There’s nothing quite like the feel of the wind and sun on your face, to a soundtrack of steel blades on ice, when you skate outdoors.
And, whether you’re out for a leisurely skate on a frozen pond or a friendly game of pick-up shinny at the local outdoor rink, skating truly is the great Canadian pastime.
Here in Airdrie, there are plenty of places you can get out for a skate with family and friends of all ages, as the City’s Parks department maintains a total of six boarded rinks, six snowbank rinks and three natural ice surfaces.
These rinks are available for all residents to use and enjoy on a first come, first served basis, with lights on until 11 p.m.
Boarded rinks are located at:
- Bayside Drive
- Big Springs Crescent green space
- Chinook Winds Regional Park
- East Lake Regional Park
- Kings Heights Drive
- Monklands Regional Park
Snowbank rinks are designed more for pleasure skating and the use of hockey sticks is strongly discouraged. These rinks are located at:
- Bayview Way Park (Tennis courts at Bayview Way/Bayview Street)
- Fletcher Regional Park
- Plainsmen Arena/Jensen Park
- Ravenswood (green space at Ravensmoor CM and Ravensmoor Way)
- Town and Country Centre
- Windsong (Green space near Windstone Ave)
During winter months, the three natural outdoor surfaces are plowed after ice thickness is measured to 10 or more inches. For example, as of December 28, 2022, all three surfaces – Nose Creek Pond, Summerhill and Waterstone – all measured more than 15-inches thick.
It’s sometimes tempting to take advantage of a pristine ice surface that seems to be calling your name, but caution is advised as they’re not measured by the City and ice surfaces or, more likely, below ice surfaces, may be unstable due to weather of water flow conditions.
For example, stormwater stormwater ponds, may look solid, but water flows underneath the ice surface due to snowfall, snowmelt, road clearing and salting operations. Runoff typically contains concentrations of salt and/or warmed water, which can quickly thin ice surfaces. There also may be sudden water level changes under the ice, resulting in unstable and unsafe conditions.
SKATING SAFETY
There’s lots of things you can do to make sure the skating experience is fun for everyone.
For starters, be aware of who is on the ice and what they’re doing. Be courteous. Don’t skate too fast around little kids and don’t shoot pucks when people are by the net. Don’t smoke or drink alcohol in the rink area. Stay off the rink if it’s being flooded, it will only be a few minutes.
Of course, everyone should be wearing a helmet. In fact, it’s a City bylaw that helmets are mandatory at all City maintained outdoor rinks.
Municipal Enforcement Peace Officers make rounds of the rinks, occasionally they even take to the ice, to make sure all is well. While they are able to ticket people not wearing helmets, it’s more likely that violators will be asked to go get a helmet and then come back. They’ve also been known to hand out things like gift certificates to people following the rules and having fun.
Above all, treat your fellow skaters, and the ice surface itself, with respect. It’s the Canadian way.
Unsafe ice surfaces, use of ice surfaces or vandalism can be reported to Municipal Enforcement at municipal.enforcement@airdrie.ca
