Austin Bevilacqua practices his hockey moves at Fremont Lake at the foot of the Wind River Range outside Pinedale. (Dylan Bear)

There’s nothing quite like gliding over a massive sheet of clear ice while listening to the slicing of blades and the other-worldly “laser cracking and whumpfing” sounds of a frozen lake, according to Pinedale resident Dylan Bear.

Ice skater Dylan Bear shaves some “wildice” at Fremont Lake. (Austin Bevilacqua)

It’s been an especially good season for “wild ice” skating at Fremont Lake, Bear said, thanks to the combination of cold temps and a lack of heavy snow. Scores of skaters and fishermen have flocked to the 7,421-foot elevation reservoir just a couple miles outside Pinedale this winter to enjoy the ice, including local hockey teams. 

Dylan Bear para-skates across Fremont Lake. (Austin Bevilacqua)

“When you’re out there, it’s like, ‘I can’t believe this is actually real,'” said Bear, a physical education teacher at Pinedale High School. “It’s mind-blowing that the ice is so clean. It’s like looking down through the water like you’re on a boat, but you’re skating.”

“A lot of people are skating at night, too, on the black ice,” Bear said. “It’s a big attraction for the locals.”

Dustin Bleizeffer covers energy and climate at WyoFile. He has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for more than 25 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy...

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  2. They are having the first ever Wind River Classic Pond Hockey tournament on January 25 through January 28 on Fremont Lake. I was one of the first Glaciers.

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