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Bram Heemskerk

skatingholiday on Weissensee in Austria 2

February 9, 2007 at 12:19 PM

During my skatingholiday on Weissensee in Austria I discovered that my skates for atificial ice did not work as well as for nature ice, so I bought new onces. With the artificial skates I needed 24 minutes for 7 km ice and with my natureice skates only 21 1/2 minutes.

My click skates for artificial ice

My click skates for nature (rougher and less smooth) ice, which are much more stable and comfortable for my ankles

Some tourskaters like me

(Dutch) Woman competition skaters 60 km in 2 hours

Dutch) man competition skaters 100 km in 2 1/2 hours


A motor with camera
From Elizabeth Smith
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 12:23 PM
Wow, skating is really different in Europe than here, where we are confined to a pond of what I guess you would call "artificial ice". That looks like a lot of fun-- and I've never seen skates like that.
From parmeeta bhogal
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 2:13 PM
I had been told that you can enjoy snow-stuff like in no other place in Austria, and you have some nice pics to prove it.
From Allan Speers
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 4:22 PM
What is "artificial ice?"
From Elizabeth Smith
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 4:58 PM
I think by "artificial" he means the ice in rinks, which is maintained by coolers, as opposed to real frozen rivers or lakes.
From Emily Grossman
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 7:46 PM
I never thought about it before, but you'd fit in perfectly where I live.

And now I'm thinking a trip to Austria sounds like fun. Thanks for posting these photos, Bram

From Bilbo Prattle
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 8:38 PM
Bram, great stuff!

It looks like the ice gets plowed; do they ever zambonie it? How long was that track? All the way around the lake?

Have you ever been rollerblading? How do the speeds compare to the ice you were on there? For comparison, I raced a pro/elite 10k inline road race when I was 30--it took me 19 minutes. The winners were some minutes ahead of me.

That looks like total fun. How log do they have that ice in Austria? Do they still have ice mid-march?

From Elizabeth Smith
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 11:37 PM
Bram, I think it makes sense for students to learn the standard repertoire first before branching out to the lesser-known works, not that they shouldn't also learn those works. Goldmark isn't exactly an obscure concerto. But the movements are very long, which would frequently disqualify it as a competition piece for students Sydney's age. So there is a practical reason why Goldmark might be back-burnered while other concertos with shorter first and third movements would be learned.
From Elizabeth Smith
Posted on February 9, 2007 at 11:41 PM
Sorry! I posted that in the wrong blog.
From Gabriel Kastelle
Posted on February 10, 2007 at 4:45 AM
Bram (and 'Bilbo': similar speeds reported...)

WOW... this seems insanely fast to me. Although I was born in Alaska, we moved before I really got skating... Maybe on a bicycle, but skates!! I'm impressed.

From Bram Heemskerk
Posted on February 10, 2007 at 12:15 PM
Hi Bilbo. Here is the webcam of Weissensee with the whetherconditions:
http://msplins01.bon.at/weissensee.com
more about http://62.50.1.68/sitewide/english.asp . You are a fast inline scater. First we had a round of 7 km (my fasted lap was quite slow 21 ½ minutes) later they make it 10 km with an extra loop of 3 km inside . I needed half an hour for this 10 km, but I am an average skater. They did not have a zambozy, but sweep the ice from snow and icescrapings with a big broom in front of a car, riding over the 16 cm thick ice.
It is also possible to ski there and do skiwalking over land or over the icelake with a layer of 5cm snow. There is often enough ice to skate. Every year since 1989 they organise a 200 km race, except for this year because there was not enough ice for a long period an much to much snow. So I don’t know there is still enough ice in march, although the Weissensee is 960 metres above sealevel.
From Christopher Panzner
Posted on February 10, 2007 at 10:58 PM
Beautifful images. A truly nice way to appreciate the weather outside.
From Christopher Panzner
Posted on February 10, 2007 at 10:59 PM
Those are Cross Country ski boots connected to the blade. I always wondered how they worked. I have cross country ski boots I used for skiing. Unfortunately, we do not get enough cold days here in NY to get ice hard enough to skate.

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