How long may you take over the Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour?
A skating holiday on the Weissensee beckons, but how long may you take over the Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour? Lovers of natural ice get a long stretch on this remarkable mountain lake. The skating time available varies.
Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour
Because Friesland is short of ice, there is an Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour on the Weissensee. On that mountain lake you can skate this coming winter.
So in January skaters head for Carinthia, recreational skaters among them. Because that is the lovely thing about it: in principle ‘anyone’ can take part. Provided you are healthy enough.
The Weissensee: within reach?
Can a recreational skater simply complete 200 kilometres, then? Not simply, of course, although it goes more easily in some years than others.
It is different every year. You can get a long way if you train properly and have reasonable technique.
Want to know whether the Weissensee is within reach in theory? Then check the skating time available below.
The escape route on the last lap
There is no exact finishing time for the 200 kilometres. You do have to have to start your last lap before a certain time. Otherwise the adventure stops: in that case you are not allowed to finish the tour.
If you make it, you are ‘safe’ on time from then on. You may ‘in principle always’ finish your last lap. As long as there are no overriding safety or health risks.
The times for the start and the last lap are announced a day in advance. We have collected the times from recent years for you. These are the tour days on which dionvacation took part.
How long may you take over the Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour: an overview
Almost every tour starts at 07.00 in the morning. So an early start, to be at the line on time. Once we set off even earlier, at 06.00.
The latest time at which you may start your last lap varies more often. That has to do with the length of the circuit and with safety considerations.
On Friday 25 January 2013 the circuit was only 4.2 kilometres. So you could start your last lap up to 18.30 (with a 07.00 start).
A year later, on Friday the 24th, the circuit was 12.5 kilometres. You could then start your last lap up to 17.45. Those times are fairly typical. Times from the past 6 editions, on a Tuesday:
- 19 January 2016: up to 18.00 to start the last lap (start at 07.00 – 10 km)
- 31 January 2017: up to 16.30 to start the last lap (start at 07.00 – 25 km)
- 30 January 2018: up to 16.45 to start the last lap (start at 06.00 – 12.5 km)
- 29 January 2019: up to 17.45 to start the last lap (start at 07.00 – 12.5 km)
- 28 January 2020: up to 17.45 to start the last lap (start at 07.00 – 12.5 km)
- 31 January 2023: up to 18.00 to start the last lap (start at 07.00 – 8.7 km)
You can take your time finishing the last lap. Which is why the eventual finishing times can be considerably later. This article was updated in 2023 with that edition added.
- The skating time available, up to the last lap, is usually 10 hours and 45 minutes.
© dionvacation®
Magical ice between the mountains. Oases that are a feast for the eyes under the sun. Team dionvacation is made up of recreational skaters and sun lovers, people who savour life. We share that zest for life from the Weissensee all the way to the Catalan coast. The holiday home ‘Vida Daurada’ (the golden life) suits that lifestyle, between mountains and sea. All articles are written by our own travel editors. Vida Daurada sponsors the Sun destination section.