We’ve had it snow here in October, and again last week…
Both times, a massive raincloud swooped in and we have no more snow…
Though it is snowing again tonight!
I have a question for the Canadians. Are there ice rinks relatively everywhere in Canada? I have extended family in Manitoba that I have never visited but even not ever visiting them I know through my relatives here that they all can ice skate.
I know some places are warmer than others but I imagine Canada having outdoor rinks like we have basketball or tennis courts. Basically I wanted to see if my imagination of Canada is realistic.
Okay so, my city has a population of 160,000 for reference, here’s my mental (probably lower than the actual) count of rinks:
Full indoor ice rink: 19 (at least 6 of which open year round, the rest are only open between Aug and April)
Outdoor ice rinks: 150+, it’s hard to tell. Almost every subdivision has an outdoor rink, it’s kind of cool. Every park certainly has one. Naturally these are only open between Dec. and Feb. + a month on each end, weather-permitting.
Indoor ice rinks are staffed by the city, floods are every 50 minutes always. Apart from a couple outdoor rinks, most are not flooded, they are simply staffed by volunteers who shovel them and make the ice etc.
We also have this: www.northernlife.ca/uploadedImages/news/sports/2011/01/Ramsey_skating.jpg it’s a long skating path running over a huge lake in the middle of the city. I believe they flood it, it’s always a really cool thing every year.
So here’s the interesting part; we are a big skating city who have produced hockey and figure skating legends (maybe speedskating too? I dunno) although we are under-rinked for an Ontario city. We need many more indoor rinks to fill the demand. Prices for ice are very high here and everything is always booked solid. Other Ontario cities would have more than this amount for their population, at least compared to us. Now I can’t speak for Manitoba, but they are the next province over, although it is well known that the hockey hubs are mainly Northern Ontario and Quebec.
Hope this helps!
@smpratte – This summarizes Canada pretty nicely.
We just got electricity in our igloos 5 years ago.
(Laughs) Anyways.
In Calgary, there’s dozens of indoor and outdoor rinks in the central areas of the city and up north. It diminishes as you expand outwards towards the south; once it passes Deer Run, there’s nothing around.
I’m originally from the southern interior of BC (which is 90% wilderness and 10% civilization), and I can only remember a handful of indoor rinks sprinkled throughout the towns (practically 1/town). I think a lot of communities make their own outdoor skating rinks or in their backyard, like my cousins do.
Haha they have more advanced igloo’s now! I figured the northern regions would be where most of the cold weather is. It blew my mind when I was younger that no one really lives pst a certain northern point in Canada.
Wow, 150+ outdoor rinks. There are more rinks than first generation pokemon! I wish we had the same situation here. I have a rink close by my house but the weather is not what it used to be. It used to be much colder during the holiday season. Now it is weather roulette.