Conroys dam
During a skating expedition in July 2011, we stopped in at Conroy’s dam near Alexandra. There was no ice to be seen, but the lake was a beautiful crystal clear mirror.
Dave Patchett gazing out onto the lake. I wonder what he was thinking about?
Posted on 2012-04-17 by
Poolburn dam face
Some photos from the face of the Poolburn dam. The ice was very thick right beside the dam face due to the shadow it cast.
Posted on 2010-12-20 by
Green ice?
Apparently the correct term for ice which looks like glass, is “green ice”.
Whilst skating over some incredibly smooth “green ice”, Dave Young decided to poke a hole in it to see how good the visibility was. It then dawned on me that he could attach my ATC2k camera to the end of the pole and record upwards through the ice, so I pulled it out, handed it over, and the video below was the result!
Dave Young poking a hole through the ice with his pole
Alan Knowles standing on perfect 'green ice'
Dave Young standing on some super clear 'green ice'
Rocks as seen through the ice
Posted on 2010-10-01 by
Idaburn
After many, many years of trying, I finally got the chance to skate on the Idaburn dam. Ice quality was average, but very thick at least. Kinda weird skating beside a main highway and underneath giant powerlines. I’m not sure why so many people rave about this place at seemed kinda crappy to skate at. Lower Manorburn, Poolburn and pretty much anywhere else I can think of are better IMO.
Alan Knowles and Dave Young on Idaburn dam
The power lines hanging over the Idaburn dam dropped annoying amounts of frost onto the ice.
Posted on 2010-09-01 by
Me on Poolburn reservoir
Some photos of me on Poolburn reservoir. Thanks to Dave Patchett for the camera work 
Me (Ryan Hellyer) and Alan Knowles
Dave Young, Alan Knowles and me (Ryan Hellyer)
Posted on 2010-08-12 by
Keas invade Poolburn
The Killer Keas hockey team took to the ice at Poolburn reservoir to brush up their skating skills before heading north to Lake Tekapo. Skating conditions were a little average due to the snow, but there was no shortage of ice (up to 15 cm thick in some parts) and lots of fun to be had enjoying the scenery.
The Killer Keas squad heading towards the face of Poolburn dam. Download high resolution version.
Lunch break
Dave Patchett measuring the depth of the water on Poolburn reservoir
Ed and Pip
The two Daves, David Patchett and David Richards
Killer Keas goal tender Peter Wallis
Panorama showing how massive Poolburn reservoir really is. Download high resolution version.
Ben Wallis
Posted on 2010-07-12 by
Manorburn dam
View of the water fall at the lower basin of the Manorburn dam
Dave Young drilling down to 6 cm at the beginning of the channel between the middle and lower basins at the Manorburn dam
From left: Dave Young, Dave Patchett and Alan Knowles on the middle basin of the Manorburn dam
Dave Patchett playing hockey on the middle basin of the Manorburn dam
Dave Patchett posing with his home-made ice poking device
View of the middle basin of the Manorburn dam showing the moon still shining in the top right hand corner.
View of the middle basin of the Manorburn dam from upper channel.
Posted on 2010-07-06 by
Skating Poolburn
Thanks to Dave Young, Alan Knowles and Dave Patchett for taking me along on their ice skating trip to Central Otago. We had beautiful ice, up to 10 cm thick, at Poolburn Dam. We circumnavigated the entire lake (~20 km), most of which was beautifully smooth near-black ice. There are a lot more photos to come, but here’s a few quick snapshots from the weekends activities until I find the time to process the rest of them.
Here you can see the "crazy squares" effect in the ice. The rocks you can see in the background are common throughout the lake and make for a terrific view across the huge expanse of ice.
There were a lot of Canadian Geese in the area. Their droppings are somewhat of a hazard on the ice as not only are they large and gross, but they ice tends to melt wherever they land.
Dave Patchett striding across the ice after we made a quick jaunt over to the dam face around lunch time.
For more information about the trip, check out Dave Young’s blog post.
Posted on 2010-07-04 by
