The Future of The Olympics

You probably have to scale that down quite a bit, as curling is very much a niche sport here (though it's popular on the telly during championships). In fact, in northern Norway all ice sports are pretty niche.
Anyway, I did a google and the curling here takes place in the (one) ice-hockey rink in town. It has curling markers in the ice just like an indoor sports hall can have different markings on the floor for different sports. We have one club, and they have the ice two hours a week. So I imagine it might be tricky for a group of curious amateurs to get the ice for a curling session.

Ohhhh. Yeah, that would make it difficult. In many ways, actually, since the ice surface for curling is a lot different than the ice surface for skating. Maybe you could join that club?
 
Ohhhh. Yeah, that would make it difficult. In many ways, actually, since the ice surface for curling is a lot different than the ice surface for skating. Maybe you could join that club?
That's probably the way in yeah. But I don't think I'll bother join anything. But I think it would be fun to try once. Perhaps they'll build a proper curling hall here in the future some time. And with proper curling ice as you pointed out. I'll try it then.
 
That's probably the way in yeah. But I don't think I'll bother join anything. But I think it would be fun to try once. Perhaps they'll build a proper curling hall here in the future some time. And with proper curling ice as you pointed out. I'll try it then.

There's always the "take a curling vacation to Minnesota" option.
 
Considering you're not going to be competing at the Olympic level, it's really not important if the ice is perfect. Just like the crappy conditions of the lanes at your local bowling alley. All you really need is the stones a few brooms and a sheet of ice that you can put some temporary marks on and you can try it out for fun. I think you'll get the gist of it. To me it looks like boccie ball on ice. :D
 
From what I understand if you were on a regular skating surface you'd be hard pressed to fling those stones the length of a curling sheet. They only slide so easily because the pebbling on the surface greatly reduces friction.
 
So you adjust and play a shorter distance, which is probably for the best anyway considering the sweeping skills that we all have. :lol:
It's just to get a feel for what they're doing. See how much you can make a stone curl by twisting it upon release. Again, it's not like you're actually competing for anything meaningful. Then if you really enjoy it, make the effort to do it for real.

But yes, you've impressed us with your specific knowledge far beyond what I learned watching the last couple of weeks. ;)
 
My takeaway from this is that the Dutch are so good at skating because they definitely skate on frozen canals.
They deny it because they want to prevent USA#1!
Why else protest so loudly?
I do hope you didn't spend too much of your time here in the post-war suburbs :)
Agricultural land has drainage ditches (more so in Holland since it needs to drain a lot of water) but those contain too many functional elements to be very useful to a skating commuter.
You liar!

ice-skating-amsterdam-frozen-canals-netherlands-holland-7.jpg
 
Last edited:
You liar!

ice-skating-amsterdam-frozen-canals-netherlands-holland-7.jpg
What occured to me about the Dutch skating thing is that it might be one of those things that is offensive not necessarily because its totally inaccurate, but just because its irritating to be stereotyped in general.
 
Back
Top Bottom