HOLDERNESS, N.H. — It’s cold enough for annual tradition of harvesting lake ice at a New Hampshire campground.

Crews started sawing blocks for the Rockywold-Deephaven Camps in Holderness on Tuesday. The event goes back a century.

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Norman Lyford, 88, guides blocks of ice from Squam Lake on Tuesday in Sandwich, N.H. Organizers honored him for his 70th year of taking part.
Norman Lyford, 88, guides blocks of ice from Squam Lake on Tuesday in Sandwich, N.H. Organizers honored him for his 70th year of taking part.
Jane Kellogg guides ice blocks weighing 120 to 160 pounds each. The annual tradition of harvesting lake ice goes back a century.
Jane Kellogg guides ice blocks weighing 120 to 160 pounds each. The annual tradition of harvesting lake ice goes back a century.
John Jurczynski loads blocks of ice, which will be stored and used in the summer at the Rockywold-Deephaven Camps instead of refrigeration units.
John Jurczynski loads blocks of ice, which will be stored and used in the summer at the Rockywold-Deephaven Camps instead of refrigeration units.

It’s a timely start, helped by very low temperatures. In 2013, the three-day harvest at Squam Lake didn’t start until Feb. 6 because of rain, warm temperatures and wind.

Instead of refrigeration units, campers use lake ice packed into insulated ice houses that keep the blocks frozen through summer. The 16-by-19-inch ice blocks weigh between 120 and 160 pounds each.

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