On Roofs or in Basements, a New Way to Ice Skate

Nearby, a group of enthralled millennials chanted “Glice, Glice, Baby” as they skated.

‘It Struck Me as Sad’

Founded in Europe eight years ago, Glice now has 1,800 rinks worldwide, according to the company. In mid-December, before the rink at the William Vale opened, the government of Mexico City installed one in Zócalo, the main square there, that can fit 1,200 skaters (Rockefeller Center, New York’s renowned tourist rink of regular ice, accommodates approximately 150). A few years ago one was put in the Canadian Embassy in Rabat, Morocco, so diplomats could feel closer to home. Viktor Meier, a founder and the global C.E.O. of Glice, said a shopping center in northern Iraq recently commissioned one. “We are trying to figure out who to send as a supervisor,” he said. “No one wants to fly there right now.”

Glice arrived with little fanfare in the United States in 2017, when the Detroit Zoo installed a rink. There are already 22 others in retail centers, hotels and public parks across the country. The Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan offers a private one in its penthouse suite that is approximately 70 feet long and 11 feet wide. And over 300 American homes, mostly in the Midwest, have Glice rinks, which start at $1200 for a small one, in their garages, basements or backyards. Only 5 percent of Glice’s business is in the United States, but Mr. Meier said he expected that number to rise to 30 or 40 percent in the next few years.

Glice is arguably more ecologically conscious and certainly more convenient than traditional ice rinks, which require large amounts of water and electricity, as well as noisy, cumbersome machines including refrigeration systems and compressors.

“In the past I worked for a hotel that had a traditional ice skating rink,” Mr. Lemmond said. “You wouldn’t believe the logistics of it. It requires an enormous amount of infrastructure to keep frozen water frozen”: water tank, refrigerated pipes, 24-hour compressor and the famous Zamboni, which re-cuts the surface after it gets marked up and lays down a new layer of water to freeze. As the weather warms, ice turns to slush, of course—and tourists’ thoughts turn to swimming pools.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/business/glice-fake-ice-skating-.html?emc=rss&partner=rss