The entire length of Rideau Canal Skateway is now open
The Rideau Canal will open all 7.8 kilometres of the skateway on Friday morning, the National Capital Commission has announced.
The 52nd skating season will begin at 8 a.m. Friday and there will be some changes from the pandemic-affected 2021 season.
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The NCC has explained its general standards for opening a stretch of the canal are an ice thickness of 30 centimetres, which takes about 10 to 14 days of temperatures in the -10 C to -20 C range.
A Rideau Canal Skateway user sits on a bench near its northern end last February. (Brian Morris/CBC)
The neighbouring Queen Elizabeth Driveway on its western side is open for exercise and closed to vehicles between Somerset Street West and Fifth Avenue Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Last year's skating season lasted 29 days from late January to late February, its shortest season yet.
This article was originally published for CBC News.