The Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest open-air ice rink and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will not open this year for the first time in its history because of a mild winter, managers confirmed Friday.
“Despite our best efforts, the weather got the best of us for the first time in our history,” the Ottawa facility said on its Twitter account.
“We share everyone’s disappointment,” it added in a statement.
The free Skateway, which goes by the major monuments of the Canadian capital — Parliament Hill, the Senate, and Carleton University — is normally an icy 7.9 kilometer (5 mile) thoroughfare in winter and the pride of Ottawa.
But for the ice rink to open safely, it needs the mercury to remain between -10 and -20 degrees C (14 degrees F to -4 F) for nearly two weeks.
Although the capital has recorded colder temperatures during the last 24 hours, it was not enough to reverse a scenario that many people feared. The Skateway management said it “remains unsafe for skating.”
In mid-February, tourists and residents of Ottawa – who sometimes skate to work – voiced their disappointment to AFP reporters.
“I would have liked to be able to skate on it, but the best I can do now is to simply observe it,” said Lani Simmons, 46, who is from Bermuda.
With abnormally high temperatures in December and January — sometimes barely below freezing — Ottawa is expected to record its third warmest winter on record, officials say.
For several years, site officials have been studying the effects of climate change on the canal and say they are “preparing for it,” including trying to better understand how ice forms.
Usually accessible from the end of December for 30 to 60 days, the opening of the canal has been pushed back on the calendar in recent years.
In 2020, it was not possible to skate on the canal until January 28.
The Rideau Canal, a symbol of Canadian history in the heart of Ottawa, attracts an average of 22,000 visitors per day.
© Agence France-Presse
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