For the first time in two winters, Concord residents have been able to spin and glide atop the ice on city ponds. 

With last year’s balmy temps, the ponds at White Park and Beaver Meadow Golf Course never fully froze. The year before saw just eight days when city staff felt the ice was safe to open — compared to more than 30 days the year before, according to Concord Parks and Recreation Director David Gill. 

January’s frosty bite so far this year has meant that all three outdoor skating venues, the two ponds and a flooded area at Rollins Park, met the city’s five-inch thickness minimum, and were full of skaters over the weekend. 

Parks staff brush off and flood each rink every morning before sunrise to ensure a smooth surface for the day. Skating is free and allowed during all hours parks are open. White Park has lighting after sundown, and the Merrimack Lodge is open from 1–4 p.m. on weekends and from 4–7 p.m. on Wednesdays, offering $5 skate rentals.

Hockey is not allowed on the pond in White Park — instead, the city created a separate walled-in hockey rink at the park for pick-up use. The Everett Arena also has public stick-and-puck hours. 

Concord has been maintaining city parks for skating since at least 1904, Gill said. 

With fingers crossed, plans for the annual Black Ice Pond Hockey Championship and Winter Festival are a “go” at White Park for Feb. 7–9. The tournament has been moved indoors several times in recent years, and the starting date has gotten pushed later and later in hopes for a sturdy ice surface — this is the first year in its 25-year history it will be held in February.  

Inaugurated in 2001, the 1883 Black Ice tournament commemorates the first organized ice hockey match in the U.S. in 1883 at the St. Paul School. Every year, the event hosts approximately 95 teams and 700 hockey players in total for three days for one of the biggest sporting happenings of the winter season. The event will also have games, bonfires, fireworks, music and entertainment, food trucks and ice and snow sculptures.

Beyond Concord – especially in larger bodies of water – warming winter temps have increasingly narrowed the window for outdoor skating in recent years.

Last year, the Pond Hockey Classic, usually held in Meredith on Lake Winnipesaukee had to be moved to the smaller Lake Waukewan due to the lack of ice cover needed to safely hold the tournament. Similarly, the Classic’s sister tournament on Lake Champlain in Vermont was canceled due to warming weather. Lake Winnipesaukee saw its earliest ever “ice-out” on record, March 17, in 2024. 

With more consistently cold temperatures, this year is a different story with “ice-in” declared just this week. The short-term forecast calls for cold nights and below-freezing temperatures during the day, with the exception of Saturday, which is expected to reach a high of 41 degrees, 

While colder than last, ice can be dangerously thin on many rivers and lakes. A woman in Hampstead died over the weekend after falling through thin ice on Big Island Pond. Franklin Police warned residents to stay off the ice on the river downtown after skaters were seen atop an unsafe surface.

The city checks its ponds in six different locations for thickness, Gill said. So if the city puts out a sign that the ice isn’t safe, it should be honored. 

New Hampshire Fish and Game recommends ice be at least six inches thick for safe skating, pond hockey, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and ice fishing. Here are other safety tips for venturing out on the ice:

■Assess ice safety by using an ice chisel or auger to determine ice thickness and condition. Continue to do this as you get further out on to the ice, because the ice thickness may not be uniform.

■Be especially careful of areas with current, such as rivers, streams inlets, outlets and spring holes, where the ice can be dangerously thin.

■Don’t go on the ice during thaws.

■Dark snow and ice may also indicate weak spots.

■Small bodies of water tend to freeze thicker.

■If you do break through the ice, don’t panic. Move or swim back to where you fell in, where you know the ice was solid. Lay both arms on the unbroken ice and kick hard. This will help lift your body onto the ice