Making Ice for the Curling Club Part 3

 After painting, we add water to seal the paint in before topping off the ice. We are still adding water to cover the hack plates. These are sealed in the ice so that we can add removable hacks-this allows us to scrape the ice without having to go around anything.

We install the "button" which is a small plastic piece centered in each house so that when it's unclear which rock is outscoring another we can put the measuring device into it and use a tool like a compass to measure pressure against each rock to see which is closer.  

We also take down the protective plastic barriers around the ice.

Then we get started painting the houses.  We use that button to put the end of our stick compass tool in to paint lines. 

  

Then we use a horsehair broom to paint between the lines made by the tool.

The far end houses are a standard blue 12 foot circle and a red 4 foot circle.  Some advertisers on the glass end houses get a color that matches the advertising.

Then we put in the advertising houses.  If the advertiser is new, we cut the plastic mesh it's printed on.

Then we tack it down by spraying some water on it.  The large houses are 2 peices that are lined up using registry lines at the edge of the centers. After lining up we sprinkle water down and smooth with a paint roller.

We use the same method to add the rectangular advertising in the ice.  Advertising in the ice is a huge fundraiser. Approx $20,000 was raised with this advertising.  Advertisers pay a one-time set up fee to get printed, then a renewal fee each year.

After the houses are in, we lay down yarn for sheet dividers (black) center lines (red) and the hog line (red) and back lines (black)  They are measured and attached to eyelets and then tacked down with water.

After the yarn is laid for the hogline, it's hand painted with a brush.

Then we put on this sprayer with about 4-5 gallons of water and a 5-10 pound motor in it.  So it weighs 40-50 pounds. And we spray the yarn lines, advertising and paint so that when we flood and scrape we don't hit anything with the scraper.  Since I'm the low woman on the totem pole I did this for about 4 hours straight. Next year I'll download a book to listen to.

Then by hand and with a wet mop, all the end and side boards are cleaned to remove any leftover paint on them.

Then we flood several times with more water to build up the surface over all our markings to protect it all when we make the ice.

After flooding we pebble, then scrape over and over until we are satisfied we have a level sheet of ice to work with.

Now it's time for open house and leagues to start!!!

Making Ice for the Curling Club-Part 2 (Painting)

 After the ice is made, the ice is painted  white with a non-toxic paint that will melt into the sand base at the end of the season.  We used many volunteers to help us today.

We mixed the paint in this giant barrel with a paddle and a motorized paint mixer.

There are several motors and hoses leading to it to recirculate paint and send the paint out to the sprayer.  I and a volunteer manned the hoses as Hubby and Ice Maker got closer to us as they sprayed:

One coat applied (we apply 3-4)

1/2 sprayed and 1/2 plain ice.  One person sprays, one person mans the hose making sure they can run the sprayer smoothly without getting caught on equipment, hacks or house centres. 2 people man the hose on the backboard and lay it out so that no kinks occur, disrupting the spray.  1 person is at the door making sure the hose doesn't get squished and communicating between the outside paint crew and indoor paint crew.

Spraying.

Next up is finishing touches, then painting the houses in, marking the lines (spoiler alert, it's done with yarn!)

And finally putting the advertisements into the ice (including house advertisements).

Then we pebble, scrape, pebble scrape, pebble scrape until the ice surface is even and ready for Open House!

Making ice for the curling club-Part 1

 As icemakers for the curling club, Paul and I got the call the end of September-it's time to open up the club and get ready for the season.  The prep only happens once a year and thank goodness because it's a lot of work. When Hubby first thought about taking over when our head ice maker retires in 2 years, opening was the thing he was most nervous about.  "It's a lot of work, and a lot of it manual labor" he lamented.  "What if I helped you?" I asked. That's how we became a team of ice makers.  Hubby currently has his Level 2 certification (really all you need to be an ice maker-Level 3 is mostly arena ice for competitions) and I got my Level 1 certification last summer.  The plan is for me to get my Level 2 in Summer of 2024.

First up-we have a sand floor.  The advantages are: Cost (a cement floor would run over a million dollars for a club our size-we have 8 sheets, a large club by most standards) and Access (the pipes that run through the floor with ammonia/brine to keep the ice cold periodically have issues-with sand you can dig out the pipe that's causing the problem and replace just that pipe, or find a leak).  The ice is painted with white and then the markings are painted and marked with yarn (pictures in Part 2, painting, to be done this week).  When we shut off the chiller, the ice melts and all that paint seeps into the sand and hardens into it.  So step one of prepping the ice is breaking up all that hard sand with a rake that has had every 3rd tine removed. This is so we can rake in between the pipes and pray we don't mess up and break a pipe and cause a leak.  It's really hard on your back because you have to lean over to put pressure on the rake to break up the ice.  We decided to rake 30-45 minutes at a time and take turns.  One person rakes a line, then the next person-stretching our backs in between.  It took about 4 sessions to do:

Did I mention it's also hot in there as the weather is still summer like, there is no breeze and the chiller isn't turned on yet?

Then we take a push broom and sweep the sand nice and even and smooth (this is slightly less backbreaking, but boring as heck-we turned on some music for this part)

Then we water the sand for 4 hours with a garden hose with a sprinkler head on it.  Now the chiller will be turned on so the wet sand can freeze, creating a base for our ice.

Then the sand, which I've named Sandy has to be watered 2-3 times a night (when the temps are below 60 degrees-currently about 9pm-9am) with at least 4 hours to freeze each layer in between.  Since our head ice maker's mother passed away this week, Hubby and I are on duty.  We go in together for a few reasons.  First is safety-as the ice builds if one of us falls, the other can get help.  The second is the massive hose. In the photo above Hubby has it completely pulled out. The water access is in the furnace room and the hose hangs from a large wire that crosses the middle of the ice surface. The second person can move the hose in a way that it doesn't tangle, doesn't get caught on the frozen sand, and doesn't trip the person watering. We started with me as the hose person and Hubby watering, but after 2 times, we ended up swapping.

We got a good surface going and our head icemaker came back from bereavement and took over for a day or two so we could get some good sleep.

Now that it's mostly solid and flatter, we can start flooding with a tube instead of sprinkling.  We did a few floods, then added the hack baseplates in and flooded some more.

We'll flood a little bit more and then freeze it all and paint the ice.

Falling Water Trail Marathon

 In August, I ran the Falling Water Trail Marathon (42km/26 mile) as my return to racing after injury.  The course features 5,000 feet of elevation. This race was beautiful,  I would love to come back and explore more. Mostly taking place on Beaver Valley Bruce Trail and side trails. Falling Water was definitely everywhere, including the sky for the first 45 minutes. Lots of slippery mud. This was the first race I used poles in and I was so glad I had them and they never left my hands. They were effective in downhill mud skiing, getting up the many, many many hills and did their job of making sure I didn't blow up my legs like my last race. Hydro hill's (the local highest hill-a gravel road that is a hydro access road behind the local university that many of us use for hill training/repeats) big daddy had to be climbed twice (gravel hill that was steep and went on FOREVER)-first time I got passed by several people, the second time didn't get passed. The ski hill that was 80 degree angle in the sun was also notable. I felt really strong on the downhills, but slow on the uphills and was breathing hard the entire way. The trails were mostly single track, shady and so, so pretty.

Really hot in the sun. I focused for the second 20k on being able to sit in the creek by the finish line after!

Great swag-sticker, pocket knife, duffle (could also choose a backpack), buff. The medal is a pretty and working compass.

Placed 55/81 overall, 14/24 women. Took just under 7 hours.

Photo note: I took all these landscape photos from All Trails as I was in no condition to be taking photographs during the race! But I did see all the places featured. I wish I could find more photos of the amazing mushrooms!

Photos from Sue Sitki-race photographer

finish line

start of the race, waiting 

end of the race sit in the creek