Riina Kindlam, Tallinn
Blue skies, sparkling snow and an inviting ice road across the sea. This is the 3.9 km long ice road from the west coast town of Haapsalu to Österby harbour on the Noarootsi peninsula, seen looming ahead in the distance. It is one of three of Estonia's six official ice roads that continued to be open as of April 2. The other two are Rohuküla-Vormsi island (9.6 km) and Lao - Kihnu island (12 km). Photo: Riina Kindlam
Eesti's ice roads (
jää/teed) were in the international spotlight recently, when the popular British television show "Top Gear" took the Opel Ampera plug-in hybrid for a spin over the Vormsi island ice road.
www.topgear.com/uk/photos/Driv... The other three ice roads (there are 6 in total), which are not currently officially open are Rohuküla – Heltermaa, from the mainland to Hiiumaa island (26,5 km), Tärkmaa – Triigi, between Saaremaa and Hiiumaa islands (18 km) and Virtsu – Kuivastu, from the mainland to Muhu island (9 km). The ice must be uniformly at least 22 cm thick to allow an ice road to be officially opened and maintained by the Maantee/amet (Roads Administration). "Road signs" include sprigs of juniper and pine dotted along the route to serve as markers in conditions of poorer visibility. No such problems as of late. Instead, an interesting tug of war (
vägi/kaika/vedamine) has been going on off Estonia's coastlines for the past month: blazing sun by day and extremely cold temperatures by night.
Continue reading in the April 5 print edition...
