Taking Time for a Communal Skate

By Chris Hansen, 11-25-07

	Caption: Thanksgiving revelers enjoy an afternoon on the ice on Emily's Pond outside Wilson, Wyoming.

Sometimes you have to take a break from skiing. When there’s no snow is a good time. Considering the limited snowpack and the hammering by local skiers that Teton Pass has received since the few inches we got just before Thanksgiving, Friday seemed a good time to embrace an alternate outdoor winter activity. It reminds you that there are other things to do during winter in snowcountry. And it can be especially rewarding when it includes quality family and community time. Such was the case when a few Wilsonites initiated an impromptu skating party the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We got word from one of our neighbors that the ice at Emily’s pond was frozen enough to skate on. So we pack up the kids and the dog and head over for an hour or so of sliding and gliding.

The skating turns out to be quite a treat. It’s been cold in Jackson Hole the past few days, and the snow-cover on the valley floor amounts to little more than a trace on the north sides of buildings and elsewhere in the shadows. The ice is solid and clean—already several inches thick and quite skatable, the occasional eerie crack notwithstanding.

A classic Norman Rockwell-esque winter tableau unfolds. A two-year-old sits on a couple of insulated layers on the ice, alternatively stuffing her mouth with pretzels and a binky as she watches her dad and older brother in a game of two-on-two hockey with another father-son team. Two teenage sisters are pushing the limits of the ice and each other as they explore the outer reaches of the small, frozen pond. A few other youngsters are learning to skate as they push a small plastic chair and a bucket on the ice and chase each other around. Two overactive labs and a mutt trot gingerly around on the ice, chasing a ball and trying to figure out the slippery surface. Parents skate with small children in their arms, not yet big enough to skate on their own, as others cruise around the pond enjoying the early-season gliding.

Hot cocoa pours from a thermos. Snacks appear from a picnic basket. A blanket underneath and the low-angle rays from the sun above warm those enjoying a break. A flock of geese passes low overhead; someone spots a pair of trumpeter swans gliding over the Snake. And the Teton Range provides the perfect backdrop to an ideal early-winter afternoon.

Some more neighbors show up to skate. The father-son hockey teams wrap it up; word is a pick-up game is taking shape at another pond down Fall Creek. A couple more laps around the pond with the youngsters and it’s soon time to get the little ones home for a nap. Barely a couple of hours, this session is enough to get the skate-legs back and a wonderful taste of winter. Driving through Wilson the day before, I saw that the boards are up at the park. It won’t be long now before this crowd gathers regularly at the local rink. Welcome back, winter.