How close is your nearest rink?

[beachgirl]

Last year I moved from Ohio to S. Carolina to live near a beach. I had been told that plans were underway to build an ice rink here in Myrtle Beach. Doesn't appear to be the case so I won't be living here long. I drive 2 hrs. to Charleston to skate now. The facility is nice and they have 2 rinks there with many sessions to chose from. As an adult skater I try and make it there once/week. The ice is "hockey" ice and not at all what I was used to up North. So since I love to skate so much I'll be moving back to Ohio in the near future.

I got excited when I found out there was a rink in Wilmington, NC. It turned out to be a little over a 2 hr. drive. And I felt like I was skating outside on a pond in the dead of winter...bitter cold and sure enough hockey ice. Ah, these Southerners don't know what good ice is. :lol:

[AshBugg44]

The closest one to me is the Valley Ice Arena in Beaverton, OR although I don't skate there. It's takes 5-10 minutes to get there from here. My rink is about a 20 minute drive from my house.

[Skate@Delaware]

We wanted to visit the rink in Charleston when we were there for vacation last year, as they were having a competition....but our van broke down. As it turned out, we did experience the utmost in Southern Hospitality while at the dealership! While our van was getting fixed, they offered to drive us back to our hotel (20 miles away-we declined) take us out to lunch (another decline as we had just eaten).

When our van was fixed, our bill was $0.00! They said they didn't feel right charging us anything since we were on vacation (with 2 kids) and didn't want to leave us with a bad "taste" of Charleston! Of course, we wrote a letter to the head office praising that dealership! They were very nice!

Never did make it to the rink!

Our rink is 8.5 miles from our house. It is open September through mid-April. Then we switch to another rink about 2 hours (beach traffic slows us down) away. :cry: We only make it to that one twice a month (far cry from the 10-15 hours a week!)

[mikawendy]

The closest rink to me is about 15 min from my house. There are two others that are about 30 min from my house (one of those two is about 15 min from the closest rink, the other is way up north halfway to the next state, but it takes about the same time as the other 30-min-away-rink because traffic on 95 goes much faster than traffic and the stoplights in the city).

[sue123]

When I'm at home, there's one that's a 10 minute walk, but it's only open on the weekends. At school, there's an outdoor rink across from my campus, the one I skate at is about 15 mins a drive.

A bit off topic, but I'm going to be in SC for New Years (Charleston). Is it worth taking my skates.

[kitty_ticket]

My nearest rink is 48 minutes from my house. The next nearest one is about One hour fifteen minutes from my house, the next nearest one is about 2 hours, fifteen minutes away. I live near a wide river and it usually freezes over sometime in Febuary, but since I can't swim, I'm too afraid to skate on it. Luckily, I go to school in the city where the nearest one is, so I go to the rink after school, sometimes.

[Skate@Delaware]

My nearest rink is 48 minutes from my house. The next nearest one is about One hour fifteen minutes from my house, the next nearest one is about 2 hours, fifteen minutes away. I live near a wide river and it usually freezes over sometime in Febuary, but since I can't swim, I'm too afraid to skate on it. Luckily, I go to school in the city where the nearest one is, so I go to the rink after school, sometimes.
Kitty,
skating on frozen rivers and lakes can be deadly dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. What looks like solid ice on the surface can be thin in spots (because the water in rivers still flows underneath). This is what causes a lot of people to fall through. Another reason people fall through is not allowing the ice to form thick enough. We used to go by the old rules:

4"=one person
6"= two or more people

Then you would bore a hole in the ice at intervals, and check the depth.

of course, it takes a while for ice to form that thick. I live in Delaware, and haven't seen it get cold enough in a long time for more than a 3-4" freeze.

You couldn't PAY me enough money to skate on the ponds around here in the winter-but people do it anyway then wonder why they fall through.

I don't want to scare you-I want you to be cautious!!! If it's colder where you live, and it's something you want to do, talk to your parents, and let them know where you are skating, go with friends (never go alone). Take a cell phone.

Way back in the last ice age, when it used to get really cold in the winters around here, I used to skate on cow ponds and ditches, which never got more than 3 feet deep-no biggie if we fell through (happened when it started thawing in early March).

[kitty_ticket]

Don't worry, I won't be skating on an outdoor frozen body of water any time soon. Scratch that. Ever! I live in New Mexico (Yes, it is a state) and it usually never gets cold enough to freeze the river 3" deep. When I was about five I hears about someone who fell through the ice on a pond ice skating and drowned. That made me afraid of skating on outdoor water. Speaking of this makes me wonder what held up the Zamboni on Casey's pond in Ice Princess. The pond was probably indoor ice. Again, I would never, ever skate on the river near my house.

[Skate@Delaware]

I wondered about that too. I heard part of the movie was filmed in California and some was filmed up north, but in the summer???? I watched the movie with the actor's commentary on-it was hilarious! With movie magic these days, the whole pond thing was probably all fake ice-they didn't really comment on that, though.

I wouldn't mind fake ice in the summer around here!

[2salch0w]

There's one 4 minutes away, another 10 minutes away, and 3 I can think of 30 minutes away. Then at least 4 more w/in an hour.

This is the nice thing about living in crowded NJ.

Tim

[icecatepairs]

Hey everyone...ok is that my partner on the post above me letting everyone know how spoiled we are that we can find ice at like 4 different places within our driving range to meet up at. (ok in light of your awesome throw technique and endless patience :bow: i will let it slide that you are letting out our great discovered hiding spots lol!) yes i live in NY and he lives in Jersey. the traffic is a small price to pay for the ice availability. we discovered that although we don't live that close to each other there are at least three rinks that we can both get to within an hour. and thats just in jersey. on singles days...ice time is 6 minutes from my house, mcann is 20 minutes, brewster is 35 minutes , katonah 45 minutes, and then from there..within an hour and 10 minutes i can be at: :lol:
palisades
new rochelle
westchester skate academy
the ice hutch
hammocks
danbury ct
winter garden in ridgefield ct
terry conners (ct)
stamford twin rinks (ct)
rye (NY)

the icehouse NJ
the ice vault (NJ)
mennon (NJ)
a little further down the line 8O

bridgewater
skyrink
floyd hall


yes we are spoiled, :lol: but i feel your pain about the south. i vacationed in myrtle beach years ago and it was 2 hours and 45 minutes to the nearest rink!!also...sad news..i heard that rumor about a rink in myrtle beach...in 2001!!!! :cry:

[CoolbugSuz]

There are about 8 rinks within an hour of my home, with one of them a short 2 block walk from work. And I got a 3 month skating pass for Christmas, so I will be taking advantage of that!! The ones near me are:

Chiller North (north side of Columbus, OH)
Chiller Dublin (Dublin, OH)
Chiller Easton (east side of Columbus)
Dispatch Ice Haus (downtown Columbus, next to Nationwide Arena)
OSU Ice Rink (main campus, Columbus)
Worthington Ice (north end of Columbus)
Newark Ice Arena (east of Columbus by about 45 minutes)
OU Bird Arena (Athens, OH)

Suz

[sceptique]

Of the two rinks I go to my main one is 25 min drive (Coventry), second one - 30 min (Solihull). Then there's one in Telford (40 min?), Nottingham (about 1 hr) and Sheffield (1:30).


Overall, still I was shocked by the stats I read last week: there're 2,000+ indoors ice rinks in US (roughly 1 per 100,000 people) vs 60 in UK (1 per million people).

[NickiT]

I'm lucky. Just a 3 minute drive away from my rink!

Nicki

[beachgirl]

Sue123, the rink is on the North end of Charleston right next to a big mall. They do offer a variety of sessions to choose from. But I have to be honest every time I've skated there the ice is far from smooth. And this was right after the zamboni was out. There have always been alot of ruts in the surface. As I mentioned earlier they have 2 rinks in the building. Last week I walked to the other side to look at that ice. It was simply gorgeous and smooth as could be. I plan on asking the manager if they can't improve the ice conditions there. Cause the ruts/holes are dangerous.

Charleston is a nice city to visit so I hope you enjoy your time there.

I'm happy to hear that most of you have rinks close to home that you can enjoy. Someday in the near future I will have that to when I return to live up North. Lot's of nice rinks to choose from in the Cleveland area where I am from.

[Schmeck]

We're 10 minutes away from our local rink, 20 minutes away from another one, and there are 3 more within 30 minutes.

[Thin-Ice]

Overall, still I was shocked by the stats I read last week: there're 2,000+ indoors ice rinks in US (roughly 1 per 100,000 people) vs 60 in UK (1 per million people).

I live in California and when I visited a friend in Massachusetts I was stunned by the number of rinks there. When we went to her lesson, we drove through 3 tiny towns.. and passed by 8 rinks, before getting to her lesson rink. 8O

Here we have about a dozen rinks within a three hour drive. Then there are large stretches of California, where the nearest rink is two or more hours away.

[sceptique]

we drove through 3 tiny towns.. and passed by 8 rinks, before getting to her lesson rink. 8O


What makes me wonder is how they manage to keep these rinks cost-effective. I've been looking into the subject lately and it seems that at least in UK rink constuction and management is hardly a profitable business (probably with the exception of seasonal outdoor rinks). I wonder how US rinks manage to stay afloat - is that because the ice sport are more popular or running costs are lower? Does anyone have an insight?

[jazzpants]

I live in the same general area where Thin-Ice lives. In fact, I live right smack in the middle of a bunch of rinks all within a 30-45 minute drive (well, half hour provided traffic doesn't get in the way.) :lol: My home rink is a half hour drive and my alternate weekend rink is within a 20-25 minute drive.

Yes, icecatespairs/2salch0w! I know you guys are in the NYC/NJ area are spoiled!!! And if I had a car with me, I'd probably be even more spoiled! :mrgreen: (Heck, I would be visiting "The Hack" (as NoVa aptly calls the Ice House) more often to take even more lessons with the Moves Guru. 8-)

[Thin-Ice]

I live in the same general area where Thin-Ice lives. In fact, I live right smack in the middle of a bunch of rinks all within a 30-45 minute drive (well, half hour provided traffic doesn't get in the way.) :lol: My home rink is a half hour drive and my alternate weekend rink is within a 20-25 minute drive.

Hey Jazzpants.. I'm glad you qualified that to say "same general area"... while JP lives very close to many rinks.. the nearest rink to my house is a 45 minute drive away... if there's no traffic. The second-closest is an hour away... and then the rest fall within the two-hour category. Yes, I'm obviously addicted to skating.. otherwise why would I waste so much time and money on the highway to get on the ice? :lol: My husband thinks I'm crazy.. but he has his own hobby that is expensive, a bit unusual and requires a specific location: he's a pilot... and it's not like there are airports every few blocks either. Of course, he's a bit luckier.. he also works at our local airport (25 minutes from our house)... so he can always say "I'm going to the airport" which SOUNDS like he's going to work.. but that's not necessarily what it means.

[Thin-Ice]

What makes me wonder is how they manage to keep these rinks cost-effective. I've been looking into the subject lately and it seems that at least in UK rink constuction and management is hardly a profitable business (probably with the exception of seasonal outdoor rinks). I wonder how US rinks manage to stay afloat - is that because the ice sport are more popular or running costs are lower? Does anyone have an insight?

Well for many of those rinks in the tiny towns.. the rinks are part of the parks and recreation district.. so they're not expected to make a profit, just cover (most of) their own costs.. like any other park district program. Taxes make up the difference and since I've noticed MOST kids skate at least recreationally in certain parts of the US (including Massachusetts and Michigan) every kid skates, whether it's hockey, figure skating or just "regular" skating out in circles around the rink. In those places, if you don't skate, you just don't take part in the neighborhood fun. Here in California, kids are more likely to swim or play soccer year-round than ever skate.

[Perry]

The closest rink is about a block from my house (but of course, that's not the one I skate at!)