Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Europe

Freezing winter makes record season for Czech lake skating

Associated Press
Published | Updated
  • 28efd239-
    Image 1 of 3

    A man skates on a maintained icy track on the vast frozen surface of the Lipno dam near the village of Frymburk, Czech Republic, Friday, Feb. 10, 2017. This year's unusually cold winter has turned a Czech lake resort into a skating heaven. With the ice thick well over the necessary 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) and a long wave of icy condition made it possible to skate on the largest Czech lake for the record three straight weeks. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) (The Associated Press)

  • ba10c051-
    Image 2 of 3

    People enjoy a ride on a maintained icy track on the vast frozen surface of the Lipno dam near the village of Frymburk, Czech Republic, Friday, Feb. 10, 2017. This year's unusually cold winter has turned a Czech lake resort into a skating heaven. With the ice thick well over the necessary 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) and a long wave of icy condition made it possible to skate on the largest Czech lake for the record three straight weeks. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) (The Associated Press)

  • 8b897b96-
    Image 3 of 3

    People enjoy a ride on a maintained icy track on the vast frozen surface of the Lipno dam near the village of Frymburk, Czech Republic, Friday, Feb. 10, 2017. This year's unusually cold winter has turned a Czech lake resort into a skating heaven. With the ice thick well over the necessary 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) and a long wave of icy condition made it possible to skate on the largest Czech lake for the record three straight weeks. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) (The Associated Press)

FRYMBURK, Czech Republic – This year's unusually cold winter has turned a Czech lake resort into a skating heaven.

With ice thickness well over the necessary 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) and a long spell of icy weather, the country's largest lake is open for skating for a record three straight weeks.

Enthusiasts and volunteers led by local firefighters began maintaining an icy track on the vast frozen surface of the Lipno dam in the Sumava mountain range, in southern Czech Republic, some six years ago. But recent mild winters had interrupted access for skaters for safety reasons.

Volunteers have maintained a 15-kilometer (9 mile) long and 8-meter-wide track this season, which has attracted some 10,000 Czechs as well as visitors from nearby Germany and Austria.