C
anyon Ferry Lake is
frozen again, a silver
mirror reflecting miles
By of quiet pine forest. The wind
article By
Emily
Harris
photos
vicki
gluek
blowing in from the north has
brought freezing temperatures,
and a group of adventurers have been eagerly
anticipating this day. It's late December and
the ice is finally thick enough. David Gluek
throws on one more warm layer, pulls on a pair
of gloves, and steps into his 30-foot Skeeter: a
T-shaped burgundy craft with a long, horizontal plank at the back. There are two runners on either side of the plank and a runner at the bow that allow the boat to skim
across the ice. He points his nose to the wind and he's off, gliding across the frozen
plane at a comfortable 50 miles an hour.
Imagine the adrenaline rush of dashing
across the solid surface in one of these ice
boats, the freezing wind cutting through
that third layer of down, watching the
trees whizz by at lightning speeds (the
fastest iceboats top out around 70 mph),
hearing the snapping of the sail overhead,
flying from one end of the lake to the
other. This is an exhilarating reality for a
surprisingly large group of people here in
Montana — ice sailors who brave the cold
every winter in exchange for memories
that will last a lifetime.
In the 1970's, Carl Harper brought
ice-boating from the Midwest to Montana, launching a way of life for men
such as Gluek and the other sailors who
can be found on the ice between Christmas and the beginning of March. Ice
sailing might be a relatively new phe-
A w a y
www.distinctlymontana.com
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