Ice-skating through pine forests, across alpine lakes, and on urban canals and remote glaciers can be an exhilarating way to experience winter wonderlands. But with rising global temperatures, natural ice, or “wild ice,” is becoming a rarity.
Last year, Ottawa’s Rideau Canal Skateway, known as a top spot for wild ice-skating in Canada, never properly froze. The world’s largest naturally frozen ice rink, it spans 4.8 of the canal’s 126 miles and connects skaters with the capital’s downtown. But for the first time in the canal’s decades-long history, its nearly one million skaters, who visit from early January to early March, were turned away.
“In 50 years, those [skating] seasons might be way shorter than they are now,” says Elladj Baldé, a Canadian professional figure skater who often films his experiences sliding along on frozen lakes for his social media.
In wintry areas throughout North America, resorts or community organizations groom nearby lakes for safe gliding. Yet true wild skating on unmaintained lakes and rivers comes with exploration, discovery, and self-responsibility, says Paxson Woelber, owner of Alaska-based Ermine Skate. Safety precautions include testing the ice’s thickness and carrying self-rescue picks and ropes, among other preparations. Here’s where you can experience it.
Lake Morey, Vermont
Just shy of the New Hampshire border, Vermont’s Lake Morey features a 4.3-mile skating trail—the longest in the United States. The trail’s namesake resort maintains the ice, though anyone can access the loop free of charge. Unlike many frozen lakes, where pickup hockey games are king, Lake Morey prioritizes Nordic skating, a style of the sport that caters to natural ice. Nordic skates have steel blades fitted with bindings that allow skaters to lift their heels and push off with every stroke, making it easy to glide past maple trees and ice fishermen with finesse.
(These are the best cross-country ski trails in the U.S.)
Lake Monona, Wisconsin
Fierce winters in the Midwest contribute to area lakes becoming “pretty much frozen solid, unlike some other places,” says retired Team USA figure skater Angelina Huang and former choreographer for the Wisconsin Figure Skating Club. That means ideal conditions for natural ice and wild skating. One of the best places to try it? Madison’s Lake Monona, where a sunset-timed outing offers golden-hour views of the State Capitol and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Monona Terrace.
Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
A man ice skates with a hockey stick on a frozen Lake Louise at Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Photograph by Mert Alper Dervis, Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Framed by the majestic Rocky Mountains, Banff National Park is a lake-filled wonderland, varying from the accessible to hidden. For a stunning “ice window,” a natural phenomenon which allows ice skaters to see clearly through the ice, visit the picturesque Lake Louise—a go-to spot for Elladj Baldé.
Lying slightly north of Lake Louise, Peyto Lake offers the chance to glide across a pristine glass-like surface, especially at first freeze. “It’s so clear that you can see just hundreds and hundreds of logs—massive logs—under your feet as you’re skating,” says Baldé.
(This ski paradise in Canada is one of the snowiest places on Earth.)
Adirondacks, New York
With more than 3,000 lakes and ponds, the Adirondacks in winter have plenty of ice to spare. At the heart of the region, Mirror Lake is a skaters’s paradise alongside the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Village. Forgot your skates? Book an on-ice dog sled tour around the lake with Thunder Mountain Dog Sled Tours.
For a more rugged adventure, skip town for the High Peaks. Tucked between the mountains and Route 73, the Cascade Lakes invite the wind, which acts as a natural Zamboni, clearing snow and smoothing the surface. Meanwhile, Giant Washbowl requires skaters to hike in but rewards them with private ice on the luckiest days.
Southwest Colorado
In Southwest Colorado, alpine lakes and reservoirs convert to rinks, sending skaters on a patchwork mission to find the best ice. Lake San Cristobal, the state’s second largest natural lake, near Lake City, pairs clear, sprawling ice with the jagged San Juan Mountains, while other alpine lakes—including Rocky Mountain National Park’s Lake Haiyaha—offer one-of-a-kind skating experiences in between peaks.
(Strap on snowshoes for stellar views of this Colorado national park.)
Southern Colorado’s reservoirs are also popular among the wild ice community, says Huang, who singled out the Blue Mesa Reservoir, the state’s largest body of water outside of the town of Gunnison, for its gorgeous scenery and miles and miles of ice.
Portage Lake, Alaska
No place does glacier skating quite like Alaska, where the freezing of glacier-adjacent Portage Lake prompts a local pilgrimage. “It’s almost like a community-wide event when the ice comes in on Portage,” says Woelber.
Yet nature at its most sublime is often at its least predictable; in March, the lake could be covered with 18 inches of snow—“or it could be literally open water,” says Woelber. “The thrill of wild ice-skating is trying to suss out: Where is there gonna be ice?”
