COCHRANE— The Town of Cochrane recently closed the Tim Bannister Memorial Rink due to warm weather creating some hazardous conditions on the ice surface.
According to Cochrane Fire Service inspector Jeff Avery, there were water spots and erosion in the ice surface all the way down to the asphalt in several locations that presented a danger to the users.
He indicated that the Town’s parks staff have been working to get the rink back to a usable condition, but have come up with some alternatives in the meantime.
“In lieu of that, they did go to the lower Mitford Pond. They cleared all the snow off the lower Mitford Pond, and that was more of a COVID issue. They didn’t want everyone piling in on the upper Mitford,” he said. “Kudos to the park staff because they’ve been working their butts off trying to get that open.”
He noted that those are the only two locations approved by the Town for skating.
Some people in town looking for a more secluded option might venture onto the surfaces of the town’s stormwater retention facilities, which Avery pointed out, is not only off-limits, but very dangerous.
“They are never safe to go on. The reason that we can open up Mitford is that the park's staff test the ice on daily basis, they flood it, they maintain it, so they know exactly what’s going on with that. Any of the stormwater facilities around town they are completely off-limits,” Avery said. “We don’t test those. The ice is completely unpredictable because it can be thick, it can be thin, there are void spaces, the water underneath is always fluctuating up and down, so that harming the ice, and they’re never tested for ice thickness.
“Nowhere in town can we skate on a stormwater facility,” he added.
For 24-hour updates on Town facilities, call the Town of Cochrane’s facility status line at 403-851-2552.
