Machine-Groomed Ice

When pristine wild ice becomes buried under a fluffy blanket of snow, there’s only one thing to do: Get out and plow a skating trail. Since its inception in 2001, the ‘godfather’ of New England skating trails has been on Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vermont; when the trail is fully open it’s 4 miles long, making it the longest in the nation. But the tradition of machine-groomed skating trails goes back generations in places like Canada, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Austria.
The tool of choice for grooming ice is an ATV with plow (see photo). It’s much quicker than a snowblower, and thanks to its light weight you can get out on early-season ice that’s still too thin for a UTV, a truck or a tractor.
The key element is timing. If you’re expecting a big dump of snow, plow in the middle of the storm so the snow depth doesn’t become overwhelming. In any case, if the storm is all snow, plow as soon as it stops snowing and while the air temperature is still below freezing. Plowing at faster speeds (10-20mph) deposits the snow further from the edge of the trail and minimizes snowbanks. You’ll find that snowbanks are your nemesis because (1) the weight of the piled-up snow can sink your trail underwater and (2) snowbanks tend to become cemented in place and if it snows again your trail will just get narrower and narrower.
As the climate warms, winter storms are increasingly becoming a mix of rain, snow and sleet that turns to slush as soon as it lands on the ice. When plowing slush, you must plow while the air temperature is above freezing. Plowing slush in below-freezing temps will result in a bumpy or unskateable surface.
Lastly, precipitation that’s mostly or entirely sleet (ice pellets) cannot be successfully plowed. It’s better to just leave the sleet where it is and hope it freezes into a smooth skating surface. Chances are pretty good that it will.

Photo above shows a Polaris ATV (‘four-wheeler’) with a front-mounted plow. This is the best low-budget tool for grooming a skating trail of up to 2 or 3 miles long. Leaning against the ATV is a ‘snow-pusher’ shovel. After plowing, put your skates on, grab the shovel and use it to scrape off any bits of snow that were left behind by the plow.
Photos below and below left were taken on the mile-long machine-groomed skating trails maintained by volunteers on Pleasant Lake in Elkins, NH and Mascoma Lake in Enfield, NH.