Ok so every now and again I see these threads whining about little condensation bumps like it's the end of the world and hitting one is going to be like a landmine. Well!! For all you pansy skaters, I found a picture of a REAL skater, unafraid to do her spirals amid huge boulders of snow and ice from days when resurfacing was not so easy as it is today.

Let's give it up for Miss Clarke!



And my goodness, look at those soft boots and that wonderful toe pointing!

While we're at it, this is my all-time favorite picture of a resurfacer (this was a do-it-yourself rig, not a Zamboni) in action. I love the cigarette dangling out of the driver's mouth... And look! Chains on the tires! That must have made the ice very interesting to skate on indeed! I think resurfacer guy #2 is flirting with one of the female skaters.

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Hey, I remember my skating boots from the 1960's and would happily pay $1000 to have a pair like that again today! They provided lateral support, were light and WERE flexible. I much prefer them to today's cast iron boots!

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

How would a pair like that hold up today? With jumps and all? I have never seen a pair in person so I have no idea what they look/feel like.

There should be some kind of figure skating museum where people can see these kinds of things.

__________________
Check out the sites I run
http://www.joelisi.net
http://www.charlieday.net

I enjoyed sitting in on a great conversation about the good old bad days last week while waiting for the ice resurfacing between early morning sessions at my rink. 3 coaches at my rink--including my coach (1965 & 1986 US men's champion), the 1960 Olympic pairs gold medalist and a member of the 1956 U.S. ladies' Olympic team--were calling me and other indoor skaters "hothouse tomatoes" and sharing stories about having to skate outside at the Olympics in sub-zero temperatures, rock-hard ice and WIND! LOL! Accounting for wind on your double axel takeoff--what a concept! And what great stories!

__________________
"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Compared to today's skates, they felt like bedroom slippers! The leather was like a top quality pair of Spanish or Italian riding boots, a little like today's cowboy boots but a little softer.

I have had many conversations similar to what doubletoe mentioned (with older coaches) and most seem to feel that today's almost-rigid boots probably make it easier to land advanced jumps with less training and less physical strength but the rigidity is probably a factor in the short careers of today's top skaters. With the old style boots, you touched down on the front part of your blade first and ankle-flex took some of the shock because you could bend your ankle more.

At the time when this type of boot was in use, the top men were landing triples and the women were on the verge of triples. You also didn't see youngsters doing advanced jumps as early probably because of the strength required to make the landing.

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

My rink has been in that condition on many occasions but I cant say I would like it in that condition full time, on the plus side, it makes you a lot stronger so when you go to compete on good ice the skating is so much easier.

http://www.worldskatingmuseum.org/Home_Page.htm

__________________

My grandparents were cleaning out their basement, adn they found my mom's old skates, probably from the late 60's. They were so soft, and it was actually pretty neat to see them. I'm not too sure what they did with them though. They did offer me to wear them, since they were my size, but I was too afraid to try them.

Have you been in a spin and hit one of those bumps and fell face forward??
Maybe once it happens to you, you'll know that those falls can be painful!
And the condensation bumps are not little at my rink, they can be HUGE!!

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Casey, the picture you posted reminds me of a documentary I saw about Oksana Baiul. When she was training in the USSR, skaters at her rink had to cut the ice by hand--and she was doing triple jumps on that quality ice.

That said, ITA w/Terri C--I've skated on ice that's been covered with condensation bumps (and holes where condensation has rained down on the ice), and it's definitely NO fun to hit an edge on one of those!

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

In case you couldn't tell my my extremely sarcastic tone, I was just teasing.

But I don't ever fall in spins anymore...even when, as happened last night, a hockey kid runs into me at significant speed mid spin just as I'm starting to pull in.

It was definitely interesting, and hurt a bit, but I didn't fall. Even if I hit something unexpected and had to jump out of it, I'd probably be alright. Now backspins, on the other hand...

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

For us green-as-grass novices, those bumps are a wonderful experience on backward edges to! A week ago I went down so hard (off a backward glide) that people on the other side of the rink said they felt the ice shake! (Don't get smart - I am not THAT big!) I didn't hit my head but landed hard enough to be disoriented momentarily.

__________________
Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

We had really large condensation bumps all summer.... The first skaters on the ice in the morning would grab a flat spade type thing and go after each of them and break them down. If you hit them just right, they break off and leave the ice relatively flat. If not, we either scraped down what remained, using our blades, or got slush and filled the hole (as appropriate).

Some of the condensation bumps were a good couple inches high.

__________________
American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Which is why that photo is the BEFORE shot. You should see the AFTER shot hahahahaha

I skated in the old rink in York, PA, which had a roof, but was open to ourside, and the birds use to nest in the rafters. One very cold evening I remember skating around a frozen cracked bird egg.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

I always find every condensation bump when I least need to. Actually, my coach has complimented me on holding my spiral over several bumps! To be honest, I am just grateful to have a convenient place to figure skate, so I will take it, bumps and all!

The seasonal rink I skate at has huge "ice mushrooms" that allegedly form between 3:30 and 5:30 pm. I asked for a scraper last week and had an interesting conversation. I thought it was just condensation and poor maintenance, but the maintenance guy said it was a roof leak and the resurfacer "takes them right off."

We'll see what the ice is like this week. If it's bad, I'll make a comment about resurfacing more frequently until the roof leak is fixed. That's a liability hazard.

I'm in the habit of scoping out the ice during my warmups, so I usually know where the bad spots are on the rink and I plan my workout accordingly. The people who look at the ice while they skate have an advantage over those of us with bad memories. LOL

__________________

I've skating at the Squaw Valley rink, site of the 1960(?) Olympics. Besides being outside in the wind it's at 8200 ft above sea level! I tried to skate through my program and was suckin' wind after 30 seconds. I don't know how they did it.

FWIW we get big "barnacles" in the summer when the AC is overloaded and condensate drips out of the collecting pans, and when its REALLY humid, also all along under each beam we get stipes of little barnacles.
Lyle (aarrgghhh, avast ye matey!)

Mushrooms! Ha! Maybe thats why there were always so many bugs and spiders onthe ice in the am. We use to rent the ice a couple times a week. As we were the first skaters of the day, we skated around to pick up all the spiders on the ice and deposit them to a warmer climate.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

hahahaha.... there was one time our rink had a problem with the ice cutter. I was skating in a minefield of stalagmites. It was crazy. They were 3 to 4 cm in diameter and some were like 1 to 3 cm tall. I hit a big one and the whole thing just broke and snapped off. Amazingly I had enough momentum to just plough straight through that one. Eventually I decided to just go home. No point in getting hurt.

Wow!! Yeah, it really gives you respect for those guys!

__________________
"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

hmmm.... 8200 feet above sea level is ridiculously high. Most people from sea level would be needing to rest after a very short time of skating or even jogging hehe.

Of just sitting around doing nothing.

So says the veteran of battling altitude sickness every time I go to altitude. Really slows down learning to ski when you spend half the trip sick. I even had very mild symptoms at Lake Placid, and it's what 2000 feet??

That's true! It's definitely possible for some folks to not feel too good even just sitting there at that altitude hehe.