draggin' (snowboarding). We were a diverse group. Weather was perfect but the sky was a bit hazy. Normally you can see well up the north shore and quite a ways up the south shore as well but today we had to be content with the blue ribbon of unfrozen lake beyond Park Point and the lift bridge. We didn't go down to the water but it appeared that you could have slid a boat in on the lake side of Park Point. I do fear becoming like the kids who are stuck in hockey all year round however, and will continue to keep my seasons straight and stick to my skis and avoid the kayak until an 'appropriate' time. Although the idea of a ski/kayak weekend has a certain symmetry to it......RonO?.


Dusk came and the conditions were far too perfect to quit, even though my aging carcass needed a break. I suggested to my companions, 32 and 34 years younger than me respectively, that beer and pizza might be a good break for my aging legs and then we could head back and knock off a couple hours of night sking. So we headed across the Richard I. Bong bridge to Superior, WI and the Thirsty Pagan brewpub. As some of you may have gleaned from this blog I really appreciate a good brewpub. Two buddies and I went to England a couple years back, expressly for a real ale pub crawl and were so into the mission that I had to pry them away from a pint of Sheperd Neame's Spitfire ale to walk around the corner to view Buckingham Palace. Single minded focus like that can be appreciated. I like good beer and the Thirsty Pagan did not disappoint. As you can see from the beer menu they have a variety of styles from the light 'Ultra Fat Ass' to the very assertive 'Capitalist Pig', an excellent Russian Imperial Stout. This is not the corporate brewpub like the Granite City or Rockbottom chains. You can tell that by the names of the beer. The Thirsty Pagan has that old time Wisconsin tavern ambiance with families eating together, a few regulars, friendly staff that understands customers are the reason they are employed, and vintage beer signs from around the state. It also has no TV, subdued music, and bands on weekends. It is non smoking until 9pm when the bands start, an excellent and refreshing compromise in times when people feel that legislative edict (especially we legislation loving Minnesotans) is the only way to enforce behaviors that they feel are 'good for you'. As the owners put it on their website, "We are a non-smoking brewery until 9 PM. We like it, and since we own it, that's nice". We didn't make it to 9pm though, and headed back to Spirit Mountain for another 90 minutes of skiing, reinforced with pizza and the beer-fueled belief that we were much better skiers than when we had left for the brewpub.

For a thought provoking treatise on the relation of economic theory regarding free beer, please check out No1 son's first blog entry on his EO Update site. And if you're in the Twin Ports check out the Thirsty Pagan as well as Sustenance Artisan Breads down the street in the old City Hall. Both feature wonderful handmade products that will make you swear off Wonder Bread and BudMiller for life.

Sustainability and tree hugging

I went to a panel discussion on sustainability in packaging at General Mills on Tuesday evening. The panel was made up of experts from such companies as General Mills, EcoLab, Aveda, Eureka Recycling, Natureworks, and others. A couple of times the comment was made that, 'by implementing this small change we saved an entire forest'. These earnest and committed panelists had no way of knowing that right in their midst sat a man whose forest was being cut down literally as they spoke.


We people powered sports advocates such as kayakers, hikers, bikers, cross country skiers, and climbers are all lumped together and viewed as tree huggers and environmentalists. This dynamic is apparent on I-35W as I head north, expanding my carbon footprint, toward the Promised Land of Lake Superior. GMC Suburbans hauling snowmobiles and ATV's disdainfully fly past we granola munchers in Subaru's and Toyota's with our roof racks full of bikes, skis, and kayaks. Our fellow 'right thinking' outdoor lovers on the other hand, give us that little head nod and finger wave that lets us know we are part of the club. As a guy who has been accused of stirring the pot a bit, I love it when I'm heading to up to the hunting camp in the fall for some multitasking. I usually have a couple kayaks on the roof of my VW and am pulling my Honda ATV on a trailer with a chainsaw strapped to the back rack. I've received some of the funniest looks from people as they go past. Its like they can't categorize what they are seeing and it appears to frustrate them.

About a year ago we contacted the Living Forest Cooperative to help us set up a timber sale. Over 60% of the forests in Wisconsin are privately owned and this does not include the land owned by the big private timber companies. An organization called the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association offers both a forum and an educational component for these landowners. Our land is two miles from the south shore of Lake Superior and we have a nice mix of aspen, balsam, spruce, oak, maple, white and red pine, as well as some ash. Our goal is to manage our forest in a sustainable (there's that word again) fashion in order to maximize wildlife, keep the woods healthy, and make a couple of bucks for the essentials in life, like low volume rolling kayaks. By focusing on selectively cutting the aspen and large balsam and leaving the hardwoods and other conifers we can have our cake and eat it too. This means a nice, albeit more open, forest with trees reseeding and regenerating in the cleared areas. New aspen saplings make an environment rich in food and cover for everything from rabbits to deer and wolves. In about 10 years it will be time for another harvest. And possibly another new kayak! Mature forests are wonderful and should be preserved. The ancient stand of hemlocks in the Porcupine Mountains, pictured below, is awesome. But nothing lives there except black bears and red squirrels. Wildlife needs new growth.


I wanted to tell the esteemed panelists Tuesday that while 'saving a forest' is an admirable idea, that the old fashioned idea of conservation, first articulated by that legendary University of Wisconsin professor, Aldo Leopold, in his Sand County Almanac is an even more noble concept. Sustainablity is great but it can't let it turn into an environmentalist buzzword. We need to couch the concept in terms that will embrace both the guy in the Suburban as well as the guy in the Subaru. Everyones grandkids will be needing toilet paper and by using our head and the venerable and inclusive concept of conservation, we can make sure they have both a clean behind and a lovely forest to enjoy.

Let's get 'em wet!

This spring when the ice decides to go out I will begin my 12th season of paddling a kayak. Over the years I've paddled with a number of people and developed a sense as to whether they are comfortable in their boats or not. The key indicator seems to be whether or not they have come to grips with the possibility of going over. The only way to get comfortable with that possibility is to go over on purpose, time and time again. Getting people to realize that and then actually get in the water, get wet, and 'become one with their boat' can be a tough sell.

I can empathize with that desire to remain upright at all costs. In the spring of 1997 I went over about 100 yards after setting my butt in a kayak for the very first time. I was overconfident, bordering on cocky, and Lake Superior was very cold in May. I completed the 4 hour training session, did my wet exits and assisted & unassisted reentry, and vowed that remaining upright would be a cornerstone of my kayaking career. I think that a lot of folks have this attitude for one reason or another and that it severely limits their enjoyment as well as the kind of conditions they are comfortable paddling in. I've seen a number of exercises and fun things you can do that involve crawling around your boat. RonO mentions in a post that he has worked with Kelly Blades at the Washburn Symposium and that, "Getting out of the boat, and spending an hour fooling around climbing on, over, under, and everything but what it was intended for can do much for your comfort level". This is indeed the key but how can we get people interested in and willing to get wet? Telling them that 'it's good for them' is as effective as when my mother used that line to get me to eat liver. Maybe tell them that we are going swimming and then throw the boat on the roof? Hypnosis? Bribery?? It is a crucial component to becoming a better and more self confident paddler and any ideas on the subject would be welcome.

The other part of it, the logical extension I guess, is when you are playing in the water you need to do it in realistic conditions. By that I mean conditions that you actually might go over in. We all love to practice on nice flat calm inland lakes in the summer but the likelihood of going over in those conditions is minimal. We have actually cancelled after work paddle sessions because it was too windy. My thought is that this is exactly when you want to go out and check your skills. Last fall on the tip of the Keewenaw we were windbound as a violent front moved through the area from the northwest. As we lounged in camp I thought what a great opportunity this would be to see if I could actually roll the boat in these conditions. As I pulled on my tuliq the smart remarks were flying like, "I get dibs on his folding chef knife" and "Can I have your boat when they recover it in Marquette?". I had a fun and exhilarating time however, and learned that I could indeed brace and roll in nasty conditions.


My goal this summer is to help make my friends better paddlers while becoming better myself. I hope we all can become more comfortable in and out of our boats and that the mysteries of the static brace, forward sweep roll, and the diabolical norsaq stick will reveal themselves to me. In the meantime, my plan is to get wet!

Our temporary road

The photo above was taken from the Island Queen, the ferry that takes you from Bayfield, WI to Madeline Island in the summer months. The photo below is taken from roughly the same spot from my Volkswagon as I crossed the ice road which opened about 2 weeks ago.

I've been fascinated with lake ice since I was a kid. When I was a young boy my family would go ice fishing for panfish almost every weekend in the winter. My dad had a belief, correct I may add, that the fish always bit better just after the ice froze. We would be shuffling on to 2-3" of ice with snowshoes (to better distribute our weight), life jackets, and homemade ice picks; two hardened nails embedded in a 5" piece of hardwood broom handle. We would wear two of these around our necks on a string so if you did go through the ice and into the lake you could haul yourself out of the water and back up on the ice. The rule of thumb, which is very conservative since it comes a liability conscious government agency, is 4" to walk, 5" for snowmobiles or ATV's, and 8-12" for cars and light trucks. Neither my dad, me, or my high school buddy, the MadDog, abided much by these guidelines. We took MadDog's father Willy's Chevy van, loaded with every tool he had (he was a carpenter), out on Half Moon Lake just so we could say we were the first ones on the ice that season. I also recall spinning down the lake at 60+ mph in his 1972 Gremlin. We would get the car up to 60 or 70mph on the ice, before the lake was snow covered, spin the wheel and let 'er spin. I'm sure you are all wondering but no, I only fell through the ic once and that incident had nothing to do with thin ice. It could be another post however

Driving on the ice, like skiing and kayaking, seems to be hard wired into my genetic makeup. Driving on the side expanse of a lake frees you from the constraints of roads and being channeled in directions you really don't want to go. Travel in any direction is fine and the environment isn't torn up like it can be when snowmobiles and ATV's decide to do the same thing. This freedom of movement is not the case on Lake Superior however. The ice is constantly moving and shifting and at any time you can have a crack, or 'pressure ridge' form which you may not be able to cross. The worst case scenario is when people venture out for salmon and trout fishing in the spring. If the wind shifts you can find yourself on a gigantic ice floe, headed for Canada.

Ice roads in the winter are nothing new. In fact one of the most famous ice roads in history was the one across Lake Ladoga, the Road of Life (Дорога жизни, doroga zhizni), during the Seige of Leningrad. When the Nazi's surrounded the city in 1941, the ice road was the only way for supplies to get in and civilians to get out of the city. The Road of Life lasted from Nov 20th to April 24th. The Madeline Island road last only a matter of weeks. During this time the island gets an influx of visitors, mostly because its now free to get there. The weather is unpredictable in the spring and a large portion of Lake Superior is open and ice free. As I described with the hapless fisherman above, spring winds can blow the ice road apart in a matter of hours. The Christmas tree in the top photo is one of dozens that mark the road. If the wind and snow are blowing so hard you can't see the next tree, then its time to head back to solid land. Even so, having a road beats the ferry or the ice sled and everyone from school kids to the folks who work on the mainland, or vice versa, has just a little bit easier time getting around the area when the ice road is in operation.