Status Saturday and Sunday February 2-3, 2001:

There is an Ice Fishing derby at the lake on this date. Usually there are 100 vehicles on the lake and plenty of holes to measure the thickness. We will evaluate the lake this weekend and post the findings here and also email everyone who's subscribed to the Ice-Trials email list described on the flyer.

(2001 course design will probably be on the same theory as in 2000. See below, status for Feb 9, 2000)

I've left the 2000 event status notes below as an example of what will appear here.

Status Saturday and Sunday February 12-13, 2000:

Great weather for an Ice Trials! Glad you came, Sorry you missed it, whatever. See you next year?

Status Friday February 11, 2000:

We had some rain last night into early afternoon.
Not heavy, but enough to get everything soaked.
Temperatures in the high 30's
Temps tonight into the teens.
Should be interesting tomorrow!
Sunny day forcast, high around 30
Dave Kosla plans a slower than usual, safe course.
Emphasis on safe.
See you bright (or dark) and early!

Status Thursday February 10, 2000:

Status Quo...

Everything looking good, getting massive amounts of "stuff" ready to cram in the Jeep on Saturday morning at 0'dark hundred... we'll be there at 7.

I'm waiting to see what the "mixed" precipitation does tonight. Calling for less than 1", so I expect not much. Today was up around 40 degrees (F) and I guess that will pack the lake ice some and possibly cause more puddling.

I hope the shore conditions don't get bad. It's still under snowpack there, so the sun can't get to the ice, but there may be water under the snow now. Will find out Saturday. I think we should all try to limit the on-off lake trips in the interest of keeping a good access by the end of the day. Please pass the word to people at the event who may not have read this or listened at the driver's meeting.

We expect snowbanks on the course perimeter. We will use pylons to keep things under control (slow cars down) and there will be a 5 second per pylon penalty. Near the end of the course we will need to slow you down for the transition through the finish line and will have at least a minute's worth of cones there. You hit the timing equipment and your finished for the event and your vehicle will probably have some unpleasant cosmetic damage and screw up the rest of the event.

Have your helmets ready for tech inspection. You'll get a nice new SCCA 2000 sticker if it's Snell 85 or newer for your effort. If not, you'll need to use a loaner helmet. We have several and ask that they be returned immediately after your run to the starting area to allow someone else to use it. The sticker should be good for the rest of Y2K at other SCCA events.

For your enjoyment, I've started an addition to the website. A history of the Ice Trials going back as far as I can. Newspaper clippings, whatever, that I can scan and add will be there eventually. I have the Eagle clipping for 1978 there now.

Status Wednesday February 9, 2000:

Greetings!

Things are looking up now as I met Dave Kosla, Mark Formel and Dave Cook at the lake today at 4PM to see what Mark and Dave's plows could do.

We identified several "don't drive here" areas where the lake surface has a 6" layer of detached ice and water. This is mostly in the area where the "front straight" usually is.

Further out on the lake the ice is great with packed dry snow and some windswept bare ice spots.

The lake is not smooth, but hopefully we will have a slower course to compensate and keep the speeds down.

There will be banks created by the plow. We don't want anyone to go into one of these sideways and flip, so again for the lower speeds.

Rain and sleet is on the forecast for starting Thursday night into Friday (by one forecast). This will obviously change the present conditions and we will need to adjust accordingly.

Plans are now to meet at the lake at 7:00AM Saturday and get to work on the course. Anyone that wants to come and help, great. We need to get the wood stove going and generally commiserate on just what's happening and perhaps get our heads together on course design. The more the merrier! Right now we have 2 plows. Depending on weather we may loose one of those and only have 1. If you have a plow, bring it too!

The course will be designed to have separate start and finish gates. This will allow the timer display to show the last finishing car's time until the next car finishes. This should be longer than last year and give the driver a chance to see his time.

Go to the website and go to status to see proposed course design. Rough cut, slower outside sweep than shown, probably needs some slaloms added (whatever). 

Status Monday February 7, 2000:

I talked to Fozz this morning and he's willing to try plowing at 4:00 on Wednesday. I have to call him Wednesday morn to confirm but he thinks he can do it. He says having another plow vehicle would be a good idea. He was out there yesterday for the derby and he knows what he's in for. They don't have chains. I'll call Mel today or tomorrow.

I also called John Aulisio and unfortunately he won't be able to help out this year. I don't really blame him as he doesn't run in the event anyway. Too bad, he was good at it.

Status Sunday February 6, 2000:

Greetings and solutions....

Dave Kosla and I met at the pavilion today to check the lake conditions. There was an Ice Fishing derby that we always use as a condition indicator for our event. When I arrived there were very few vehicles on the lake and a group of guys was shoveling an older front wheel drive Oldsmobile off the lake entrance, which hadn't been plowed. 4x4 trucks of all types were driving on and off with no trouble, although one was stuck in a drift several hundred feet from shore. He freed himself in a few minutes.

Good news:

There's anywhere from 1.5 to 2 feet of ice on the lake.

Bad news:

Surface conditions are abominable. Ice will not be smooth, it's bumpy.

Snow pack ranging from 0" to 12"

There's wet snow at the interface of the above snow and the lake ice. Mostly in the shore-200' area, but in some of the outer areas also.

Shoreline is heavily drifted snow for about 50 feet. Some formal puddles under this snow in areas.

Lake is in reasonable shape but not smooth (due to formerly wet snow/slush randomly frozen to the surface) when you get 200 feet from shore or so, but still wet under the snow.

Problem being:

If we (can) plow the snow and make a course, which will be bumpy, we'll end up with frozen snowbanks around the course.

If the slush freezes we have more bumps, maybe.

Decisions:

We talked to a friendly person with a 1 ton dually 4x4 (6x6?) PUT with a plow and sander in the bed. He's willing to try, but had been unable to plow the entrance to the lake today when he tried. I think this is due to his method rather than the conditions. He's willing to plow the course for us (as is Mark Formel). We will try to get Mark and this fellow up to the Lake Wed, Thurs. or Friday (whatever's good for them) and see what they can do.

We can try to make a decision then (yes or no)

OR

We can say it's a go and have everyone (whoever) show up Saturday and see what we can do. We may end up using Saturday as a preparation day and then run Sunday, or if we get a course in reasonable time we can have a Saturday event as planned. I hate to make the decision with just a few of us here earlier in the week....

OR

We can have a rendezvous on Friday and evaluate the situation (Alex E. offered to drive up that day, anyone else interested?) It would be early afternoon. If there's no interest in this, we'll make a decision.

ANYWAY...

We'll try to decide by Friday evening or earlier what we're doing and post it to you here and on my answering machine. I'll turn my ringers off Friday evening, so call anytime. Say a few words if you want to talk to me if I'm awake and listening...

We've put a lot of time, sweat and $ into this event already, and I hate to cancel....