The Rideau Canal, the world’s largest skating rink included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, will not be open this year for the first time in its history due to a mild winter, its managers confirmed on Friday. AFP.

“Despite our best efforts, for the first time in our history, the weather has gotten the better of us,” they said on Twitter.

“We cannot open the rink this season,” the statement added.

For the Rideau, which stretches under the great monuments of the capital (parliament, senate, university, etc.), to be practical, the mercury must remain between -10 and -20 degrees for almost two weeks.

While when it first opened in the 1970s, the canal was usually available from late December, now the canal usually opens in mid-to-late January. In 2020, for example, you had to wait until January 28 to go ice skating.

And the low temperatures recorded in Ottawa over the past 24 hours have not been enough to reverse the trend.

In mid-February, tourists and Ottawa residents who sometimes skate to work expressed their frustration to AFP.

The Rideau Canal, also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada’s capital, Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in Kingston. Its length is 202 kilometers.