Despite warm Arizona winter temperatures, Valley cities like Goodyear and Scottsdale are offering outdoor ice skating experiences
The heat is something Arizonans have come to expect in December, but if you want to have a classic Christmas moment of ice skating outside, well, you’ve got to get a little creative— such as managing the rinks to stay frozen in the sunshine.
You still buckle up the same, and of course, the laughs are still the same, but this isn't ice."This is a synthetic ice rink," said Kristen Figueroa with the City of Goodyear.It's 4,000 square feet of synthetic material. Figueroa explained the difference."It's a little bit more work. You're not gliding as much. It takes a little bit to get used to when you first get on. You're wobbly, but after the first few tries, you get into a groove."Figueroa says doing it this way allows them to offer the experience to the public completely for free."You'd have to Zamboni it. You'd have to have generators to cool it. Electricity and the water itself is incredibly expensive in itself, so this is a way for the community to have the experience at a free cost."Keeping ice, icey, is hard out in the desert."It's an Arizona winter, for sure," Figueroa said.At the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, we checked out Desert Ice. John Glynn with the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess explained the design."That's why it's built as wide as it is, not as narrow, so the water can't pool. Wider surface, so more cold surface area for the water to freeze."The Princess is typically for days in the water, and there’s still plenty of that. But now we're going full winter—a tough challenge in near 80-degree temperatures."There's about 5 miles of coil that run underneath it that pump refrigerant. That's how the ice stays that cool," Glynn said. "This is refrigerant in here. All the cold comes from here, goes down the refrigerant from here and shot out there."And of course, the all-important Zamboni runs every hour.Glynn says all the work is worth it for a winter feel in the desert."Everybody has lights. Everybody has trees, but not everybody can skate outside like this on real ice. These are real ice skates, so it's a nice surprise when we have out-of-town guests joining us for Christmas."There’s a lot of science towards making sure there’s ice in the desert heat. But don't worry about that, just lace up the skates and have some fun.
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