The Alta Vista outdoor rink opened in good time this season after multiple years of disappointing weather. The rink, which began operation on Dec. 22, located at 1309 Randall Ave. beside Alta Vista Park, served local residents steadily this winter before warm weather set in recently.
The rink, along with many other outdoor rinks in Ottawa, is built, maintained and operated by volunteers. Each year, the City of Ottawa provides a community grant to run the rink.
Unfortunately, over the past few years, the Alta Vista rink and others across the city — along with the Rideau Canal skateway — were open only briefly or not at all because of unusually warm weather.
According to the City of Ottawa’s website, climate within the region has been rapidly changing over the past few decades. The average amount of rain and snow has increased and the average daily temperature is increasing. This is causing the city to experience warmer winters and hotter summers.
The data also shows that by the 2050s, the number of days on which the temperature falls below -10 degrees (the skateable temperature for outdoor rinks) will decrease by 35 per cent.
Outdoor skating is deeply entrenched in Canadian culture, and offers a low-cost winter recreational activity. With the changing climate causing rinks to stay closed more often, the sense of community that skating brings can be diminished.
However, the winter of 2025 has been a colder, more traditional Ottawa winter, and outdoor skating across the season has been much better than in recent years.
The Alta Vista rink features a small building that has both changerooms and washrooms. Along with outdoor benches there are several lights that surround the rink, allowing for both daytime and nighttime use. The rink is well-maintained and has its own Facebook page so skaters can check on ice conditions.
The rink is a double surface type, meaning it has a surface below the ice to keep it more flat and skateable. This makes the ice feel smoother. There are two rinks, in fact — one for hockey players and a larger one for other skaters of all ages.
The hockey rink includes two nets on either end, high backboards and safety nets to prevent anyone getting hit by a flying puck. The other rink includes more benches and has mini nets for any other form of ice game, such as ringette.
The rink’s dedicated Facebook page had 395 members early in the season and several posts showed the importance of the rink to the Alta Vista community.
