“Spend as much time as possible on mountains, in small boats, or otherwise out in the weather; if you never get wet, cold, exhausted or scared, you won’t properly appreciate being dry, warm, rested and safe.” ~ Peter Jay

"I’m an adventuring river rat at heart. Put me on a floating piece of driftwood and I’m happy." ~ Christina Glauner

"There’s folly and foolhardiness on one side and daring and calculation on the other." ~ C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels

Friday, December 10, 2010

First ice of the year.

The forecast for yesterday was mid 40s, so I decided to take the afternoon off for a bit of paddling. As some of you know, I have been very disappointed in winter paddling gloves. Every combination I have tried have kept my hands dry, but not warm. The last couple of years I tried the NRS Hydroskin gloves and NRS Reactor gloves. A couple of weeks ago, I tried the Hydroskin gloves with NRS glove liners and still nothing. So, yesterday I wore the Reactor gloves with the glove liners.
After loading the CD Storm GT and some gear, I proceeded to the causeway. I considered going around La Framboise Island, but it was a bit windy, so I launched from  the gravel area near the American Legion cabin and headed towards Dump Island (between La Framboise and Pierre).
On my way down, the gloves performed very well. When I was about 200-300 feet from Dump Island, I noticed the water around the island looked a bit odd ...and shiny. Thankfully I did not go around La Framboise, because the river between Pierre and La Framboise has began to freeze. As I tried to capture some decent pictures of the ice, the wind pushed me into the "ice field". I had to claw my way out with both my hands and my paddle. My hands did get cold on my way back to the Legion, but the Reactor gloves with the glove liners has been the best option for winter gloves thus far. The high in Pierre hit 51 degrees according to NOAA.

From 2010-12-09
From 2010-12-09
From 2010-12-09
From 2010-12-09