Skating Outdoors

[RoaringSkates]

Do any of you get to skate outdoors? Is it an outdoor rink, pond, lake? Is it organized and maintained, or is it just a local area where people happen to skate?

My town has a lake where they maintain two or three skating ovals when it is cold enough. They light up the surface at night, and there is parking. There is even a warming hut with concessions, and skate rentals. It's pretty nice.

It's cold, and the creeking, dark ice is somewhat scary. It's also very bumpy due to wind, rain, etc. However, it's really exhilirating.

[sk8er1964]

To be honest with you, I'd be afraid to ruin my blades on outside ice, unless it's groomed like indoor ice. But the lake you describe sound like fun.

[RoaringSkates]

I was worried about my blades, but I just can't resist. It's so cool.

[Blue Line]

My parents live on a lake, RoaringSkates, and I Try to get out on the ice as much as possible! Our lake is small, and my dad and my uncle and a few of the neighbors spend hours every winter grooming it (flooding, etc.) to make it as smooth as possible...but it's definitely not like it is indoors.

When the ice is solid enough (we have had a few warm days) I'll be out there, fooling around on a wonderfully huge, empty ice surface...in my old skates. I'm worried about my blades, as well.

[wannask8]

Roaring Skates, I am dying to know where you are and whether nonresidents can skate on your lake, whether they charge a fee, etc., as I think we’re in the same county (maybe you can p.m. me). Our town occasionally allows skating at a small lake at the park, but we haven’t had a long enough cold snap yet for our lake to freeze, and even if it did, I doubt (based on being out there on crummy skates a while back) that it would be groomed much, if at all. Still, it was that experience that got me started – there’s nothing like skating outside! I have this fantasy about doing something like in the opening scene in “Mystery, Alaska,” skating down a frozen river . . ..

-- wannask8

[Mrs Redboots]

I've only skated on an outdoor rink, which isn't quite the same thing, but on the other hand, on a cold, dry day, the sort of day you never get in the UK, with the sun shining and the mountains all around.... well, what more could you ask?

[dbny]

Brooklyn and Manhattan both have large outdoor rinks in their largest parks. In Brooklyn, you can almost forget you are in a rink, as it is surrounded by trees and there is a lake on one side. There are day long public sessions for only $4. The only problem is that busloads of school kids arrive around 10:00 on weekdays, so the best skating is from 8am till the kids get there. I've been a night owl for so many years that I have a hard time taking advantage of it. Weekends are just too crowded to enjoy, although there are a few weeknights that tend to be pretty good. The ice is definitely iffy as the rink is not too well maintained. Last winter we arrived around 9 am in a light rain. The staff invited us to check out the ice before paying. I think they were hoping we would leave. One other person skated that morning. The ice was pretty bad, but the atmosphere was wonderful. We left when the rain turned to snow and started to cover the really bad spots.

[Figureskates]

Just got back from Lake Placid and I went skating every evening on the outdoor oval. The ice was smooth but hard and one evening it was pretty cold...around 12 degrees.

The hard ice did wear down the edges but I was planning to get my skates sharpened anyway when I got back so no damage done...

After doing about 40 to 60 laps a night, I found out that one lap was a quarter mile...no wonder I slept well each nite!!

[mikawendy]

THe outdoor rink I skate on is a manmade rink (not a pond) but it's wonderful--near the harbor and a hill so the view of both are great.

The ice isn't the best but they cut it every hour or so (even on a medium-size public session it needs it that often). We've had some natural flooding due to rains and warm weather. There are some rutty areas but it's not bad. There's a lot of sand around, so I'm sure it'll dull my blades quicker, but for a quick practice in the middle, it beats driving 1/2 hour or 1 hour round trip...

I think the warm weather has softened the ice because I could hear it cracking as I skated on it this week. Had it been a pond, that would have really unnerved me...

I like to stroke around and do arabesques or spirals on windy days--the wind really pushes you from behind...

[GoldSeals]

There is nothing like skating on outdoor ice.Sometimes you can skate straight ahead without having to make turns.Like on a canal.
Regards,GoldSeals:D

[DRENDAVN]

Hey Figureskates!

They were just clearing the snow off the oval when we were in LP for SOI after Thanksgiving. Too bad we couldn't skate on it then.

Questions -
Was the outside public skating instead of the inside or in addition to?
(The Lussi Rink disappears in winter - used for other things)

Do they refrigerate the surface or is it cold enough even on a sunny day?

How often did they resurface?

How popular? How much attendance?

Sounds like fun!
Dave D.

[Figureskates]

The outdoor oval is in addition to the inside rink..usually the 1932.

The surface is refrigerated...to 18 degrees for the speed skaters...

They rsurface it for every session..

It was moderately crowede when I was there...

[DRENDAVN]

http://www.orda.org/ordacams.htm

There it is, and scroll to the last pic as well.

Dave D.

[momsk8s2]

One of my best recollections of skating as a kid was skating at night at a park, on a frozen baseball diamond "rink". Growing up in the midwest, it seemed like everyone had skates. Even my mother had an old black pair, stored in the depths of the basement, although I never saw her use them. In sixth grade I bought some from the local sports shop, along with black rabbit fur pom-poms which we tied on the laces at the toe. Right after school, the boys would play hockey. The girls would wait until after dinner to skate. I remember walking through the neighborhood, stopping to pick up my friend, and skating by street light with a light snow falling. I remember thinking it was a perfect winter night.
We also had a cabin on a lake. Once a year, when I was in high school, we'd all load into the station wagon and drive up there. We'd shovel off the snow, and the ice was very bumpy. I have photos of me and my friends building a snowman in our skates. Recently, I talked to an old friend who inherited his grandfather's cabin on that lake. He's a recreational adult hockey player. He told me that last New Years Eve in the afternoon, he skated across the lake to a tavern. Later that night, he and his girlfriend skated along the shore by moonlight for hours. How romantic!
--PB

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by momsk8s2
One of my best recollections of skating as a kid was skating at night at a park, on a frozen baseball diamond "rink".
--PB

What great memories that you've shared. Sounds like so much fun. I grew up in the Great Lakes area, but have skated on outdoor ice only once - a small pond near my house when I was about 9. It was a lot of fun - I got to skate all by myself, something that had never happened before. After that, I got serious about skating and it was indoor ice all the time.

[sk8law]

I finally registered to be able to reply to these posts. The best place that I know of to skate outdoors is Keystone Lake in Keystone , Colorado. It is 5 acres of zambonied heaven in the middle of Keystone Village. It even has a boarded off hockey rink at one end and a large warming hut. A chocolate shop and a coffee shop is nearby. Outdoor seating for the restaurants overlooking the lake is available on warm days. :D :D :D

[dbny]

I skated at Prospect Park yesterday afternoon and it was bliss. The rink is quite large, and wider than most. There were only about a dozen people on the ice. The ice was brittle and there were numerous leaves, twigs, etc embedded in it. At first, I was afraid of tripping on the debris, but then realized that it was just frozen in. I did back crossovers at one end of the rink in no particular pattern, feeling like I could go on forever. It was altogether glorius!