Skating Montana’s Wild Ice

By Phil Knight

If you grew up in the north, as I did, you probably tried ice skating. In Connecticut where I spent much of my childhood, ponds would freeze by early winter and we’d skate as soon as the ice was thick enough, gliding across the frozen surface like we’d grown wheels on our feet. We’d play pick-up hockey and build bonfires on the ice or on islands.

After several years off of skates, last winter I rediscovered skating. It’s a whole world of wild ice out there. Montana has right the dry, cold climate to promote early ice formation on its many lakes.

Wild Ice is a different beast than your city ice rink. For one thing, there is water under it, often deep water. That makes wild ice a dynamic surface. It cracks, groans, shifts, rises and sinks, floods, melts, and freezes. It may be rough, or have too much snow on it to skate.

The best ice is known as “black ice.” Black ice is actually clear ice which looks dark. Black ice usually does not last since it is from the first major freeze of the season. As the ice ages, gets snow on it, and freezes and thaws, it becomes opaque is and is rarely as smooth as black ice. Black ice can be spooky to skate on, since you can see through it and it is usually only a few inches thick. But it’s the closest you can come to walking (or gliding) on water. If the water is shallow (this is best since it’s safer) you can see weeds, rocks, and logs on the bottom.  You may even see fish or other life if you look closely. I’ve even found frogs frozen into the ice.

Wild ice has a lot of texture and patterns to it. It’s beautiful and dynamic and just amazing to travel on. Plus, it talks. Listen for a little bit and you will hear chirps, grumbles, booms, pops and some sounds impossible to describe. Wild ice constantly expands and contracts, creating this crazy concert.

Gear

Your best bet is comfortable long-bladed skates such as hockey skates. I use Nordic Blades, long ice skating blades that clip onto my NNN-style Nordic ski boots. These blades are available at nordicskater.com. You can clip these blades off any time you want to walk. Mine are NNN BC bindings so make sure you get the right kind of binding.

I also use what I call “cheater sticks” (ski poles). As an intermediate level skater at best, I find ski poles to be a huge help for fatigue and safety. I can push along with them to rest, catch myself if I might fall, and test the ice with them.

Bring folding chairs to set on the edge of the ice. Here you can change out your footwear or just take a break, rest the aching feet and have a cup of hot chocolate.

Safety demands that you skate with at least one other person. Outside Online recommends staying off of ice less than four inches thick. Shallow water tends to freeze earlier and is also safer, especially if it is shallower than you are tall.

Each person should wear “ice claws” around their neck . Should you fall through the ice, use these to pull yourself out. You should also carry a throw-rope to toss to someone who has fallen through. Helmets are a really good idea, in case of a slip and fall. Ice is as hard as concrete and hitting your head would do some real damage. If you are really pushing it on thin ice, wear a personal flotation device.

Where and When To Go

Montana is a little bit short on ponds, but you don’t have to look too far to find skateable ice this time of year. Early winter is best, before too much snow has accumulated on the ice. Sometimes you can skate high country lakes if it’s a cold, dry fall season.

Look on the map and find a lake or pond. Get out there and check the ice close to shore, where it’s shallow. If there are ice fishermen out, ask them how thick the ice is. Or bring an auger and drill your own hole. With black ice, you can see through and estimate thickness by looking at cracks and bubbles.

My craziest skating was on back-country alpine lakes in the Bridger and Madison Ranges on a cold, dry fall. My recent favorite is Canyon Ferry Lake between Helena and Townsend. At the south end are large shallow “duck ponds” that freeze up early and have lots of islands. I was lucky enough to skate black ice there last week, and last year it was even better.  When the main lake freezes thick enough you can skate for miles and miles, and may get to see ice boaters flying across the ice.

In Bozeman a motivated group of locals maintains an ice-skating oval on Cattail Pond off Davis Lane, near Valley Center Road. It’s open to the public for free use.  Consider leaving a donation in the box – maintaining the ice is a lot of work.

Flathead Lake, Whitefish Lake, Seeley Lake, Cutler Lake, Cliff Lake, Georgetown Lake, Ennis Lake…the possibilities are as wide as your motivation to explore wild ice. Go forth and glide.

A One Man Christmas

     ~NBC Montana

BIGFORK, Mont. — Don Schiltz has been growing Christmas trees in Bigfork for 35-years.

Don is 81-years-old and has no definite plans of retiring.  Chances are you've purchased one of his trees through the years. In this week's 'Montana Moment' we visit with Don at his farm where he explains the skill and patience it takes to grow the perfect tree. He revs up his 1988 Ford pickup for a trip around the farm to show us those trees."Around 1915 or so," said Don, "this whole area was big, big, big timber trees. So it's been a natural tree growing area."

Don's wife Sharon was born and raised across the road.Back then it was a dairy farm. Sharon's grandfather came here in 1910.Kneeling down to sift the dirt through his hands, Don said "what you've got here is very sandy soil.  And I guess the trees like it. "The water table here is so high he doesn't have to irrigate his trees.So I assume it always will be good for growing trees," he said.

It's a whole different life from the military life Don knew in his younger years.  After college he joined the Army and spent 21-years in the service.  He's a Viet Nam veteran.In 1964 he was an adviser to a South Vietnamese infantry battalion.  "And then in 1968-69," he said, " I commanded an infantry rifle company in Viet Nam. He said his "self-imposed mission" was to "keep as many men alive as he could."  Many of these men, he said, "didn't want to be there and came home to be spit on."

After his military service Don wanted a more peaceful life filled with hard, physical work.  Sharon and Don had purchased the farm in 1968. "I didn't want to have anybody working for me like I did in the Army," he said, "nor be working for somebody. So it's been a one-man-show with the exception of the harvest when my son Mark and my grandsons help me. "This "one-man-show" works seven days a week pretty much all year long. He currently has about 8,000 trees of different ages. All those trees need to have the weeds cultivated around them. But not too close." Or you start harming the tree," he said. "So you also have to hoe." He can't sell a tree until it's at least six-feet-tall.

To get the manicured look Don's trees are known for they need to be sheared. He shows us a perfectly groomed tree to demonstrate. "This tree has a definite line and that's because I shear it to give it that perfect symmetry," he said. "He constantly trims branches from the bottom of the trees' trunks so there's room for presents when it's taken into the customer's living room.In the winter trees can turn yellow.So he uses a non-toxic colorant to keep them green.His best seller is the Fraser fir. Originally it came from the Carolinas on the eastern seaboard," said Don. " It does not grow natural here. We brought it in." But the Frasers are flourishing.

He grows native Montana trees too, like Douglas fir and Grand fir. His Scotch pine trees are popular also, but not as popular as they used to be. "The firs have started to replace it in popularity," he said. One of the most aromatic trees is the Balsam fir. It has an especially fragrant Christmas tree smell. Don sells 1,300 to 2,000 trees wholesale to markets all over Montana. He cuts those trees a little earlier so they can be shipped on time for the holidays. But he harvests all his trees as late as possible.

He sells about 400 trees just down the road in downtown Bigfork. "I take the tree out there every day as they're sold," he said.  So they are all freshly cut. He cut one of those trees and showed us the process of shaking the dry needles off so the customer won't bring falling needles into the house. He also has a special shaking machine that rids the tree of all excess dry needles. Then he puts the tree in his pickup and drives to Vessel Coffee Shop in Bigfork.

Outside the shop is a lot that's already filled with Don's trees. Vessel's owner Julie Meisner welcomes Don and shows us some of the varieties for sale. "These are my favorite," she said, pointing to the Douglas fir. "We've got an Eastern pine here," she said," and a Plantation fir." She showed us several other kinds of trees as well. Also in the lineup are several Doug fir trees that Don harvested. He left those in their natural state for customers who want a less manicured look to their tree. Julie said buyers come from all over to buy Don's trees. From Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Ronan, Lakeside, Polson and Missoula. "People love Don," said Julie. " People come in and ask if these are Don's trees? I want a tree if they're Don's trees. And I say they're Don's trees. He's still doing it." A shopper named Beverly, who came all the way from Libby, examined a tree that her husband held up. "That's the one I want," she said. "It says Beverly."

Don said it takes ten years for a Christmas tree to grow tall enough to sell.So when you first start out that's ten years without an income.  The farmer said a small operation like his can't compete with huge operations in Oregon and Washington. He said with all the labor he puts in he really only makes about $5.00 an hour. "I couldn't hire or go in business with somebody else," he said. "Neither one of us would make anything then." But he has a military retirement and said he's doing okay.

And he loves his work. "I don't ever want to retire," he said. "I have to have something to do." But after a full day's work he said he does get tired. He has started to slowly wind down. He stopped planting new trees four years ago. So he's reduced his inventory from about 20,000 trees to 8,000 trees. That's plenty to keep Julie Meisner's customers in the lot at Vessel Coffee Shop happy for years to come.

10 Fun Facts About the Roosevelt Arch
          ~Yellowstone Forever

It is doubtful that today’s Park Service would approve the building of an expensive structure that is purely decorative in nature. But when the Roosevelt Arch was conceived, Gardiner was the most important gateway to Yellowstone—the first park and a jewel in the national park crown.

The Roosevelt Arch, built in the park’s Army era, is said to have been the idea of Hiram M. Chittenden of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He felt that the approach to the park was barren and lacked suitable grandeur. Park administrators and townspeople agreed, and plans commenced for a grand new entryway to Yellowstone.

In 1903, the partially constructed arch was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt, who laid the cornerstone at a ceremony that drew thousands of guests, and much fanfare.

Here are ten more fun and interesting facts about the history of the Roosevelt Arch:

1. The designer of the Roosevelt Arch remains a mystery. Both Robert Reamer—most famous for designing the Old Faithful Inn—and architect Nels J. Ness have been credited, but modern historians say that documentation is inadequate to know for sure.

2. To construct the Arch, hundreds of tons of native columnar basalt were hauled from a quarry in the area. The completed Arch rises 50 feet high, and can still be seen from miles away.

3. Construction of the Arch took around six months, and cost about $10,000. Today that sum would equal around $250,000.

4. Original plans called for the curved walls on either side of the Arch to surround a landscaped garden, two ponds, and a waterfall. However, this plan proved impossible due to Gardiner’s arid climate.

5. The Arch was not originally intended to honor Roosevelt, but was so named because the president happened to be vacationing in the park during the Arch’s construction, and was asked to speak at the dedication ceremony.

6. A “canister,” which we now call a time capsule, was arranged by local Masons and placed inside the Arch during the dedication ceremony. It reportedly contains a Bible, a picture of Roosevelt, Masonic documents, local newspapers, U.S. coins, and other items.

7. The plaque on the Arch is inscribed with a phrase from the 1872 legislation that established Yellowstone National Park: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”

8. The North Entrance Road Historic District, which includes the Roosevelt Arch, was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 2002.

9. If you look closely you can spot the Arch’s cornerstone. As you enter the Arch from the Gardiner side, the stone is low on the inside (park side) corner of the right tower. It is more squarely finished than the stones around it, and the surface facing the inside of the Arch is engraved “Apr 24 1903.”

10. After the dedication, Theodore Roosevelt never returned to Yellowstone, so he never visited the completed Arch.

Learn More About the Roosevelt Arch:

• Watch a short (1.5 min) video about the Roosevelt Arch>>
• Read much more about the History of the Arch>>