| Objective: Ice Skating on the Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Canada Distance: 4.8 miles (one-way) |
Skip the ice rink. When in Canada, you need to find a frozen lake, river, or canal. Every winter, the Rideau Canal Skateway is the highlight of Ottawa’s Winterlude festival. Enjoy a frosty escapade along the world’s largest naturally frozen skating rink from downtown to Dow’s Lake.
| Rideau Canal Skateway | Getting Comfortable on Ice | Winter Snacks | Canadian Winter Pastime | Plan Your Visit |
Rideau Canal Skateway
All the skaters on the canal are bundled up, eh? Yup, nice and toasty, with beanies, gloves, scarves, and puffy down jackets. A polar vortex has swept across Ottawa bringing heavy snow, hail, freezing rain, bitter wind, and unrelenting cold downpours. And yet, this is great cause for rejoicing. For this means that on this fine February afternoon, the canal is sufficiently frozen and safe for skating. For the three years prior, Ottawa experienced some of the warmest winters on record. But today, the Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest skating rink at 4.8 miles, is open for business.
Getting Comfortable on Ice
I lace my skates up tight and put my gloves back on. Visions of the classic Nintendo video game, Blades of Steel, dance through my head. Charging across the ice at full speed, I turn on a dime. Then I execute a gnarly slashing stop that sprays a beautiful arc of ice. The gloves come off and I am knocking the teeth out of some goon’s mouth. I am the terror of the ice rink.
OK, I am an average ice skater. The blades keep slipping out from under me when I run over a rut or a groove in the ice. After a while, my form improves. With each push off the ice, I glide smoothly across the ice. I am learning how to move carefully over the rough patches and chewed up ice. There are markers that indicate how far you have gone.
Winter Snacks
At roughly each kilometer, there are little snack stands with all the local favorites: BeaverTails pastries and back bacon sandwiches. BeaverTails are hot, rich, tasty morsels that are the perfect antidote to a frosty time on the ice.
An Iconic Canadian Winter Pastime
Fluency and grace on ice seem to be the birthright of the Canadian people. What began as a necessary means of transportation across a harsh wilderness evolved into an essential love of the land. Ice skating is symbolic of Canada’s triumph over a new dominion. It is the foundation of the other national pastime – ice hockey. Plus, it is really fun to swiftly slide across the ice with fluidity and carefree reckless abandon.
Plan Your Visit
There are numerous Silver Skates locations along the canal where you can rent ice skates. Also, check out the Winterlude ice sculptures at Confederation Park.
| Vendor: Silver Skates Price: $12 Start: Fairmont Château Laurier Finish: Dow’s Lake When: January-March, Winterlude Festival |