Natural or artifical ice?

Alpine

Registered User
Oct 28, 2005
2,150
2
Moncton, NB
Global warming seems to have slowen down some. Outdoor rinks and ponds, rivers, and lakes have finally opened for skating.
Ya know I gotta admit the ol' blades just seem to dig in better on natural ice. Can't explain it, but just better somehow?
 

Muttley*

Guest
Global warming seems to have slowen down some. Outdoor rinks and ponds, rivers, and lakes have finally opened for skating.
Ya know I gotta admit the ol' blades just seem to dig in better on natural ice. Can't explain it, but just better somehow?


Oh man, I'm so jealous. My pond skates are collecting dust in the closet.

Here in Northern New Jersey, we've only had natural outdoor ice probably 2 or 3 winters over the last 7 years. And when there is ice, it doesn't form long enough to skate safely on. I haven't skated outside since the winter of 99-00, which the last time we had really, really, strong ice. Some of the outdoor rinks opened up before the holidays but quickly closed when the temperatures were about 30 degrees above normal

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970's, I remember skating on a pond near my home after school almost EVERY winter. Now that same pond seems to freeze over like once every 4 or 5 years. That's it. :dunno:
 

dabid

Registered User
Feb 6, 2006
9,733
677
HFBoards
yeah, I havent skated on a pond since 02-03. I could have skated 03-04 but some woman fell in the pond and sued the land owners, thankfully the lawsuit didnt go through for the land owners. But they dont allow anyone to skate on it anymore. It hasnt froze over since regardless.
 

Hank19

Registered User
Apr 11, 2005
1,870
1
I've been building one in our backyard for the past 2 weeks. The temps have been -10 every day. But my stupid yard is so slanted the water just pours over the end. I've been using an Ice-N-Go rink. The problem is, if you're ground isn't level to a 1/4 inch, you're screwed. I found this out the hardway. I've been trying to build up a snowbank frame but we haven't had too much snow.
Next year, I'll be buying barn planks to make a frame.

And yes, I've been drooling over the artificial kits at www.customicerinks.com for 5 years now. My wife and I actually scour the real estate pages looking for any property with a decent sized pole barn to build it in.
 

Icer

Registered User
Oct 15, 2004
160
0
The crazy ice fisherman were out on Lake Mitchell in Cadillac, MI last weekend. It was open water the week before. It's been cold every day this week so I am checking the pond tomorrow to see if it's thick enough for a rink. Last year I only got 1 day in, but the year before that we had the rink up for about 40 days.
 

Phoenix

Registered User
Mar 26, 2006
306
0
hey do generally tell if the ice is ready to skate on? Make a hole and measure its thickness?! :) bang on it?

Also, after its been skated on, what smoothes it over again - a night of freezing?! lol.
 

Phoenix

Registered User
Mar 26, 2006
306
0
um, that should read "How do you..." (darn computer has a mind of its own :) )
 

Injektilo

Registered User
Feb 3, 2005
2,516
0
Taiwan
You've usually gotta flood it again with a hose or something.

My family's cottage is on a lake which usually freezes over for a couple months (not sure about this year) and last year we built a rink on it. It was a suprising amount of work, given that the actual ice was already there. But ice can be really finicky sometimes.

january0479kf.jpg


january0457py.jpg




I love the way a frozen puck will slide for miles on hard, smooth ice. There's almost no friction at all.
 

Icer

Registered User
Oct 15, 2004
160
0
hey do generally tell if the ice is ready to skate on? Make a hole and measure its thickness?! :) bang on it?

Also, after its been skated on, what smoothes it over again - a night of freezing?! lol.

Use an ice auger to punch a hole and measure the thickness. Our lake was about 4 inches thick on Saturday. Ok for ice fishing but I usually like about 8 inches for ice skating. We've got cold weather forecast for the next few days so we should be good to go about Wednesday.

As for smooth ice, a nice sunny day usually does the trick. Just keep the snow off it. If it gets really bad you can flood the ice and let it set up over night.
 

trueblueinboston

Registered User
Mar 19, 2006
58
0
Boston
I skated in the Boston Public Garden the other night, it was awesome...tears up your skates though. Growing up in GA, I'd never done that before.
 

petenik

Registered User
Oct 18, 2006
29
0
parts unknown
up here in Ottawa they've got about 200 outdoor rinks going and the canal is mostly open for skating...

i prefer skating outside, but it's not always best for hockey if it's too cold...last night was around -25 to -30 and the ice got really brittle and chippy...not to mention the toes ;)
 

Alpine

Registered User
Oct 28, 2005
2,150
2
Moncton, NB
Okay, I found one thing I don't like about Pond Rickey.
The hurt you feel when you get an unintended slash on the shins or some idiot decides to "take" a shot and it hits you when it's -20..ouch .. (I don't think he'll be back by the the way the boys talked to him. No lifting the puck is the standard rule and always has been in Pond Rickey) I may use sick days I was saving for summer. ;)
I believe there's only one worse hurt a man can feel.
Also why even after all these years does it always surprise me that my frozen feet have a memory of the blades being on hours after I take them off. Not as bad as when I was kid with the old leather tube skates though when I'm sure I could feel the blade down the centre of my feet all winter long.
 
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