NEW CHUMS ON ICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23556, 20 July 1938, Page 4

NEW CHUMS ON ICE

WINTER HOLIDAY IN OTAGO CENTRAL

By W. R. S.

We were both of the “ not too old at 40 ” brigade, the type prone to boastfulness about its morning tub and its unquenchable athletic spirit, so the proposal for a few days of winter holiday in Otago Central to try out what ice skating was like was carried unanimously. We packed skates and tennis rackets (a seemingly incongruous cdmmingling of winter with summer, but justifiable because we actually used both in turn, and on the same day) and made for Alexandra by car. At the eleventh hour Colleen, youthful and auburn-tinted, brightened the party. Later she was to humiliate us by learning to skate backwards before we could go forward with any confidence. About four miles from Alexandra is Manorburn Dam, the main area of which we guessed to be about half a mile across. When the ice is bearing one may skate from this magnificent area for three miles and a-half through the narrow gorge to what is called the Upper Dam. A genial giant of a farmer, over 16 stone and of noble proportions, permits you to park on his property adjoining the dam. If you are wise you cover your radiator very carefully. We were even advised to spare sufficient time from the “ revelry by night ” to give the engine a run. We were so intrigued bv the sport, however, that we forgot all about it. Happily the car came to no harm. Members of the club formed in the district test the ice for safety. The testing, we town simpletons were invited to believe, Is done by a man with a rope, who sends his wife skating ahead of him. If the ice is bearing the rope is then superfluous. Two and a-half_ to three inches of ice must be sufficient for safety, for that was about what we had on Manorburn Dam. Every now and then there is a cracking sound under your feet, very disturbing to the novice, but evidently taken for granted by the sophisticated, although if we happened to be grouped closely there was a prompt scatter to distribute the weight. ' . “Ice bearing!” is the signal for a general stampede in the district, for there is no guarantee how long that desirable condition may last. The tide must be taken at the flood. To-night the’re may be a thaw, ■ or there may be a fall of snow followed by 21 degrees of frost, so that the snow freezes, and can neither be swept off nor skated on. ■ So the shopkeeper commits his business to the care of his hirelings, leaving the commercial traveller to mark time, or (which is more likely) to borrow a pair of skates; the dairy farmer’s cows find themselves milked with unusual despatch; the school teacher contrives that there shall be not a single delinquent boy or girl to be “ kept in ”; the housewife’s broom fails to reach the corners, and the washing can wait until the thaw comes. A bus service operates during the skating season. Private cars are filled up regardless of seating regulations, motor cycles and even push bikes are requisitioned, •nd some folks walk. Behold us then, seated upon a rough shelf of rocks built along the ice edge replacing our shoes with the boots to which our skates have previously been screwed or clamped. You must be ready to step straight on to the ice, as you may ruin the skate blade if you attempt to walk on - the rocky shore. The work of preparation is a cold business, for the air in the Central is of the kind favoured by the Scotsman —there is a nip in it. By this time our selfconfidence has wilted somewhat. Before us is a scene of intense animation in a marvellous setting. Emerging from between the brown hills the water has been banked up by the dam to form a lake now covered with black ice, with the moving water from under the icq falling over the spillway in a graceful cataract. Don’t ask me why “black” ice, but black ice it definitely was, and, according to the expert who had skated on most of the ice centres in New Zealand, the best .ice in the Dominion. The sun that burnishes this, polished ebony surface glistens upon the snowdraped ranges which form a dazzling background. A hundred figures in bright, picturesque array move upon what was once a face of the waters with kaleidoscopic effect. The strains of the “Blue Danube” waltz from a gramophone away out across the ice sets the rhythm, to which one couple is waltzing with exquisite grace, while others in pairs or singly are gliding in whatever direction fancy takes them. Here is a group of children playing hockey with a tobacco tin; one lad is chasing another in and out amongst the skaters; another is practising speed work around an imaginary track, and in semi-isolation on the outskirts two Sonja Henies in embryo are practising figures of eight and other fancy movements. Later I was to prove a dismal failure at the figure of eight, but a perfect genius at turning sevens. Other figures there were on the ice, but they were without grace or comeliness. We rose unsteadily, and without much confidence, to swell their ranks. If you want to understand what is meant by knees turning to water just attempt to balance yourself on two skate blades about a quarter of an inch wide. It will not be vour knees, but your ankles that refuse to retain any semblance of rigidity. They will continue to collapse, now outwards, now inwards, sometimes singly, sometimes in unison, as you move, and the consequent attempts to skate with one ankle, or maybe both, at an angle of 45deg is peculiarly ludicrous and fatuous. For some time you feel you will never overcome this difficulty, but later you find yourself automatically locking the ankle joints, forgetting all about the initial difficulty. The most comfortable way to skate, of course, is on your feet. In the early stages I found myself every row and then trying it on my back

or on my “ turn.” Balance was the trouble. The practised skater can glide on one foot until he wants ; to change to the other. The freshman goes on one foot until he is losing balance and then flops on to ; the other foot, repeating the proi cess with ungainly “ Grecian bends ; and other bodily contortions, arms ; flailing the while, unable to stop i or turn, until finally a miscue lands • him prone on his back, or alteri natively he manages to fling his arms ■ around someone capable of with- ■ standing the shock. We found com- ' pensation in the alternative in the ; making of quite a number of friends, : male and female. Brother and sister 1 skaters are very helpful and tolerant i towards the new chum, and n ®ver i get cross with him however wildly : he may charge into them. It did not take so very long to ) gain a degree of competence i sufficient to make skating not merely t a pleasure, but a positive thrill. On our second day we were sailing , along hand in hand five in a line - Ringing a popular ditty. By this - time tennis was forgotten. Weather r was of no consequence unless it 1 spoiled the ice. On the second day 3 there was an inch of snow on the - ice, but it had not frozen, and we i skated on gaily, regardless of the 1 light snow that fell intermits tently. Once’under way you do not 5 feel cold. The sport grows upon 3 you, so that on our third and last - day we were on the ice morning, s noon, and night. A couple of flood- - lights are operating at nights, and e the effect is rfiost romantic. On the e night of the carnival, for which we 1 were unable to wait, it was possible l to skate to the upper dam. Bonfires ', threw their lurid light across the - picturesque scene as races and com- ;, petitions were in progress, and the - last of the roysterers left the rink at 2 a.m. 0 Dress order on the ice conforms n to no rule. Phis fours, trousers y gathered into sox, cardigans, sports k coats, red shirts, mufflers, berets, aie r worn in any combination by the men. As in life generally, the colour is [mostly supplied by the ladies. The trim figure, that with upraised hand and “Hold everything!” halted us * in our crazy career and booked us ) as honorary members at Is, was, a dash of red with white bands; there sr was the “beautiful lady in blue ; A also the expert, the epitome of gracefulness, whose feature was white af boots. Bright jumpers, sometimes of in Angora wool, with men’s nether gar--111 ments, were mostly favoured, and ; e there were hats of Astrakhan, tn balaika, etc., as well as the hatless, is As to serious accidents? fhey 41 seem to be miraculously few, considering the fact that there is proI bably not fewer than one fall per r minute. On arrival one morning we " gazed with awe upon a small pool _ of blood upon the ice. A skater s ■ nose had contacted and left this

contribution. We were told of one visitor who had spent several weeks in Alexandra recovering from a fall. Only one boy that we could learn of had fallen through the surface, a quarter of an hour elapsing before he was got out. Most of the fallen escape with bruises. My companion, Jeams, filled me with envy. Although starting from zero he fell only once in the three days, and that was the result of a trip by an errant sister. M> second day’s run finished on an inglorious note. Both skates, through insecure fastening, fell off simultaneously, leaving me doing a kind of breast stroke after a thud heard all over the ared. There were fifty feet of very cold water beneath me! Two small boys had the greatest fun towing me back to land. We left with reflection that here at our doors are skating areas equal to the best in the world, and only a handful of people, comparatively, take advantage. Skating is not merely a young people’s pastime. Father, mother, and the children

were all skating happily together at Manorburn, and the best skaters were not the young people. The great advantage of this area is its accessibility—only four miles from Alexandra. The Central is cold in winter, but it is a dry cold, and the sun shines brilliantly on the sparkling mountains. We shall return.