1. The bay dotted with holes created by the excess water that submerged the ice sheet The first month of the winter season at Inari Lake is behind us — and let’s just say it didn’t ease us in gently. Mid November: Winter made its intentions clear right from the start. A powerful storm rolled in and dropped about 25 cm of snow onto a thin, freshly formed ice cover in the bay. The worst possible recipe. Beautiful to look at, but not exactly helpful. The weight of the snow pressed the ice down,...

Creating and preserving a skating track on natural ice is far more than clearing snow and hoping for cold weather. It’s a careful, often exhausting process — part planning, part science with a sprinkle of luck — and every day brings a new challenge. Here’s a look behind the scenes at what it takes to keep an ice track open on a lake 300km north of the Arctic Circle. After heavy snowfall the snow blower is our best friend The Importance of Maintenance When it comes to natural ice, you can’t...

Water is one of the most familiar substances in our lives, but when it freezes, it becomes something far more complex. Ice isn’t just frozen water — it’s actually a mineral , and scientists have identified more than 20 different crystalline forms of it. From smooth, glassy surfaces to snow-covered layers, ice tells a story about temperature, structure, and the changing seasons. The Many Faces of Ice Not all ice is the same. If you’ve spent time near frozen bodies of water, you’ve probably...