Is creating one of the great Canadian winter pastimes an art or a science?
According to Neebing’s Curtis Coulson, who has been flooding outdoor skating rinks in the municipality for more than 50 years, it’s probably a mixture of both.
“It’s a bit of a process, but you figure it out,” Coulson said on Friday.
Coulson, with the help of fellow municipal Coun. Gary Gardner, keeps Neebing’s two outdoor rinks at the Blake Hall and Pearson sites smooth as a snowboard. Mother Nature also has to do her part.
It’s been so far so good this month, with both rinks already set for skaters. Last year around this time, Mother Nature didn’t co-operate: the ice melted and Coulson and Gardner had to start from scratch.
Even though the rinks’ ice surfaces are about a third the size of what NHLers play on, weekly applications of water still require at least a few hours of fine, strategic spraying.
Coulson said the applications, applied with a hose, work out best when the mercury hovers between -10 to -15 C.
“If it gets too cold the nozzle starts to freeze up,” he noted.
In the early flooding stages, the goal is to build up just under half an inch of ice, which forms a base.
Coulson, who clearly remembers flooding his first rink at age 16 — “although I might have done a few before that” — said the job became much easier when both of Neebing’s rinks were equipped with concrete slabs.
Prior to that, building ice on top of grass and snow was considerably trickier, especially getting the surface level.
“You needed a lot more water,” Coulson recalled.
If weather conditions hold, skaters can access one of the joys of winter until the end of March.
Meanwhile, outdoor rinks in Conmee and Shuniah remain a work-in-progress this season.
A Shuniah bulletin said its MacGregor and McTavish outdoor rinks could be ready for skating by Dec. 20. Meantime, it asked for patience.
“A big flooding all at once would cause the water to escape the boards and leak out,” it said.
A Conmee Township spokeswoman said “we’ve started creating our ice, but it will require a few more fills.”
According to Environment Canada’s website, the mercury will only climb to -13 C in Thunder Bay on Sunday, about seven degrees colder than normal.
