The Town of Hinton knows that when winter weather hits, our residents want to get out and enjoy it! We also know that all residents want the investment into outdoor recreation to be used well, which is why we have a couple of procedures to manage when we get to work getting the outdoor rinks into skating shape.
- We require, at minimum, multiple days in a row of cold dry weather. Ideally, we look for minimum highs of -5 during the day (-10 ideally) and much colder at night
- it's also important that no snow falls during that time
- Our ice making procedure uses many thin layers of water left to freeze - not a large amount of water pooling and then freezing. Thin layers create harder ice that will not shatter or crack.
Please also understand that our organization will always prioritize staff for path, sidewalk, and roadway clearing over outdoor rink maintenance. When snow comes, our staff are tasked with high priority activity.
Due to Hinton's climate, it is not uncommon for there not to have been enough consistent cold weather to freeze and maintain the ODR's until late December or early January.