The city’s most iconic winter experience opened Saturday, as the National Capital Commission (NCC) estimated over 20,000 skaters stepped on the ice.
On Jan. 11 at 8 a.m., people from all walks of life were welcomed onto a four-kilometre stretch of the Rideau Canal Skateway, between Laurier Street and Bank Street.
The NCC deemed ice conditions “fair” for the earliest opening of the canal since December 2018, following a line of disappointing seasons, one of which the country’s largest rink never opened.
Thanks to the continual hard work of the NCC, Saturday’s opening was a success.
“We were excited to welcome the public on the Skateway for our opening day,” the NCC told CityNews in an email. “The ice conditions have improved from fair yesterday to good today, thanks to the ongoing efforts of our dedicated teams.”
It is an effort that is appreciated by many across the city and from other areas of the province.
Many residents posted on X about the symbolism of the canal and what it means to be Canadian. Others clocked in for workouts, a unique way to commute, or even for the memorable beavertail.
“After a mild start, winter kicked into high gear over the last week,” the NCC said in a press release.
The organization has capitalized on the deep freeze in the nation’s capital to speed up ice conditions. The NCC told CityNews in an email that it spent the previous weekend flooding the entire skateway and continued to flood sections up until opening.
Before it is allowed to open, ice samples must reflect good quality clear ice that meets standards for safe public skating, explained the NCC. Conditions are monitored multiple times per day and the decision to open the skateway is made only when the ice is considered safe.
Climate change impacting the canal
But amidst the excitement over the opening of one of Ottawa’s key features, the reality is that climate change is putting pressure on the NCC to sustain the skateway.
According to the NCC, the average skating season is about 50 days, running from January to early March, but unpredictable weather makes it much more difficult to keep the 30 centimetres of ice thickness for safe opening.
Last season the skateway was open for a total of 10 days between Jan. 21 and Feb. 25 before warm weather closed it for the season. During the 2022-2023 season, the canal didn’t open at all — the first time in its 54 year history.
“So far, the weather has been on our side this year. Taking full advantage of the cold snap before the holiday break, we worked diligently to prepare the ice surface,” the NCC told CityNews in an email. “As we had hoped, we didn’t loose too much ice thickness or quality during the mild temperatures of the holidays.”
In 2022, the organization partnered with Carleton University to address the impacts of climate change on the Rideau Canal and keep the skateway’s decades-long tradition alive.
Shawn Kenny, a civil engineering professor from Carleton University, said in a blog post on the NCC website that one of the key challenges for the skateway that make it more susceptible to climate fluctuations than some other natural winter features is that it is located in an urban area meaning it is impacted by surface water runoff, salt intrusion and heat from underground pipes.
The NCC has identified the sections from Laurier Avenue to the National Arts Centre and from Concord Street to the University of Ottawa as particularly problematic due to these urban stressors.
With the help of Carleton University, the NCC has spent two years gathering data to increase base knowledge on the ice. It has since begun building models to predict what might happen to the ice in the future. It has also started to come up with solutions on how to protect the ice going forward.
Some of these preliminary solutions include slush cannons, which can help build base ice, and a passive heat exchange system to promote ice growth by cooling water beneath the ice.
Kenny said the NCC also needs to have better snow management as leaving snow on the ice can insulate it and lead to melt. But snow removal is energy intensive. According to the NCC, for ever centimetre that falls, crews move almost 125,000 kilograms of snow off the skateway.
For now the NCC says the skateway is in good hands, and for this year, it says skaters can expect more sections of the canal to open this week, as soon as ice conditions permit.