When will the Rideau Canal Skateway open this year?

The Rideau Canal at the Pretoria Bridge on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. (Josh Pringle/CTV News Ottawa)

At this time last year, visitors to the Rideau Canal Skateway were enjoying the world's largest skating rink for several days already.

But the canal remains closed this year, and it's not clear when Ottawa's biggest winter attraction will open.

"At this point in time the ice is being very porous and of poor quality," Bruce Devine, the National Capital Commission's senior manager of facilities and programs, said on Tuesday. "At the moment it cannot sustain too much weight. So we're not quite ready yet to invite people to come."

Devine told Newstalk 580 CFRA the NCC's ice-building team has been out every night since last Friday's snowstorm watering various sections of the canal in an effort to build ice.

But after a warmer-than-usual start to January, the ice quality and thickness remains uneven throughout the 7.8-kilometres-long skateway, he said.

"Even this past weekend with the -15 we had overnight, it still took two days for the flood that we made to freeze up. It took a little bit more time than usual," he said.

The ice must be 30 centimetres thick before it opens for skating. Crews generally need 10 to 14 straight days of temperatures between -10 C and -20 C to get there.

Last year, the skateway opened on Jan. 14. The previous year it opened on Jan. 18. The year before that the skating season started on Dec. 30.

"We're still within the ball game," Devine said.

He declined to commit to a possible date or time range, only saying the target is to open "as quickly as possible." The first in-person Winterlude in three years begins on Feb. 3.

The NCC is also reminding people not to test the ice.

"People will see some workers watering it, but they are well dressed, they're secure, and they know where to walk, so please don't try to imitate them," Devine said. "It can be dangerous."