After a winter almost completely devoid of any real snowfall, we got about 6 inches +or- depending on where you live here in the Badger State (or the Golden Eagle State if you went to Marquette). What this means for me is a pause the amazing frozen lake ice flying we've experienced this year. We got ice early and we got a LOT of it: Wife: "Do you really think we can land down there?" Me: "Well, I see two Ford F-250's next to about ten ice shanties..."
Here in the South Central part of the state we have fewer planes with skis then you see Up North so all the great activity we've seen will die down. I will personally be out of luck for awhile as I have a set of skis that are still being refurbished with plastic bottoms. Add to that my lack of any real easy way to move the airplane around on the ramp at the local airport with skis attached. If I had that hangar finished at our farm I'd be in business with immediate access to a snow covered runway. I have half a mind to go out to our closest lake and plow a runway off to one side so that the ice fun can continue until I get those skis done.

Ice under snow can get very soggy; be very careful, snow is a very good insulator. Land on compacted snow if possible, snow machine tracks etc. If no area of compacted snow is available to stop on stay "on the step", circle around and stop in your own tracks. I also suggest you take a couple of lengths of 2 x 4, pieces longer than the skis are wide. Once stopped lift the tips and tails of the skis, stick the pieces of wood under and let the skis rest on them. Another trick is to "drag" the skis across the snow, but settle in more of a touch and go. Lift off again, circle around, do an "low & over" to inspect and see if the tracks filled with water.

In the picture you can see the slushy water in the tracks I made.

Mapleflt wrote:

Ice under snow can get very soggy; be very careful, snow is a very good insulator. Land on compacted snow if possible, snow machine tracks etc. If no area of compacted snow is available to stop on stay "on the step", circle around and stop in your own tracks. I also suggest you take a couple of lengths of 2 x 4, pieces longer than the skis are wide. Once stopped lift the tips and tails of the skis, stick the pieces of wood under and let the skis rest on them. Another trick is to "drag" the skis across the snow, but settle in more of a touch and go. Lift off again, circle around, do an "low & over" to inspect and see if the tracks filled with water.

In the picture you can see the slushy water in the tracks I made.

Overflow, or Slush as they call it in Minnesota, can generally be traced back to the ice conditions. If a lake freezes early, but not real thick, then you get a big dump of snow, the weight of the snow on the ice may crack the ice and allow free water to flow out onto the ice. That water will then lie under the snow, against the "relatively warm" ice and water under it, and stay in liquid form. As you say, the snow is a pretty effective insulator.

In areas where there is ANY flow of water into the lake, overflow can also build.....a stream mouth may develop "anchor ice", and wind up with the stream flowing water out on top of the ice. I've seen overflow at the base of a south facing hill beside a lake shore. Sun on the slope of the hill melts some snow, snowmelt flows downhil, under the snow on the lake ice, and voila!

So, there can be lots of conditions which develop overflow. Generally, the thicker the ice was before the first snow, the less likely there is to have overflow. But, the stuff can be very sneaky.

I've got stuck falling through a crust in deep snow on a lake and stepped out into ten inches of free water on the ice.....at minus 35 F.... Which is where the REAL fun started.

Ski flying: The most fun you can have in an airplane, till it's not.....

MTV

MTV