Although it hasn't felt much like it lately, it is winter in Alberta so you might as well get outside and enjoy it.  

The city's Parks Department is working hard to make sure you can do that by preparing the 12 outdoor ice surfaces, three natural ice ponds, four snow bank rinks and five boarded rinks in Airdrie.

Kevin Brison is the Parks Department's Team Lead and says, for the most part, the rinks that are ready are in reasonably good shape, considering the unpredictable weather.

"They're not actually too bad.  We've had the guys working pretty diligently on them.  They're skateable, With this new weather that's coming up this week, that could be questionable.  They've been putting in some long, hard hours to get them ready for Christmas, that's for sure."

Brinson says the city's five board rinks, which are located in Bayside, Big Springs Crescent, Chinook Winds Regional Park, East Lake Regional Park (beside the Scout Hall), and Monklands Park are running.  He says though that the conditions haven't been suitable to prepare the four snow bank rinks, in Fletcher Regional Park, Town, and Country Centre Park, Plainsman Arena, and Windsong.

"None of the snow bank rinks are operational.  We just haven't had the cold weather and the snow to do what we need to do to build a base.  We need a little bit of snow, obviously, to get a nice start.  It's got to be about minus 10 consecutively for at least a week and that'll give us a good base."

Brinson says with a week of minus 10 temperatures, it would only take around four or five days to get them ready.

The most recent measurements taken on December 28th show that the three natural ice surfaces, Nose Creek Pond, Waterstone, and Summerhill were all between eight and nine inches thick.  The city has had their equipment out on Nose Creek Pond, but not on the other two surfaces.  Brinson explains they leave it up to individuals to decide if they think the ice is safe to be out on or not.

"The ice thickness is a guideline for us.  We typically will go on at between eight and ten inches with our equipment, depending on what colour the ice is.  I can't really say for sure if it's safe for everybody to go on.  You have to make that decision yourself."

Brinson says you should always use common sense when enjoying the outdoor rinks.  "We' just like to make sure that everyone always skates with a friend when you go out onto the natural ice ponds.  It's really important that they do the ice checks and make sure that they check with the city and make sure that they're definitely skateable.  We don't want any mishaps whatsoever,"

Brinson says you can check with the Airdrie Fire Department for ice safety information or consult the Canadian Red Cross website to find out more. 

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