posted on January 05, 2009

Toronto, grab your shovels

By: Peter Kuitenbrouwer
Published: January 04, 2009
Source: National Post

This morning at 10 a.m. I became the first person of the season, as far as I know, to skate on Grenadier Pond. Every year I watch the thermometer, waiting for the conditions to be right. When the temperature drops, and others curse, I cheer, because the pond is freezing up! Just before Christmas the kids and I went to check on it: we stood on the little deck that overlooks the pond, peeled small sheets of ice off the wood planks and skittered them across its frozen surface. It looked frozen. But I put the tip of my boot on the ice at the edge and I plunged through. So we waited.

But with the cold snap we've had since the new year, I had a feeling the pond would be okay. In the quiet still of the morning, having parked by the Colbourne Lodge, I slid down the hill through the woods, dampening the seat of my jeans, to reach the shore. I looked. About 5 cm of powdery snow covers the pond. In the snow I saw dog prints and, more promising, the tracks of a cross-country skier. I laced up my CCMs and took off the skate guards. And I took the plunge. Read more >>

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