Braeside Rinks YYC

Well again Mother Nature is making us work…. 🙃
After a balmy week, she hits us with brief temperature drop 🥶 and another 15cm of ❄️ .

So BIG dug out, cleaned and flooded all three rinks this morning.

We don’t want to say it’s the end…. but will have to admit it sooner-than-later, so in the meantime please enjoy a skate under the sunshine.

Feb 24th 2025 we waved the white flag and surrendered the ice to Mother Nature… only 4 days after our last clean & flood, honestly thinking we could survive the incoming Chinook. One year later, and we are still going strong on the 25/26 season, although Mother Nature has thrown a few sucker punches at us.

With the season coming to an end, we hope you all have either already strapped on your blades or plan to in the coming days, with the exception tomorrow’s forecast snow 🙄😳)

Another frigid morning but we made even more progress on dialling in the ice conditions, and feel we made great headway on fixing that pesky north-end that we lost to the latest 19 day Chinook. With not being able to get water (gently) to the north-end, as we only have four 50’ hoses, when it’s this cold it freezes almost as fast as we put it down… so honestly there is a section down there that is pebbly like a curling sheet. We will try to fix by the weekend.

Only -26° 😜🤣 at 8:00am, but Bill, Kevin & Doug put a little (well more than a little) elbow grease into cleaning all 3 rinks this morning. The Hockey 🥅 & Pleasure ⛸️rinks were wind blown & hard packed, with knee deep drifts in places. The snowblower, sweeper and 3 old guys all got a good work out.
A flood 💦 was put down on the hockey rink…. and she is looking good 👍🏼. The very north end is still a little suspect, but we feel the rink is doing well…. all things considered 😊

In time for Family Day, we have reopened the rinks, with a bit of caution ⚠️ on the hockey rink.

The hockey rink is unlocked and light timers are back on. However the north-end of the hockey rink is roped off, as there is some open water along the boards (not cold enough yet ). We have also dropped the goals back onto the ice, but we recommend/warn to avoid skating hard over the center line (running north-south) , as it is

The final curtain hasn’t fallen on the season for our three rinks — not if the Ice Guardians have anything to say about it.

Sadly, several rinks across the city have already, whether by tough decision or sheer necessity, thrown in the towel. Too much damage, too much loss — not even enough left to consider a rebuild, let alone a simple repair.

Here in Braeside, we count ourselves fortunate. Because we had built a strong, solid base, we didn’t lose everything to the two (normally welcome) Alberta Chinooks and Mother Nature’s recent 19-day stretch of above-zero temperatures — averaging nearly 10 degrees warmer than normal. Still, we’ve now endured 25 days of forced closures out of just 72 since opening day on December 6. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

This morning, we took the first steps toward reviving the season and unlocking the gates once again. Stay tuned — and keep those skates sharpened.

That said, Mother Nature isn’t finished with us yet. We’re expecting 10–20 cm of snow in the coming days, along with temperatures dipping into the -20s. There’s still plenty of work ahead. The north end of the hockey rink took a beating from the higher winter sun, compromising much of its integrity. The ice has also pulled away from the boards around the perimeter. And the transition area to the Pleasure Rink — our high point and most sun-exposed section — is largely gone. Thankfully, with some well-placed “farmed snow,” that’s a fixable problem.

With “average” temperatures over the next 2-weeks forecast to be around -6° during the day and -16° overnight (based on eight different weather apps!), we’re not ready to call it quits just yet. Check out chart for daily averages…

The season isn’t over — not on our watch.

The Braeside Ice Guardians regret to inform you all that Mother Nature has again forced us to lock 🔐 up the hockey🏒 rink, and turn off the lights (the nets 🥅 have been suspended, for their protection 🙃) .

Today we hit 10°, but low-to-mid teens are coming, and daytime highs will be above zero for at least the next 10 days, with even a few overnight lows not dropping below zero 😢. Let’s all hope the forecast(s) are all wrong.

Though the Pleasure & Kiddie rinks are accessible , we ask that everyone avoid skating unless the ice is hard, which again might not be for a couple of weeks. Walking on the unfrozen ice is both extra dangerous (extra slippery), but can leave footprints that could stick around for the volunteers to have to try and fix.

We will monitor conditions closely and hopefully have good news in the coming days.

WELL… here we go again 🙄🤯😢

The next 10-14 days are looking like there are going to lay another beating on our rinks, you know the three sheets of ice that we just brought back to life one week ago 🤯

If all we had to worry about was keeping our shoes & vehicles clean 😜, then bring it on…. but Calgary weather is hard on our ODR’s, and this season is especially tough.

Next week we can expect five days of double-digit temperatures , and maybe even a couple of nights not dropping below 0°

At least one rink in Calgary has already put up [Closed] signage, and our Braeside Ice Guardians will be watching our property closely, and will only consider doing the same if we see your safety at risk or unrepairable damage occurring.

The weather gods talk about colder weather later in February… but can Calgary’s ODR make it that far.

ps: the attached Chart is an average of 9 weather apps. All apps track the high temps really close, with one of them showing we could hit 15° next week.

This morning, some of the Braeside Ice Guardians (Bill, Kevin, Matt & Doug) had a visit from City News.

They were doing a story on what it takes to be an Outdoor Rink volunteer, in a city like Calgary where we can have such a wide range of weather (minus “darn cold”, to last weeks +17°).

We discussed how although the city water main break did cause us to lose about 8 possible floodable days, the following 10 were just to hot to sadly even allow skaters to use the rinks (hockey rink was locked on Jan 10th… and is still locked, until maybe tomorrow 🙏🏼 ).

We got back at it last and again this morning, and pushing to reopen as soon as possible. Your patience and understanding are appreciated.

* link to story cannot be attached *