
Canadian 'freezeway' could let residents skate to work - edward
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31581592
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dougedey
We have this in Ottawa, it's called the canal: [http://www.ncc-
ccn.gc.ca/rideau-canal-skateway/](http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/rideau-canal-
skateway/)

I have friends that use it on a daily basis (especially now that it has been
less than -15C for over 45 days this year.

~~~
samcrawford
I used it a few weeks ago in Ottawa. Sections of it were closed as the ice was
in poor condition (not too thin, but too rough for skating).

It was great fun, but wasn't anywhere near as busy as the picture in the
article and most of the people using it looked like they were there
recreationally.

~~~
bhouston
As an Ottawaian I am always a little confused as to why they never run
Zambonis along the Canal -- it is because of cost or is it not safe to run
these machines on the Canal?

Some people use it to get to work, but most don't. The problem is that it is
very very cold here in Ottawa. This morning it was -22 C before you factor in
windchill (which would be worse if you are skating.) In that cold it sucks to
put on skates, and your face hurts.

~~~
dougedey
It's because they aren't the best for it. They'd require a lot of passes.

So they modified a zamboni!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THe4vZ2dVfM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THe4vZ2dVfM)

[http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/smooth-
operator-2/](http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/smooth-operator-2/)

~~~
bhouston
Ah, another picture:

[http://www.vancouversun.com/crews+clear+snow+then+flood+Ride...](http://www.vancouversun.com/crews+clear+snow+then+flood+Rideau+Canal+Skateway+near+Fifth+Avenue+with+giant+Zamboni+like+machine+Tuesday+February+2014+hopes+that+skaters+return/9550603/story.html)

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drderidder
I just skated 13K on the canal in Ottawa - it's a blast. This year the ice is
good but it varies, some years you get only a couple weeks of decent skating.
For reliable self-propelled commuting in winter you're probably better off
looking to bike paths and cross-country ski routes - there's no shortage of
snow!

~~~
akgerber
Especially now that 'fatbikes' that can ride on snow are widely and cheaply
available, e.g. [http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/gravity/fat-bikes/fat-
bi...](http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/gravity/fat-bikes/fat-bikes-
deadeye-monster.htm)

------
upofadown
Here in Winnipeg there is a path maintained on the rivers in the winter. More
people commute by bike on the pedestrian side than skate on the skating side.
From that I get that bike beats skates in terms of speed and effort.

These are just normal bikes. When the ice gets cold it provides a lot of
traction.

~~~
antimagic
It doesn't necessarily follow. I can think of at least two other reasons as to
why skates would be less used:

1) skates require much more skill than bikes, reducing the number of potential
users. 2) the skateway network isn't as big (what happens when you have to get
off the skateway, it makes it lesss useful than the bike path)

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agilebyte
I like the ideas coming out of the Winter Cities concept. However, coming from
Europe and on the topic of transportation, I'd rather see money spent on a
wider rail network, live bus tracking or just actual pavements...

~~~
screwedup
Ya but those ideas are boring. Here in North America we prefer whimsical to
practical.

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rail2rail
I'm having trouble thinking of something more Canadian than skating to work.

~~~
ptaipale
The Finnish variant is a Stiga Jet:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdiPmYSTwlU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdiPmYSTwlU)

(The video starts pretty slowly, and doesn't provide much info about how that
was built, but it looks fun. There are also plenty of more scaled-up projects,
basically looking like combining a ski-doo with a V-1 rocket).

(I actually used a kicksled in the winters to go to school, until I got a
moped.)

~~~
Thlom
In some parts of Norway they only clear snow from half of the sidewalk so you
can use kicksled on the other half.

~~~
drderidder
What is a kicksled??? I want one already!

[update] wow...found one, the kickspark! Awesome.
[http://www.goslide.ca/en/shop/kickspark.php](http://www.goslide.ca/en/shop/kickspark.php)

~~~
ptaipale
That's the modern sports variant. The traditional one is better suited for
transporting stuff and one or even two passengers as well:
[http://www.esla.fi/fin/potkukelkka.html](http://www.esla.fi/fin/potkukelkka.html)

In good conditions this can be amazingly fast, and two people can alternate so
that one pushes the sled and the other one rests on the seat.

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josephmosby
This reminds me of the Dutch Elfstedentocht, where they have a huge super-
marathon skate across 11 cities:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht)

Would be awesome to see a similar race develop in Canada.

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mipapage
I grew up in St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton and slid my way to school
many times. Making some sort of official 'freezeway' seems like an obvious
evolution and concentration of something people do a lot of anyway! (In boots,
mind you...)

~~~
vidarh
I'm from Norway, and for a couple of years I worked about 100m away from home.
Awesome during summer. Problem was I lived at the top of a steep hill. Come my
first winter there I realised the slight issue. It got "exciting" trying to
make my way down on the pavement via the direct route, as it involved
frantically trying to brake on ice, with the risk of a sudden stop when
reaching the ice-free heavily trafficked road at the bottom.... The
alternative was walking 5 times as long. I tried 3-4 times before I gave up
and went for the "long" route for the rest of the winter.

But it's always amusing to watch people who aren't used to cold climates
trying to walk on ice after having gotten practice in conditions like ours -
the entire way they move is different.

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cmsmith
I'm not a very experienced ice skater, but it seems like the flatness of a
frozen canal is what makes it nice to skate on. The renderings in the article
show frozen over sidewalks, which presumably have at least small slopes to
them. Would that make it to challenging to skate long distances?

As a side note, I live in Washington DC where we've had a few weeks of sub-
freezing temps, and was out on the frozen C&O canal last weekend.
Unfortunately our canal doesn't go anywhere interesting, so it wouldn't make
much of a commuter trail.

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clarry
Nice. I loved skating when I was a kid, but skating rinks bore me. I always
thought it'd be fun to travel a longer route as you would on skis. Now
recreational skating routes do exist (usually built on natural ice e.g. on
lakes), but a frozen way in the city sounds much more fun and useful.

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safepants
They also have a cross country ski lock-up area at one of the train stations
here in Edmonton. I'd like to see this freezeway just so I could bike on the
ice with my studded tires away from the car traffic.

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douglas_k
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I'm in Ottawa. I really need to get around to skating this year before it
melts away. Thanks for the post and the reminder to get out there!

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~~~
oxide
did you just want to show off that you can encrypt a pointless comment?

thanks for that valuable contribution to this discussion.

