This made Friday the last possible day this winter to enjoy ice-bound activities such as kicksledding on Pühajärv, a lake near Otepää, Valga County.

One family living near Otepää, accompanied by a local tour guide, at lunchtime Friday took one last short kicksledding outing around Sõsarsaar, an island within the Pühajärv, whose name translates as "holy lake."

While the ice was quite thick at the point at which it is measured, the guide noted areas where the ice was starting to thin and cautioned against going near them.

Family member Canter said it was: "Very cool ice still, and we should take advantage of that. Last time we had ice like it was seven years ago."

As soon as it became clear that taking the sled out onto the, albeit slushy, ice was feasible, some of the children did just that.

One, Lisell, said: "It's super nice how everything is reflected – it's very beautiful, while the weather isn't bad at all; a bit windy and occasionally a little bit chilly, but not bad at all, and actually quite nice."

Although the ice thickness came to over 30 centimeters, it became increasingly slushy over time, though this was no major barrier to having fun.

Another family member, Õnne noted: "It seemed more daunting from afar, but once on the ice, it no longer feels that way. We even did a test drill beforehand to ensure the ice was still thick enough,"

Even though the window of opportunity for ice trekking this year has been shorter compared with previous years, Pühajärv tour guide Imre Arro told AK he believes there's reason to be satisfied with this past winter.

Arro said: "The ice trekking season here started on January 3 with some full-on skating. Nature iced up the bodies of water very safely, then we had some thick frost and a thin layer of snow on top of that."

However, a subsequent thinning of snow cover "shortens the season by about a month," Arro added, hence it ending in mid-March.

The Rescue Board (Päästeamet) reiterates that starting today, Saturday, March 16, going out on the ice on South Estonia's inland waters is no longer allowed.

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