My daughter had a friend visit us for Christmas. The friend’s family would be traveling for the holidays, and she would be alone. Of course, she could spend the holidays with us. It also gave us time to redeem ourselves. The last and only time this person had made an area visit, she spent her visit in the ER, returning home with a torn ACL. (Admiration to the incredible Whiteface Ski Patrol and Adirondack Health ER teams.) This time, it’s all about making good memories.

There were plenty of activities to introduce someone unfamiliar with a cold winter. We took her snowshoeing, and she made her first snow angel. One thing she was familiar with, even coming from the South, was ice skating. Due to the widespread use of mechanically frozen ice rinks, many people may not have grown up skating but are familiar with the activity. Skate rentals and skater aids/chairs allow experienced people to push/guide novices around the rink, opening the activity to most people.

According to Smithsonian magazine, the once seasonal activity of skating became a year-round sport with the development of refrigeration technology. London’s Glaciarium was the first artificial ice rink. This private entity opened to the public in June 1844, but a mixture of lard and salt kept the water frozen, creating such a stench that the business closed within the year. It took another 30 years for the technology to advance enough to refrigerate a rink.

In 1879, Madison Square Garden opened the first indoor ice rink in the United States using iron pipes filled with liquid ammonia brine chilled to freezing point. Water sprayed onto the floor froze, creating a four-inch sheet of ice.

Lake Placid’s James C. Sheffield Olympic Speed Skating Oval and Olympic Center rinks and the Saranac Lake Civic Center currently have top-of-the-line refrigeration systems. All places have public skating and skate rentals available to visitors and locals. Please check out lakeplacidolympiccenter.com and saranaclakeciviccenter.org for more information.

Each location has its own strengths and benefits. I’ve skated at all three and enjoyed each location. For us, skating is more about the company. We aren’t competitive but want to enjoy our family and friends. The bonus is to send everyone home without incident. Enjoy!