Ottawa Valley events sink or swim with ice conditions

Passing through Cobden on Highway 17 this weekend, the view of Muskrat Lake is a barren one of ice and snow.

This weekend is the first time in 13 years that the Cobden Civitan Club has had to cancel their annual ice fishing derby due to poor ice conditions.

"There's not too many things to do in the valley in the wintertime, so ice fishing is number one," says Brad Price, the club's chair of the ice fishing derby.

Due to mild weather this winter, the ice on Muskrat Lake hasn't frozen sufficiently, like many of the other waterways around the national capital region this season.

"We need 18 inches of good solid ice because we have lots of traffic, lots of people, and safety is first. That's just the way it is," Price tells CTV News.

"Right now we're anywhere from six to eight inches; nine inches in spots, but then there's a thick layer of snow with slush in between. But we like to have 18 inches."

The event brings up to 2,000 people to the small community; a huge economic boost that is now missing this weekend.

An aerial photo of the Cobden Civitan Club's ice fishing derby in 2022. The event was cancelled in 2023 because of poor ice conditions. ()Joanne Hodgins/supplied)

"People come in, we have a coffee shop, we have a bakery now," says Civitan Club President Joanne Hodgins. "People would be in all the stores as well as coming down to the ice."

In another corner of the Ottawa Valley on Saturday, the mild conditions proved just right for the White Lake Winter Carnival's polar plunge event.

The ice near the shore of White Lake was thick enough for brave participants to walk out onto, but not too thick that a plunging hole in the ice couldn't be cut.

"We're raising money for Special Olympics Ontario today," said Janyne Fraser, a recreation programmer with the township of McNab/Braeside.

"We've got 19 people signed up for the polar plunge and we've raised over $5,000 so far."

One of those 19 chilly dunkers is 65-year-old Rhonda McMahon from Guelph, Ont., who is visiting family in the area for the long weekend.

"Hopefully this summer I'm going to do it in the Arctic Ocean, so this is good prep for it. So this is my first time at White Lake."

McMahon says it's the thrill of the chill that compels her to jump in icy cold waters.

"Your body comes alive," she tells CTV News. "Every fibre of you just screams and it's an exhilarating feeling."