Skating on rough ice?

pocky said:

I could probably skate leisurely for a long time on smooth ice, but whenever I go to public sessions the rough ice really gets to me and it's very difficult to skate on. I have to hop off the rink when it gets to the texture of concrete. I see other skaters skate fluidly and for long periods of time on super roughed up ice! (Some readers might recognise me from my previous/first thread, as I have mentioned that I've only been skating for 2 months).
- Any tips to be comfortable skating on rough ice?
- Will I get more comfortable over time skating on very uneven ice?
Thanks!

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anonymoose_au said:

I was just thinking about this the other week when I went to Macquarie Ice Rink during it's all day session. I do OK on rough ice, although I wouldn't say I'm exactly smooth on it (I don't know how other skaters do it either!) I did my hour and was about to leave when they did an ice resurfacing and I thought I'd stick around and skate for a bit on the smooth ice once the zamboni was finished.

OMG, smooth ice, sooo beautiful! It was like skating on a cloud! Everything felt so easy on it I have since sworn to myself that I'll only go to the start of a session so I can take advantage of the just-zamboni-ed ice (especially since they don't do the discount hour of the last hour of the session at Macquarie much these days).

But yeah, I don't really have that much advice? But I'd be interested in hearing other people's tips!

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Tavi... said:

I think you’ll grow more comfortable with it over time. I’m a pretty low level recreational skater and skate at a couple of rinks where there’s a lot of hockey. Sometimes the ice has ruts even after an ice make. I find that if I’m skating regularly- several times a week - the ruts bother me less than they do if if I’ve been off ice for a week or longer. For me it’s about feeling really balanced over my blades. I sometimes have lessons on a session with World level skaters, and they seem to be able to take bad ice completely in stride.

I will say that at public sessions, the ice doesn’t necessarily have ruts but it gets really slow after awhile because so many people have skated on it and there’s a lot of snow. If that’s the problem, the solution is to go at the beginning of the session, right after the ice make.

The other thing is, if you’re skating in rental skates, the blades may be dull, which makes it much harder to glide easily. The same is true if you have your own skates and the blades need to be sharpened, or if you just don’t have very good blades on your skates. The people you see flying around may not only be more advanced, more confident skaters, but they may be wearing better quality skates and blades.

Hope that helps a little!

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pocky said:

Man... hockey players. The ones I know skate awesomely but the condition of the ice... not so awesome.
SO many people + rough ice = can not skate longer than an hour.
I used to skate later into the session where you had to practically swim (or skate) against a riptide of people, and my blades would ind their way into deeper cuts/ruts that other people have made. I thankfully don't have rental skates, however, and I think there's several more hours in them before they need to get sharpened.
I suppose I'll just skate as soon as the session starts.
Thanks!

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