LAC LA BICHE - Nothing unusual here. It's Lac La Biche — northern Alberta — in the middle of winter. How else are you supposed to sweep and maintain your two kilometre-long, lake-top ice-skating trail?
Lac La Biche County recreation crews were busy this week, creating and fine-tuning several outdoor winter features in the community, including the ice-skating ribbon that winds along the Lac La Biche shoreline. Both ends of the skating track feature large skating rinks carved into the frozen surface of the community's namesake water body.
Calling the project Skate the Lake, the Lac La Biche region has been creating the skating ribbon for the last five winter seasons. The outdoor addition was a popular attraction during COVID-19 lockdowns, allowing residents to socially distance while skating day and night in the fresh air.
More trails
The same zamboni used for lake duty was also used to clear and smooth a community skating pond at the Alexander Hamilton park. That pond, located on the eastern edge of the Lac La Biche hamlet, features a smaller skating trail which surrounds a little ice fishing area in the middle of the man-made trout pond. The park also features a covered shelter, picnic tables, toboggan hills, a large fire-pit and free firewood.
The skating rink at Alexander Hamilton Park was ready for the season on January 20. The lake-top skating path will need a few more days of zamboni work, say Lac La Biche County officials.
Lac La Biche Lake is bordered by 167 kilometres of shoreline, and covers 234 square kilometres. Some spots in the lake are up to 70 feet deep, but average depths are around 25 feet. The depth under the skating trail is about 15 feet. The ice thickness in the middle of January is more than 20 inches. A fully loaded, water-carrying zamboni, like the one in the photo, weighs about 10,000 lbs — or five US tons. According to the US Army Corps of Engineers, 10 inches of ice thickness can safely support an eight to 10 ton truck.
In February, other parts of the lake's frozen surface will be transformed into a multi-purpose, high-octane circus, complete with a two kilometre race car track for the Western Canadian Ice Racing Championships, rows of 660-foot racing lanes for snowmobile drag races, and an on-ice runway for an aircraft fly-in. That's right. A runway on the ice. The weekend — known for 40 years in the community as the Winter Festival of Speed — runs February 25 and 26, and will also feature displays from the Alberta Ice Sculptors' Association, the Alberta Trappers' Association — and competition axe throwing.
Like we said - nothing unusual here.
