Why skating the Weissensee is ‘different every time’

Skating the Weissensee looks like one of those bucket-list things. Good to have done. And on you go. Yet thousands of natural ice lovers return to this skating paradise in almost every year. No two years alike.

Weissensee 2021: corona measures

It is clear that the Weissensee 2021 will be a remarkable edition. The coronavirus COVID-19 is dominating the world. Austria does not escape it either.

So the Weissensee Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour, a Dutch organisation, is taking several corona measures. According to chairman Toine Doreleijers it will be a ‘different from other years’ edition. Did you know the editions differ greatly anyway?

Skating the Weissensee: 4 variables in a row

There is a collection of variables that make this destination offer unique experiences every time. Let us line up 4 of them:

1. The small lake, or the large lake as well

The Weissensee. An idyllic mountain lake in Austria that freezes over, partly, every winter. That word ‘partly’ already gives away one variable. Visually the lake is a single whole.

In size and depth you can speak of two parts. The ‘small’ lake in the west and the ‘large’ lake in the east. The bridge at the central village of Techendorf marks the divide.

The larger lake freezes more slowly and so cannot always be opened. Skating the small lake is a different experience.

2. Circuit length: 4.2 to 25 kilometres

Every year the question is how many kilometres the circuit runs to. That can vary considerably. In 2013 dionvacation was still skating a little circuit of 4.2 kilometres.

Four years later it was a circuit of 25 kilometres. You can imagine those two tours were completely different on every front. And so brought an entirely different experience.

They were outliers, mind you. In recent years the circuit has usually been 12.5 kilometres. On the smaller lake above all. With a looped course.

Circuit lengths of the Weissensee Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour

Here is an overview of the tours dionvacation has skated on the Weissensee.

On a Friday:

• 25 January 2013: 4.2 km
• 24 January 2014: 12.5 km

On a Tuesday:

• 27 January 2015: 12.5 km
• 19 January 2016: 10 km
• 31 January 2017: 25 km
• 30 January 2018: 12.5 km
• 29 January 2019: 12.5 km
• 28 January 2020: 12.5 km

3. A looped course, or a circuit without loops

Depending on the available ice there is a looped course or a circuit without loops. The term looped course says it all: you skate in all sorts of loops. Because of the limited space such a course usually appears on the small lake. For spectators there is an advantage to this.

• You can easily cross between the loops and see ‘your’ skaters come past much more often. Which makes cheering a good deal more fun.
• Extra food, drink or clothing can also be handed over.
• And the trains going back and forth make a fine sight from a distance. Hotel guests enjoy the ‘ant patterns’ moving through the valley from their balconies.

Without loops those moments of contact are of course much rarer. Although the circuit length plays a part there too. The 4.2 kilometre circuit had no loops, for instance, but with 48 laps there were contacts enough. The other example makes the point better: on the 25 kilometre tour, 8 laps, the loops were largely missing and skaters and supporters hardly saw one another.

4. Ice quality

What about the ice quality? Spoiler: it is often superb. Superior mirror ice completes the picture. Only there are lesser editions among them. We can be that honest. And then it is hard graft. All the more so when you are going for 200 kilometres. Still, after the slog comes a magical moment. The 11-City cross is hung around your neck. You have done it. Which is an advantage when the ice quality disappoints for once: finishing the tour feels all the more heroic.

Encore: the weather

Skating enthusiasts dream of Kaiserwetter: a clear blue sky with a radiant sun. The other side of the weather coin exists just as much. A stiff wind, snowfall or even drizzle. We have our fingers crossed for that Kaiserwetter.

An alternative Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour

Because of these variables, skating the Weissensee is different from other years every single year. Even so, it is certain that the 2021 edition differs very greatly indeed. You could almost speak of an alternative Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour… Either way, we are sharpening our blades, putting in the laps and standing ready for the starting gun. Follow dionvacation so you do not miss anything of the preparation.