Saturday, December 30, 2017

Saturday Clearing Snow

Thanks to Andrew P. and Kurt

Cold snowing overnight snow left 6" on the ice. Andrew and Kurt were down to shovel and blow off the upper and lower ice.

Happy New Year!

Keeping the hose on the ice,
Kurt


Friday, December 29, 2017

Don't Try This At Home Kids...

Big thanks to all that showed up last night. Craig, Ian, Jeff, John, Adrian, Andrew P. and Kurt.
We had high hopes to clear and flood with the weather being perfect for a multi coat night.
However, the weather decided to turn with enough snow to prevent us from flooding.

The snow didn't prevent us from having some good cheers. At -24ºC you have to find ways of keeping warm. The fire helps.









Happy New Year!






Thursday, December 21, 2017

Heavy work, Heavy coat...

Yesterday, Wednesday, Kurt came down to blow the lower ice in the afternoon. Jeff, Oakley (Jeff's son), Adrian, and John spent time and energy scraping and cleaning to get the two sheets ready for the H 2 O.
After one heavy coat on each we now have great ice going into the holiday weekend!
Well done.

Oakley is second on the hose, while dad (Jeff) takes the lead nozzle for a heavy coat.

Total
20 coats lower
17 coats upper


One more night of flooding tonight then off for the holidays.

See you all around 8 PM.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt



Tuesday, December 19, 2017

A FOOT of the White Stuff...


We got there at 8 pm, blew and shoveled for 2 hours. Same amount of snow as when we started!!

Thanks Austin, Kris, Craig (photo OP), and Kurt.
Need lots of help on Thursday night. maybe a flood if we get lucky.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt


Finally Some Snow...

Monday night we were able to flood without the snow falling.
Kris, Andrew P., Adrian and Kurt took the time to get down three coats on the lower and two on the upper.
Total
19 Coats on the lower
13 Coats on the upper

Snow is falling for the rest of the week making it hard to flood. We will try to get the blowers out and keep the ice clear for the week leading up to Christmas.

Our Advent Beers are needing some of our attention, so lets plan to at least get down to raise a glass.

Keeping the hose on the ice,
Kurt




Monday, December 11, 2017

Sunday 14ºC during the day...

One of the warmest December 10th in history, but the ice is holding up considerably well.
Kris, John, Andrew P., and Kurt were able to lay down a medium coat on both last night.

Total Coats:

16 lower
11 upper.

I managed to get down to -2ºC overnight last night.

We are a GO for Thursday night regular flood, looks cold overnight. Then look toward Saturday December 16th to get a few more coats in "mini flooding party". We may postpone the Annual Flood Fest until January 2018.


Keeping the hose on the ice,
Kurt



Thursday, December 07, 2017

Not Going To Freeze Overnight!

Well it's Thursday and one of the warmest Dec 07th we have had. Temperature right now at 3:15 PM is 9º C. Yes, that's right! not below 0º C, but above zero. In fact, tonight the forecast is it will not be freezing over night.

We need to really figure out a flooding strategy. December 16th looks like the only real cold day for the month.
Let's Plan a flood party Saturday Night DECEMBER 16, next week at 6:00 pm.
Please let me know if you can make it. I will get Spolumbos sausages and beer.

Keeping the hose on the ice,
Kurt



Monday, December 04, 2017

Warm Weather, But Good Ice...

Thanks to Jeff, John, Kris and Kurt for showing up with a quick scrape and two lower coats, One upper.

Total to date:
15 Lower
10 Upper

Big thanks to Larry, he helped scrape tonight and then came back with a cash donation for beer! He really appreciates all our hard work.

Thursday look too warm to flood, but warm enough for a pint.

Still trying to figure out when to flood fest, I will keep you posted.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt


Monday, November 27, 2017

Warm Weather What?

Thanks to the team tonight.
We, ... Kris, Claire, Craig, Austin, Kurt, Adrian (short visit, but beer), put down three coats on the lower, two on the upper tonight.

Total Coats
13 Upper
9 Lower

Last Year, December 4th 2016!...







...December 04 Last Year 2016!





Everyone tonight brought down the IceGuy Advent Calendar beers. We are meeting again Thursday night at 8 pm to flood. If you couldn't make it tonight, see you and your beer Thursday night.

Weather looks bad for us in the next 14 days. So Flood Fest is now around the second week of Decemeber. I will contact our sponsors Village Brewery and Spolumbos for the annual Flood Fest donations. Please support them throughout the year when possible.


Monday, November 20, 2017

IceGuys Minutes Tonight... and there is a lot of minutes:

Big thanks to the great number of IceGuys that helped out tonight cleaning and flooding the two rinks with two coats.
From left to right on first photo;
Mark (the new guy from Mt Pleasant), Adrian, Andrew P., Craig, Jeff, Andy.

From left to right on second photo;
Adrian, Kurt, Andrew P., Craig, Jeff, Andy.
Mark (the new guy from Mt Pleasant - taking photo)

Not in photo, but a great moral supporter after we flooded 2 coats and put all equipment away...
KRIS!!

Flood Count:
12 upper
9 lower


Tonights Minutes;

1. Beer Advent Calendar... Iceguys will discuss via email.
2. Keys to Ice Guys access to Hall... Iceguys will discuss via email.
3. Flood Fest in December...Iceguys will discuss via email. (Jeff setting up Calendar).
4. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/popup/audio/listen.html?autoPlay=true&clipIds=&mediaIds=1099979331632&contentarea=news&subsection1=regions&subsection2=regions&subsection3=calgary&subsection4=eyeopener&contenttype=audio



Keeping the hose on the ice,
Kurt

Thursday, November 16, 2017

NOZZLE GOES ON TONIGHT!

Great work everyone!

We are off to a great start this year earliest in recorded history, and very nice ice in 12 days.
Claire, Phillipe (new guy that Claire recruited), Austin, John, Kris and Kurt put down two coats on the lower, and one coat around the newly formed Whopsie Doodles.
 Flood Count:
10 coats lower
7 coats upper

We are planning our annual Flood Fest but need some input on the date! Typically it has been on a Friday COLD Friday. We have the luxury of early ice so we can be a little picky on choosing a day.
End of November might be best!
We can also make the beer advant calendars that night as well if we have the time.

Next flood day is Monday next week. Normal flooding now Monday and Thursday nights at 8 pm. The timer is set so the light tomorrow go on at 5:30-11:59pm.

Keeping the hose on the ice,
Kurt








Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Day 9

I couldn't post last night (DAY 8)
With heavy shovels and heavy scraping, Claire, Craig, Ian and Kurt spent 2 hours clearing before flooding one coat on each.
8 coats upper
6 coats lower

 Thanks to Nick's Steak House and Pizza, and Mark Petros for the perfect Pizza Pies.





Tonight (DAY 9)
Thanks to Jeff,  Adrian and Kurt (Kris showed up after for a beer)
 Now coat count (CC)

9 coats upper
7 coats lower

Both coats with nozzle off for volume. Might consider putting nozzle on during lower flooding.

Q: Is this the earliest skateable ice since 2005?
A: We believe so.

Need help tomorrow Wednesday night at 8 PM.

Keeping the hose on the ice,
Kurt





Thursday, November 09, 2017

Day 6

Great turn out
one coat on each rink tonight.
7 upper
5 lower

John, Kris, Austin, Jeff, Craig, Claire, and Kurt greeted a very special guest tonight. You might all remember Bud. Nice to see you Bud.

We are going tomorrow night and taking the weekend off in Remembrance Day weekend.
Monday at 9 PM.


See you Friday night tomorrow,

Cheers,
Kurt






 WHO IS THIS GUY?!




Day 5

Thanks to Claire, Kris, Craig, Andy and Jeff for putting down major volumes of water last night.
Upper now 6 coats
Lower now 4 coats







We are getting close to a possible record time for the ice. Great bunch of volunteers!

See you tonight!!!

Kurt

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Day 4

Thanks to the Tuesday crew:
Kris
Austin
Ian
Andrew and Kurt

For now 4.5 coats on lower (0.5 was Kris' solo flood before we all got there)
3 coats upper

See you Wednesday or tomorrow,

Kurt


Day 3

Hard to believe in only three days since Grant nearly getting busted for stunting in the park, we may have skatable ice by the end of the week.
Last night we put laid down a coat on each now;
Upper 2 coats
Lower 3 coats


Temperature is fantastic at -13ºC

We are going every night, so hope to see most of you out there. Tonight we need some help.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt






Monday, November 06, 2017

First Flood

Great start this winter!
We packed the snow Saturday and let it firm up overnight. Sunday afternoon Nov. 05th we flooded the lower ice x2 and upper x1.
Thanks to Claire, Kris, Craig, Willem, Austin, Andy, John, Ian, Andrew P., Jamie.

Hope more of you can keep coming out for the rest of this week. We plan to go every night this week around 8 pm if you can help out.

Cheers
Kurt








Saturday, November 04, 2017

Packing Base....

The winter came in quick this year. It was raining on October 31, 2017 and we have enough snow and temperature is staying cold which has allowed us to start packing the base this afternoon.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Officially Closed...

The warm four days has the ice condition skatable on Monday afternoon, to having a river running through it on Thursday.
Attached are photos taking today showing how the parking lot run-off adds to the destruction of the east end.

We plan to do some improvements to the sidewalk area this fall and this information is good to assess diverting the parking lot water away from flooding the ice. Below is a photo showing water moving in the path of least resistance to our east end.




Looks like Friday March 24th at around 6:30 pm works for most of us to celebrate our efforts and organize the shed, and have some beer and pizza.
So far I have received 6 YES's looking to hear from more of you.

Cheers,
Kurt




Monday, March 13, 2017

We had a safety meeting tonight...

Above is Jeff's son Oakley on the ice after school today. This is probably the last day of good skating ice of the year! Shinny is a GO tomorrow, but will be soft ice.

Ian and Kurt enjoyed a relaxing pint in the basement tonight conducting the annual safety meeting Monday. We both agree that the season looks to be over now. We would like "a-show-of-hands" for a wrap up party Friday March 24th?
Who is in?

Way to Go Calgary Flames Win over PIT in a shoot out! Play-off are in the future.

Taking the hose off the ice,

Kurt


Friday, March 10, 2017

Snow Snow Snow...

The snow last night prevented Ian, Craig and Kurt from flooding.
If anyone has some time Saturday AM to help clear, I will bring down my blower to work on making it skatable for the weekend.

This cold flooding weather has prolonged out season so much we are looking to have the wrap up party in April after Spring break.

Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

"Let It Ride"...

Keeping the momentum going the second week in March. Last night, Jeff, Kris, Ian, Craig, Austin, Adrian and Kurt poured 3 coats of water on the lower ice.
Total Lower = 57 coats
Total Upper = 55 coats




Grant coached shinny tonight and wanted to thank all of us who showed up last night to get the ice ready for another week of skating. Weather is looking to hold in the "cold" position for the weekend.

Our annual Ice Guys "Wrap-up Party" is not planned yet, but we are thinking soon. A lot of people are going away for Vacation for the Easter break, and we never have ice this late... We could have it This Friday March 10th. Let me know what you think.

Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt



Friday, March 03, 2017

Timing is Everything...

Well we are officially into March and it looks like we are going to have more time with our ice!
Last night Claire, Ian, Craig and Kurt threw down two coats (Light and Medium). The temperature was around -3ºC.
Total upper = 55 coats
Total lower = 54 coats

It looks like there might be some snow over the weekend. If there is a dump I will ask for volunteers to help out.

We tested out the fire pit to make sure it can handle 5 ft flames...
... it passed.







Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt

Monday, February 27, 2017

Heading into MARCH...

Tonight has set a two year record. Skatable ice in the Month of March.
Thanks to Jeff, Craig, Adrian, Austin, Glenn, Kris, John, and Kurt for putting down three coats on the upper and two on the lower.
Total 53 on the upper.
Total 52 on the lower.

We met a group of hockey players on the lower hockey ice and had asked it they could help scrape giving them time to keep playing. Meanwhile, we started getting the upper ice prepared.
After letting the kids (18-49yr olds), play for a while longer - we found out it was a birthday celebration. One of the players had turned 18 years old and had requested to his parents that all he wanted was to celebrate by playing hockey with is friends and relatives at Rosemont.
Turns out Kurt knew the parents, Kelly and Jody from high school, so we let the play on the condition that they help us scrape after. Great group of players and they did a good job of clearing the lower for water.
Happy Birthday ADAM!



I know it is sad, but we did talk about the wind up party in three weeks or so.
Details to come.

Keeping the hose on the ice,
Thanks,
Kurt