Cold snap fuels skating fever in the Low Countries

Prolonged freezing temperatures have revived skating fever across the Low Countries, with more people lacing up their skates and heading out onto natural ice. In northern Belgium, skating has been permitted since Saturday on parts of the Kalmthout Heath, close to the Dutch border, where the ice has become thick enough. This inevitably brings back Dutch memories of the legendary Elfstedentocht.

Recent dry weather has kept water levels low on the heath, helping the ice to solidify. Authorities have confirmed that skating is safe on the first section of the Putse Moer pond, although the larger rear section remains off limits due to insufficient ice thickness.

We don’t have mountains for skiing, so we skate

In the Netherlands, skaters have also taken to frozen canals and ponds in large numbers. With the frost comes renewed speculation about whether conditions could ever allow the Elfstedentocht to take place again. “Skating is part of our culture,” said Marnix Koolhaas, a skating historian, in an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS. "One of the earliest recorded skating competitions in the Low Countries dates back to 1466. It’s a centuries-old tradition. We don’t have mountains for skiing, so we skate.”

Less ice days

Climate trends, however, are steadily eroding those traditions. The number of days with continuous frost - so-called ice days - has been declining for decades. Since the 1960s, the Netherlands has lost roughly 1.5 ice days per decade. Sixty years ago, the country averaged around eleven ice days per winter; today, that figure is closer to three. In 2023 and 2024, the weather station at De Bilt recorded no ice days at all, marking a record stretch of 762 consecutive days without sustained frost. This winter has so far seen just one ice day.

As a result, hopes for a new Elfstedentocht remain distant. The event is a nearly 200-kilometre skating tour over natural ice, organised by the Royal Association of the Eleven Frisian Cities, and is widely known as “the Tour of Tours” for its distance and mythical status. The route traditionally starts and finishes in Leeuwarden, the capital of the northern province of Friesland.

First held officially in 1909, the Elfstedentocht can take place only once per winter and only under strict ice conditions. It has been organised just fifteen times in total, most recently in 1997. ​

The current gap of 10,582 days between editions of the race is the longest on record, exceeding the previous interval of 8,070 days between the 1963 and 1985 events, while skaters on both sides of the border are nevertheless making the most of the present cold spell, mindful that winters with sustained frost are becoming increasingly rare.

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