{"id":35530,"date":"2023-02-27T09:39:43","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T16:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/some-colorado-parks-are-allowing-wild-ice-skating\/"},"modified":"2023-02-27T16:39:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T16:39:43","slug":"some-colorado-parks-are-allowing-wild-ice-skating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/some-colorado-parks-are-allowing-wild-ice-skating\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Colorado parks are allowing \u201cwild\u201d ice skating"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ice
Ice skating on Evergreen Lake has long been a popular winter activity. In this historic photo, skaters crowd the lake as vehicles are parked at the shoreline. (Harry M. Rhoads Collection\/Denver Public Library Western History Collection)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After an especially nippy weekend in December 2021 turned the lake at Eleven Mile State Park into something resembling a polished glass table, Kelli Lewis felt a tickle from her days playing hockey.<\/p>\n

Lewis, the ranger at the high-altitude park, strapped on a pair of skates, gliding around a surface so clear that she could stare down to the bottom. And then she found a way to justify it: She could patrol all the anglers ice fishing for whoppers much more efficiently on skates than on a snowmobile. Lewis became the Ice Skating Ranger.<\/p>\n

Lewis represents some new thinking among those in charge of keeping people safe in wild areas. Ice skating is dangerous, and for many years, places wouldn\u2019t allow it. But now there\u2019s a compromise being struck. Many places at mile-high elevations still don\u2019t let people glide across their frozen lakes and ponds, but it\u2019s encouraged in areas with consistently bitter-cold temperatures and, therefore, more solid ice. Eleven Mile even hosts occasional events to promote ice skating, including some that loan skates for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecreation is changing,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cWe should be encouraging people to get outside and utilize the resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interest in wild ice skating is building, especially at Eleven Mile, where Lewis became a local celebrity after Colorado Parks and Wildlife sent out a tweet showing off her skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are finally reaching a crowd that wants additional things to do in winter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n

Skating when conditions are right<\/a> has long been allowed on Evergreen Lake, owned by the city of Denver and managed by Evergreen Park and Recreation District. But now Denver is contemplating renovations at its Echo Lake Mountain Park<\/a> on the way to the Mount Evans summit and may include skating.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still not a good idea on most days to slide onto your local lake. Most municipalities, even Denver, don\u2019t allow it, including Fort Collins and Greeley.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept for this cold, snowy winter, we typically don\u2019t have sufficient temperatures conducive to safe, ice-based activities,\u201d said Justin Scharton, superintendent of the natural areas and trails division for the city of Greeley,<\/p>\n

It not only needs to be well below freezing for the ice to reach the recommended thickness of at least four inches, it needs to stay that cold and that doesn\u2019t happen often enough.<\/p>\n

Even with some areas relaxing their regulations a bit, they do so with hesitation and don\u2019t necessarily want it advertised with the same vigor as Eleven Mile, which is at an elevation of 8,600 feet, a climate that tends to have sustained colder temperatures than the Front Range. It\u2019s up to rangers to set guidelines for their state parks, and some are tolerant of it but don\u2019t like their guests taking risks on ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a difference between what is encouraged and what is legal,\u201d said Joey Livingston, the statewide public information officer for CPW.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that ice fishing and ice skating are different things. More state parks allow fishing and not ice skating, which sounds strange, but Livingston has an explanation: One of the trickiest things about ice is it\u2019s not the same in every spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally with ice fishing, you trek out slowly and stay in one area that you have checked is safe,\u201d Livingston said. \u201cWith wild ice skating, you generally trek out farther, and it can be harder to determine ice conditions all over.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not much different from backcountry skiing, in fact, and the varying snow conditions on every mountain are why search and rescue teams exist. Falling through ice can be just as deadly as getting caught in an avalanche.<\/p>\n

This is why Lewis recommends scouting a lake first, or talking to an expert such as her who knows the lake well from the patrols. She knows the unpredictable parts of the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different with every lake,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

Even with her knowledge, she typically wears a life jacket that inflates when it hits the water or, as a backup, when you pull a cord. \u201cYou don\u2019t even know it\u2019s there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

State parks<\/a>, including Golden Gate Canyon west of Denver and Highline Lake<\/a> near Loma, should have up-to-date information on whether ice skating is reasonably safe with the current conditions. Eleven Mile<\/a> always does, Lewis said, and Evergreen Lake<\/a> has a hotline.<\/p>\n

It was bitter cold back in the day<\/div>\n

There are black-and-white photos from the Denver Public Library that show residents skating at Evergreen Lake in the 1930s. Greeley has photos of residents skating back in the old days on Glenmere Lake, the park at the heart of one of the city\u2019s most historic neighborhoods. This demonstrates more than the fact that things were a little less restrictive back in those days. The climate has changed.<\/p>\n

Temperatures fluctuated back then too, but it\u2019s harder these days to find sustained, bitter-cold weather for thick, supportive ice. As proof, Evergreen Lake was closed on Feb. 21 because of a relatively warm spell before old man winter got cranky again. In theory, it will reopen for skating March 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ice can be really unreliable,\u201d Shannon Dennison, Denver Parks and Recreation\u2019s director of Mountain Parks, said of frozen ponds.<\/p>\n

This is why Denver wants to do more with Echo Lake. The lake sits in the Mount Evans cirque and is a popular stop along the Mount Evans Scenic Byway, which peaks close to the summit of one of Colorado\u2019s most popular 14ers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s farther away,\u201d Dennison said, \u201cbut it\u2019s a spectacular setting with more reliable ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Safety tips:<\/h4>\n

1. The ice should be at least six inches thick and clear. You can dig holes in the ice to measure it. 2. The ice thickness and condition can vary around a lake. 3. Ice near a structure, such as a dock, and surrounding a branch or another object will be thinner and probably dangerous. 4. Ice near moving water will be thinner and probably dangerous as well. 5. Wear an inflatable life jacket, aka a \u201cfloat coat.\u201d 6. Keep your pets leashed, and avoid the temptation to attempt to rescue dogs that fall through. 7. Never go alone. 8. Bring an ice pick, a rope and a whistle. 9. Look out for cracks, aka pressure ridges, and cloudy ice. Both are dangerous. 10. Ice in the center of the lake will be stronger than ice at the shore, so make sure you\u2019re off the ice by noon if it\u2019s warmer to avoid getting stuck. 11. Check with a state park office or other recreation departments up-to-date reports on ice conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The city wants to renovate the lodge<\/a> and bring public ice skating as part of a hope to offer more winter recreation opportunities, Dennison said. The city could also offer tubing, cross-country skiing and other activities. Residents have told Dennison that they want a chance to ice skate, she said. If it\u2019s feasible, the likely time frame would be for skating to be available in three to six years. Part of the issue is ensuring there\u2019s a shelter there, whether that\u2019s the lodge or another place to go, for the public to warm up or take cover from a sudden storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t guarantee it will happen,\u201d Dennison said. \u201cBut there\u2019s most definitely an interest there. We\u2019re pretty confident we can do it, but the question is what\u2019s the best way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie Magee\u2019s gateway into wild ice skating was on Evergreen Lake, a place so unlike her home state of Alabama that it called to her and her family on Christmas Eve. It was the first time she\u2019d ever skated outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of terrified,\u201d Magee said. \u201cThere were no handrails.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was comfortable on the ice indoors, as she\u2019d skated many times, but she couldn\u2019t believe anyone actually did that beyond the sort-of-wild confines of Evergreen.<\/p>\n

Instagram led her down a rabbit hole, and she began to follow other wild ice skaters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it looked like the coolest thing ever,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She is now 41, seven years later, and posts on TikTok about her yoga retreats<\/a>, hikes (including some sketchy routes up the 14ers) and wild ice skating. She also works as a flight attendant.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s hardly an expert, but she has skated on a few frozen lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park, including Sky Pond, and a few in Grand Junction, where she lives with her husband. Hiking and skating, she said, adds an extra element to the adventures she\u2019s grown to love.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see right down into the bottom of the lake,\u201d she said. \u201cI enjoy that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

skating ranger at 11 Mile State Park says recreation is changing and that skating outdoors should be accommodated \u2013 when the conditions are right<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1031,2246,28,976,2558],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-parks-and-wildlife","tag-figure-skating","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-state-parks"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35530"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}