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The city’s first ice rinks open this weekend. However, due to climate changes, the start of the ice rink season has been postponed until November. Energy costs are also becoming increasingly expensive.
Some indoor rinks have been open since the end of October, with outdoor rinks following suit this weekend. The Engelmann artificial ice rink in Hernals opened on Friday. There you can skate above the rooftops of Vienna until 9 March. In addition to regular operations, courses and ice hockey are also offered. There is an ice disco on Fridays from 5.30 p.m.
“Many years ago, we used to open on the national holiday, 26 October. But in the last four or five years, we’ve moved it to November, precisely because it was still 25 degrees plus in some places at the end of October,” Michael Rath, managing director of the Engelmann ice rink, told ‘Wien heute’.
Ice skating club last recorded 220,000 visitors
To offer perfect ice despite the warm temperatures, the operators must accept high energy costs. “They have already tripled, roughly, the energy costs. But good footfall compensates for that,” says Hardo Mitscher, the Engelmann ice rink cashier.
The Vienna Ice Skating Club will open part of the ice rink on Saturday, and two-thirds will be ready by the beginning of next week. The season has also been pushed back here. Attendance figures have recently risen by 20,000. “In the 2023/24 season, we had 220,000 visitors. And of course, we hope we can make the new season at least as successful, if not better,” said Sandra Holzinger, Secretary General of the Vienna Ice Skating Association.
Ice skating in front of Schönbrunn Palace for the first time
New in the city this season is a 450-square-meter ice rink in the Christmas village in front of Schönbrunn Palace. The ice rink is already open and can be used until 6 March. Together with several curling rinks, the rink is part of the new, revised concept of the Christmas market.
Since 1996, the ice rink on Rathausplatz has dominated the cityscape in winter. From 15 November, part of the ice rink will open at the Christmas Market, and from 23 January, the 3,000 square meter area, including the ice terrace constructed in 2019, will be open to skaters.
Ice skating in any weather
Whether it is raining or snowing, the city’s indoor ice rinks are open in all weathers. In the Eisring Süd rink, which was the first to open for the season on 20 October, you can still use the rink and the space next to the water tower for ice skating until 9 March.
The Stadthalle also offers ice skating until March 9. You can watch figure skaters, curling, and ice hockey teams, and there is an ice party on Saturdays from 16:00 to 19:00.
In Austria’s largest ice sports centre, the Steffl Arena in Donaustadt, you can watch the professionals of the Vienna Capitals and get on the ice yourself. The ice rink is open for amateur skaters, hobby field hockey teams, and curlers on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
- source: orf.at/picture: screenshot, orf.at
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