RECENT ENTRIES |
- • Flooding in Britain - 02.14
- • Sochi 2014 Olympics: Reaching the podium - 02.13
- • The 2014 Westminster Dog Show - 02.10
- • 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Soch - 02.07

Translate into:
(Hint: Use 'j' and 'k' keys to move up and down)
February 13, 2012 |
Skating
It's time to celebrate the simple joys of ice skating. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, winter has provided frozen playgrounds for all to enjoy. Ice skating takes many forms, from speed skating to professional hockey to figure skating to sliding around on a pond. In the Netherlands, hope was high that the Elfstedentocht, or Eleven Cities Tour, could take place on frozen canals for the first time since 1997, but ice thickness was thus far insufficient to support the estimated 16,000 skaters who would take part in the 124 mile event. Techendorf, Austria hosted an alternative event for 6,000. Gathered here are images of people enjoying the combination of smooth ice and steel blades. -- Lane Turner (33 photos total)

A participant in the Frisian Shorttrack Championships wears traditional clothes and wooden skates during the race in Techendorf, Austria on January 26, 2012. Techendorf hosted the Alternatieve Elfstedentocht Weissensee, a traditional Dutch series of speed skating events for both professionals and amateurs with some 6,000 participants. (Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters) #

Ned White ice skates on Aster Lake in Sequoia National Park, California on January 6, 2012. The area is usually blanketed in snow at this time of year, but December was one of the driest on record. According to the California Department of Water Resources, the snowpack water content in the Sierra Nevada mountain range is only 19 percent of the average for the beginning of January. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) #

The Dutch army is deployed on the alternative route of the Eleven Cities Tour (Elfstedentocht) to make the route over the Hegemer lake in Woudsend, Netherlands free from snow on February 8, 2012. The Eleven Cities Tour is the world's largest speed skating competition and leisure skating tour, and is held in the province of Friesland only when the ice along the entire course is 15cm thick. Picture was made using a remote-controlled helicopter(Paul Raats/AFP/Getty Images) #
More links and information
Ice skating - Wikipedia entry
High Hopes for First Dutch Skating Marathon in 15 Years - Accuweather.com, 2/10