Which NYC ice rink for figure skating?

October 19, 2016 3:39 PM

Which NYC (Manhattan) ice rink, accessible from Chelsea Market, is best for figure skating practice?

I'm working from NYC next week, in the Chelsea Market/Meatpacking District area, and I want to keep up with figure skating practice. Not freestyle-level yet, aside from messing around with waltz jumps, but I want enough space for edges, back crossovers, etc. I will be bringing my own skates although it's a plus if the place has semi-decent rental skates (I haven't found any yet) since they do take up a lot of room in my luggage. I'm looking for a low-crowds public skate or freestyle session, but it MUST be open on Mon-Thurs weekday evenings.

Seems like Manhattan has a ton of ice rinks, but many/most? are geared towards the general public. Which one is best for my needs?

posted by serelliya to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

I think you're a few weeks too early. Chelsea Piers has Sky Rink, but they are only open for general skating until about 5pm. The rest of our rinks seem to open right after Halloween.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:04 PM on October 19, 2016

Best answer: There aren't any evening public sessions in any NYC area rink. Unfortunately hockey is what keeps the lights on and the ice down and we are into hockey season now so all ice time after 5:00 is either hockey or in some cases packed club freestyle ice. You could however hop a bus from Port Authority and head over to the Secaucus NJ ice rink, They have evening hours from 7:30-9:00 for three dollars (which offsets bus fare) on Thursdays and Fridays. There's a woman who ice dances who told me that the rink isn't very crowded at all when I saw her at a freestyle session at a different rink that I go to in Jersey.

I'd advise against trying to skate an evening freestyle at Chelsea Piers (if they even have any)- it's stupidly expensive for 50 minutes and it's very crowded. Also I don't believe they allow skaters on who aren't working on higher-level freestyle or dance skills. (It gets pretty hairy and the couple of times I've skated a freestyle session there I got very little practice in since I was mostly just circling and weaving and looking for any opening to jump.) Of course your other options would be to skate one of the super early bird sessions at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers before work- in which case the ice may have fewer skaters.

edited to add: here's low test early morning freestyles that sound like the level you want- just search here
posted by stagewhisper at 5:09 PM on October 19, 2016

Chelsea Piers is your best bet, a 5-to-10-minute walk from Chelsea Market. A bit further, but really beautiful, is the outdoor rink behind the New York Public Library in Bryant Park (6th Ave and 41st Street). It opens on October 29.
posted by mark7570 at 6:42 PM on October 19, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks for the input from all!

I did some more online poking around and saw that the Trump (ugh) Wollman outdoor rink is already open for the year, with hours until 10pm. Anyone know if it's as crazy as the Rockefeller rink? Unfortunately I'm going to be in upstate NY on Oct 29th, so I'll miss the Bryant Park rink opening.
posted by serelliya at 11:49 PM on October 19, 2016

Its been over a decade since I last skated there but outdoor Wollman Rink in Central Park was considerably less crowded (and more scenic ) than the Rockefeller Center rink back when I lived in NYC.
posted by KingEdRa at 4:51 AM on October 20, 2016