Our frozen lake

Somewhere off the shores of Kelowna at the bottom of Okanagan Lake lie a case or two of very old scotch.

As the story goes, a delivery driver was trying to get the booze to its appointed destination with a motorcycle and a sidecar on the frozen lake.

The bike, sidecar and driver broke through the ice. The man was able to rescue his vehicle ... but not the scotch.

Such stories are plentiful from oldtimers and historians when it comes to those winters cold enough to completely freeze the 6,200-square-kilometre lake.

Like the time a group of men thought it would be fun to drive a truck from Kelowna to Penticton on the ice.

They made it to Penticton without incident, but on their way back – you guessed it – the truck broke through the ice.

The men made it out OK, and eventually, with the assistance of horses and ropes, the truck was pulled to safety.

The lake has frozen over many times over the past 125 years.

While the exact number is open to debate, historians believe it has occurred at least nine times. Documented instances occurred in January of 1893, 1899, 1907, 1909, 1928, 1937, 1949 and 1950. 1968 was the only year it froze in December.

That was also the last year the lake froze.

While the 1968 freeze didn't cause much in the way of transportation woes since the Okanagan Lake Floating Bridge had been finished a decade earlier, previous deep freezes were a nightmare for residents and merchants alike.

Prior to the bridge, a ferry service linked the two sides of the lake, transporting pedestrians, vehicles and goods from side to side. When the lake froze over, tugboats or other vessels were used to break up the ice to allow for the ferry to cross.

In extreme cases when the ice was too thick, dynamite was used to blow open a path. Dynamite was last used in 1950.

Then, there was the documented case of a CPR barge getting stuck in the ice. A rescue boat also got stuck, as did an ice breaker dispatched to rescue both vessels.

Ice floes left behind by ice breakers also provided some entertainment for kids at the time. They would skate from ice floe to ice floe, trying not to fall into the frigid waters below. As you can imagine, some made it, and some had to be pulled out of the water.

While there has been ice along the shore, the lake has not completely frozen over in nearly 50 years.

Some say conditions, like water patterns, have changed around the lake, making that event unlikely.

However, Don Dobson, an expert in surface water, says nothing has changed on the lake that would prevent a complete freeze.

Comparing temperature data from this year to years the lake froze over would indicate it hasn't been cold enough long enough in recent years for a freeze.

– Thanks to historian Sharron Simpson, the Kelowna Museum and the Old Kelowna Facebook page