Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Ice Crashing!

We have a family tradition to hit go "ice crashing" every spring.
Ice crashing gets its name from the event. We jump into canoes and crash into, through and sometimes onto the ice of Lake Couchiching.

Do not be alarmed. The water is less than five feet deep. The ice is usually thin enough that with some hard and steady paddling, a canoe can keep some forward motion.

The tradition comes from the coureurs de bois, the French-Canadian or Metis furtraders. They would hit the ice as early as possible to get their furs through to Quebec first, and thereby get the best price for their wares.

Everyone in our family looks forward to it. Here is a picture of us out just yesterday, though the ice was too hard yet and will have to be attacked again tomorrow!

5 comments:

Sabrina said...

A great picture and a great tradition!

Anonymous said...

What fun and what about the above comment?

Anonymous said...

fun tradition!!
B

M Pax said...

Looks like a blast.

Join Us For Breakfast said...

sounds fun :)