Nordic Ice Skating on Thin, Black Ice in Sweden Is an Art and a Science

Re:Nordic Ice Skating on Thin, Black Ice in Sweden Is an Art... by mcv on Saturday July 14, 2018 @07:29AM (#17529885)

45mm isn't that thin, is it? As a kid, I always learned that ice had to be at least 5 cm thick. This is only half a cm less.

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Re:Nordic Ice Skating on Thin, Black Ice in Sweden Is an Art... by Sharlin on Saturday July 14, 2018 @08:07AM (#17529992)

It leaves you with perilously little error margin though. You have to be very aware of spots of potentially weaker ice, like places with water currents. With such a small surface area, skates also create a much greater pressure against the ice than shoes, though I'm not sure how exactly that affects the dynamics in practice.

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Re:Nordic Ice Skating on Thin, Black Ice in Sweden Is an Art... by mcv on Saturday July 14, 2018 @08:04PM (#17533028)

We wore skates too, obviously. Weak spots were generally recognisable by there being no ice at all, and we kept a safe distance from such spots.

A quick search turned up these guidelines for ice: http://www.natuurijswijzer.nl/ijsontwikkeling/ijsdikte/

Is says:

  0-4 cm: unsafe
  4-8 cm: strong enough for a single skater
  8-12 cm: suitable for larger numbers
  12-15 cm: time for the Elfstedentocht (a 200km skate marathon; we haven't had one in 20 years)

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