A Christmas Miracle?

Click to enlarge

Well we seem to have weathered the last few days better than we thought we would.  We didn't get nearly the rain that was forecasted and the rain we received did just as we hoped and took care of some issues we had with a couple of lakes.  The image above was shot the day of this report.  The wind broke up the plate a bit but there are few drain holes and the ice is still about 5" thick with 3" of that being good black base ice.  We're opting to stay off for a few days until the beginning of the cold snap starting Monday.  As you can see there's no snow.  Skis will have a great time, snowboards less so if not equipped with Switchblades.  We wouldn't recommend riding Chocorua until sometime late next week/early the following week.  Lakes just 5 miles south have less ice, about 2-3" or none at all.  We are suspending land based instruction due to lack of snow unless for kite handling portions.   We will resume daily instruction after the 1st.  Until then, HAPPY NEW YEAR from Hardwater Kiting!

The flooded ice sheet as it drained.