It isn’t officially winter yet, but don’t tell that to Mother Nature. Snow on the ground has people in Calgary ready to head to the outdoor rinks.
Those itching to hit the ice can do so at Olympic Plaza downtown, which opened up last weekend.
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But, if you are looking for some ODR action elsewhere, you are still going to have to wait a bit before other city-maintained rinks open up.
The City of Calgary looks after nine outdoor rinks across the city and none of those other ones are up and running yet.
So, what exactly needs to happen for the city to be comfortable to open things up?
Typically the rinks open in mid/late December. There are a couple of conditions that need to be met for the city to be able to open them.
Steve Mears/Instagram
First, temperatures have to be consistently between -7°C and -12°C to flood the rinks.
Second, they need to have a minimum of eight inches of ice to be able to support maintenance equipment and be able to open.
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Which raises the question: Why does Olympic Plaza get to open? Well, the answer to that is quite simple.
Olympic Plaza is Calgary’s only refrigerated outdoor ice surface, so they were able to open it earlier in the season, on November 19.
Steve Mears/Instagram
There are also a number of volunteer and community-run outdoor rinks that may have their own procedures.
To stay up to date on the latest conditions, visit the city’s website.