2021 - Exploring the world's largest skating rink

This past year has been a time for exploring close to home. But with world’s largest outdoor skating rink right in my backyard, there is no better time to invite you to come for a skate with me!

As a former figure skater, I’m still willing to brave almost any conditions for a good skate. I need to give you that context because the morning I recorded this video it was a balmy -18C. You’ll get to see almost (but not quite all) of the cana'l’s 7.6km. Sadly my Go Pro battery froze between kilometers 6 and 7.

Gear for this adventure:

Skates: Edea

Coat:

• Fjallraven Expedition Jacket — This coat is so warm. I have never found a temperature at which it starts to feel cold — and at -18C with my heart pumping, I actually had to unzip the coat too cool off partway along.

Layers:

• Ice Breaker Merino 250 base layer top and bottoms

• Salomon Elevate cross-country ski pants (windproof on the front, stretchy and breathable on the back!

Note: When I go out on the canal in really, really, really cold temperatures, I have to layer up a lot more. Here’s a photo from a very cold day in 2016.