Cold weather, clear skies, and a limitless supply of water add up to ideal conditions for making ice for the volunteer crew at the Exhibition Park ice oval.
The 400-metre outdoor oval, which will be used for the 2015 Canada Winter Games, underwent some significant improvements during the fall designed to make it easier to build and maintain the outdoor ice surface.
City crews covered the oval in layers of dirt over a mostly gravel surface to help minimize the effects of melting on above-zero days and preserve the ice. Flooding crews now have four standpipes located on the infield part of the oval to allow spot flooding, although a water truck is still being utilized to flood most of the rink.
Three-per-day floods and the hard work of the volunteers have left the rink nearly ready for skaters. By next weekend the oval should be open. Go to the Ice Oval Society's website pgoval.ca for ice reports. More volunteers are needed. Call Lyle 250-962-7100 for more information.
The user fees remain the same -- $2 for individuals and $5 for families, good for the entire day. Skaters will be expected to drop their money into a lockbox located near the change area.
Hockey and the use of pucks are prohibited at the oval. Skaters are required to skate in a counterclockwise direction. The rink is unsupervised.
