Anchorage Ice Skating

With its extensive wetlands and lakes, Southern Alaska may be one of the best places in the world for skating wild ice. More and more people have been discovering skating routes close to Anchorage. They invite exploration of unexpected enclaves and mazes.

These frozen passageways meander along sloughs. They crisscross pond-to-pond over wetlands. Some follow frozen river channels for miles, offering slick access to territory only reachable by boat in summer. Others center on vast lakes, some freshwater fiords beneath stunning mountain walls.

The sport becomes especially satisfying during that in-between season when the world has frozen solid but snow has not yet become too deep.

Depending upon snow depth, the season for skating wild ice can be short—ranging from a week or two to a couple of months. Many people find that skating remains fun even with a couple of inches of snow on the ice. A lot depends on the texture and density of the snow cover, and the underlying smoothness of the ice surface. Most winters, snow does eventually become too deep, and you have shift your skating adventures to ice that’s been shoveled off or mopped.

Still, even after snow blankets most ice, a mid-winter meltdown can sometimes strip the cover and rehab the frozen surface for a new round of skating.

Best places for adventure skating near Anchorage

The Anchorage Parks Department monitors ice thickness and then authorizes hop mopping and maintenance in skating zones at five lakes and one skate pond.

1. Westchester Lagoon & Other Anchorage Area Lakes - 2-10 miles out. For the classic city ice skating experience where hundreds of people might spend the afternoon careening along smooth, winding paths or warming themselves at burn barrels, try out Westchester Lagoon. Other lakes include Goose Lake, Cheney Lake, Delong Lake, Jewell Lake, Cuddy Family Midtown Park
2. Potter Marsh — 12 miles from downtown. If ice skating around frozen channels and ponds inside a wildlife refuge sounds fun, try exploring the wild ice of Potter Marsh along the Seward Highway in South Anchorage. After a hard freeze-up, the marsh morphs from bird-nesting habitat into an intriguing maze, with miles of twisty routes leading to unexpected rinks. Very popular with families.
3. Eklutna Lake — 37 miles out. Freeze-up turns this seven-mile long fresh-water fiord in Chugach State Park into a multi-mode travel corridor for ice skaters, hikers, skiers and bikers.
4. Rabbit Slough / Wasilla Creek — 38 miles out. These frozen channels wind for miles across the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge off the Glenn Highway in the mouth of the Matanuska and Knik valleys.
5. Portage Lake — 50 miles out. Once this glacier lake in Portage Valley at the head of Turnagain Arm freezes solid, people flock across ice on skates, skis, bikes and foot.
6. Nancy Lake State Recreation Area canoe trail — 72 miles out. A premier paddling destination in summer, this eight-mile loop through 14 lakes can be skated after freeze-up and before significant snowfall.