Skate Sharpening Advice - when there's no one local

[skategeek]

Yes, very good skaters can compensate for deficiencies in gear and ice conditions.  During the summer, my rink is plagued by bad ice conditions (too soft, too wet, too many bumps, too many ruts, ....).  I've noticed that the adults (especially beginner adults) tend to carp about these conditions a lot ... meanwhile, several little girls are jumping and spinning like mad on the same surface.  Oh, well.

But since I'm not a very good skater, I approach skating the way I approached my physics experiments and engineering projects:  identify the variables that affect the outcome, and control them, if feasible; proper measurements, if feasible, are key to that approach.

I think of it as sort of a bell curve.  Ice tourists and very new figure skaters don't care about ice conditions or equipment because they're working just to stay upright and move forward.  Nervous low level adult skaters (I'm one) worry about every little bump and groove.  Better, faster skaters blast right over those problems, and don't fret as much about the potential consequences.  They're also better able to overcome equipment problems.  (But I'm getting a bit off topic here...)