By Cheryl Jahn

World Women's Curling

The science of ice

Mar 4, 2020 | 10:52 AM

PRINCE GEORGE – There is a science to ice. No matter the sport, there is a difference in the ice. Curling is no different. “You try and get the ice somewhat flat with a series of misting and flooding. you build it up to a certain level and we actually paint it white. That’s what gives it a nice, bright white appearance. It’s special environmentally-safe paint. The several more layers are laid down. You see the rings, the house, it’s a fabric material. It’s laid down and then multiple layers of flooding again. Then the lines are put in which, as a little aside, is knitting yarn stretched in and frozen in by hand. Then multiple layers again for the hog lines and a few more layers to finish it.”

All that within an inch and a quarter depth of ice.

And then it pebbles to generate some friction for the curling rocks.

Don McDermid says the ice surface is much harder than ice hockey ice.

“It’s a much more brittle-type surface. And we re-finish it every day, much like a Zamboni does at the ice rink.”

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Come March 8th, the ice surface at the CN Centre will be transformed from an ice hockey surface to a set of curling sheets. And it has to be done within a matter of days.

No easy feat.