With the approach of spring, the skating season is coming to an end in Montreal, at least that of the non-refrigerated outdoor rinks, which have suffered from a checkered winter. Due to the exceptional mild spells in January, fans in the metropolis have had to be patient: the winter that is drawing to a close has seen the latest start to the skating season in twenty years. Will global warming soon get the better of outdoor skating rinks?
Since 2002, the Ville de Montréal has been compiling data on the condition of its some 250 outdoor skating rinks. However, from year to year, the skating season atrophies.
In the weather observations, we already see that there are more and more often periods above zero and rain.
For example, in 2002 the skating rink set up in the basin of La Fontaine Park welcomed its first fans at the beginning of December and the season ended a little before mid-March. But over the years, the skating season got shorter. This winter, the ice rink in the same La Fontaine park was opened on 1er February and it is currently closed. Since 1er December, this ice rink will only have been open for 15 days.
The case of the Parc La Fontaine skating rink is special since the surface of the ice is formed by the freezing of the water. It is therefore Mother Nature who has the last word to launch the season, underlines Geneviève Allard, communications officer for the borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal. “We have to respect the bearing capacity of the ice to support the weight of our various equipment and maintenance personnel, such as snow removal and watering,” she explains.
Geneviève Allard affirms that the short season is not attributable to a question of manpower or a reduction in operations, but rather to a question of safety.
Except that, according to a regular on the premises, the state of the ice in La Fontaine Park was execrable this winter. “The weather conditions this year have undoubtedly been particularly difficult, but that’s not the problem,” said Normand Corbeil, who points to the borough’s lack of will to maintain the ice. “There were more cracks on the rink than people skating,” he said. “It’s a negligence that increases every year because we give up. We tell ourselves that the weather is more difficult than before. However, it is an extraordinary site. »
Three weeks to skate in 2023
On Friday, only 37 non-refrigerated rinks out of the 249 existing (15%) were still open and in “good” or “excellent” condition, according to data released by the City of Montreal. The City recognizes that recent weather conditions have not been favourable. Typically, operators try to keep natural rinks open from the holiday break until spring break, for a period of ten weeks. Those that are refrigerated can be opened for an additional four to six weeks.
However, the data collected this winter show that the natural ice rinks have been open on average 21 days since the 1er December. Some boroughs, such as L’Île-Bizard, with an average of five days of opening, and Saint-Léonard, at eight days, show a poor record, but in both cases, we are told, the data does not are not up to date [c’est pourquoi Le Devoir les a retirées de son tableau]. “The rinks were open for about twenty days according to our foremen,” said Catherine Piazzon, communications officer for the borough of Saint-Léonard, by email.
The vagaries of winter have also reduced skating activities elsewhere in the country. In Ottawa, for the first time in more than 50 years, the Rideau Canal Skateway remained closed this year.
More rain in winter
A study released in 2020 by geographers from Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario found that the number of days when it is possible to skate outdoors has decreased in six North American metropolises since 1940. In Montreal, ice time has fallen from 65 days to 57 in six decades. In Toronto, the drop was even steeper, from 45 to 28 days.
“It’s getting harder and harder,” admits Christopher McCray, climatologist at Ouranos. “In the weather observations, we already see that there are more and more often periods above zero and rain. Even in the most optimistic scenarios where we manage to reduce emissions considerably, we will not have the winters of 50 years ago. »
Montreal has eight refrigerated rinks on its territory, and increasing the number could be the solution to lengthen the skating seasons. However, McCray said the potential effects of ice rinks on the climate must be considered. “It requires energy and resources. It’s a bit like air conditioners. It takes a lot to deal with heat waves, and it’s a public health issue, but if we emit more GHGs to use them, it can have negative effects. »
Mayor of Verdun for eight years, from 2013 to 2021, Jean-François Parenteau believes that maintaining the rinks is worth the effort despite the difficulties. “There aren’t a ton of things people can do in the winter. Skating is the most popular and easiest for families. But it causes a lot of reactions when the rinks are not up to par,” he says.
“The stuck nose” on the weather
The maintenance of skating rinks sometimes suffers from snow removal operations on streets and sidewalks, which are prioritized after broadsides, admits the former elected official. “I often told blue-collar workers to leave shovels lying around the rinks. Motivated skaters could at least clear the ice until the city could, he says.
According to him, all boroughs should be provided with at least one refrigerated skating rink, even if this infrastructure is expensive.
The Sud-Ouest borough, which has one of the best records in terms of skating days, has been applying a new method for three years to develop its natural skating rinks. The idea is to saturate the soil with water and repeat the watering until you get a good foundation and then just have to maintain the surface, explains its mayor, Benoit Dorais. “We realize that, despite the vagaries of temperature, we manage to “bring back” the ice rink, he says. But to do that, you have to keep your nose glued to the weather. »
In 2018, the administration of Valérie Plante announced its intention to build a new refrigerated skating rink each year in Montreal. But since then, only the refrigerated skating rink on the Tranquille esplanade has materialized, and the City does not plan to build others in the short term. In the office of the mayor, it is indicated that the City had to undertake the renovation of its arenas to make them energy efficient and comply with the requirements of Quebec. “It pushes back the schedule for new refrigerated rinks,” said the mayor’s press secretary, Catherine Cadotte.