The cold weather of the last few days brings good news to skating enthusiasts: the Rideau Canal will reopen on Saturday for a 55e saison.
Posted at 3:04 p.m.
The Rideau Canal Ice Rink is the largest natural ice rink in the world. At the end of the week, it will be passable for approximately 4 km.
Last year, it was only open for 10 days, while the weather conditions of the 2022-2023 season did not even allow skaters to set off on the frozen canal.
“It takes time to form thick, high-quality ice – it typically takes 10 to 14 consecutive days of cold weather,” the National Capital Commission (NCC) wrote on social media.
Ice cream is “like an ice cream sandwich: it has different layers,” explains Bruce Devine, senior manager of facilities and programs at the NCC, on social media.
-The average length of a skating season on the Rideau Canal is 50 days. It was in 1971-1972 that the record was set: it was possible to skate for 95 days that winter.
While in the 1970s the Rideau Canal Skating Rink most of the time opened in December, the opening date has often been pushed back to January since the early 2000s.
Climate change makes it increasingly difficult to open ice rinks on waterways. In Joliette, for example, it was decided that the L’Assomption River would not be converted into an ice rink this winter, as recent seasons have been marked by freeze-thaw episodes.
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