Outdoor skating begins to wrap up as spring slowly arrives

The birds may not be chirping just yet, but the sun is shining, the ice is melting and Saskatoon is quickly becoming a slushy mess.

It’s the first real hint of spring for people in Saskatchewan, with temperatures reaching well above zero during the week. For the Saskatoon Speed Skating Oval in the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, that means it’s time to wrap up the skating season.

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Wet snow has been packed down on the path towards the ice surface, with some slush puddles surrounding the snow. This is the final weekend the ice surface will be open this winter and Greg Nichol, supervisor at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, said it’s been a successful season.

“The year started off really well. We opened up December 15,” said Nichol. “We had some nice, normal (and) reasonable temperatures.”

The rink normally opens up on Dec. 15 and closes on the first weekend of March, meaning Sunday is the last day for skating.

Now that temperatures have been sitting above freezing, more manual work is needed on the ice.

“Right now, with these very mild temperatures, I’ll flood first thing with the Zamboni,” said Nichol. “Then depending on how the day goes … we kind of just let the ice do its thing. It’s too soft to bring out the Zamboni (during the afternoon).”

Nichol said the Zamboni would damage the ice more than help it if he used it in the warmer afternoons. During the day, Nichol said he’s busy filling ice cracks with slush or water to keep the ice surface smooth and safe for the public.

This winter has brought some challenges to the skating oval.

“Last year we didn’t have snow. This year, we had two weeks of -50 C temperatures,” said Nichol. “The ice itself has held up… this year has been OK, but we’ve had our struggles with the snow.”

Around 150 school kids were on the ice on Thursday, getting one last skate in before the oval officially closes down.

Nichol said it’s been a very busy couple of weeks.

“Everyone sees the sun shining, the blue skies, they see that it’s nice out,” he said.

Nichol said he hopes to see the rink stay busy during its final weekend of the season.

The Meewasin skating rink next to the Bessborough hotel had to close down on Tuesday due to the warm weather. Alan Otterbein, with Meewasin, said he isn’t sure if the rink will open again this season.

“We would need a number of days with -10 C or lower overnight so we can do some flooding,” he said.

“We really have to get some good floods in order to make that ice surface skateable.”

The rink usually closes a couple of weeks into March, so Otterbein said it’s shaping up to be an early end to the season.

The skating rink opened on December 18, and Otterbein said it’s been a successful year overall.