What is wild ice skating?

August 22, 2026

Wild ice skating is about place — not equipment

When several friends and I (with Tim Treuer in the lead) founded the Wild Ice Skating Club of Alaska (WISCA) in 2023, we had a lively discussion about what to call our new group. The Nordic Skating Club of Alaska? The Backcountry Skating Club of Alaska? In the end, we settled on ‘Wild Ice Skating Club of Alaska’ because we felt it captured the essence of the sport: whether skaters were on high-end Nordic skates or old dusty rec skates, wild ice skating was about finding joy on naturally-formed outdoor ice.

Exploring Hidden Lake on figure skates and Nordic skates

Nordic skating vs. wild ice skating

At the time that we started WISCA, all of the founding members skated on Nordic skates. Compared with skates designed for competitive sports, our Nordic skates were stable, efficient, warm, and comfortable — attributes that made them ideal for long days on backcountry ice. But we had all started skating on other types of skates, and we frequently skated with people who weren’t on Nordic skates. True, our friends on hockey skates had to work a little harder to keep up with us when we were covering dozens of miles on the Lynx Lake Loop, but at the end of the day we were all skating the same ice surfaces, avoiding the same hazards, marveling at the same landscapes, and chasing (more or less) the same experiences. Even if Nordic skates were the best tool for our outdoor ice adventures, they clearly weren’t the only tool that worked.

Put another way: if Nordic skates disappeared tomorrow, all of us would still happily drive hours to reach the edge of a frozen lake and lace up in the next best thing. Although we loved our Nordic skates, it was clear that what truly brought us together wasn’t the equipment, but our engagement with the place.

Why “wild ice skating?”

If what we loved about skating was the place, what was the place exactly? “Backcountry ice skating” was an accurate description for many of our trips, and it suggested parallels with other wilderness pursuits like backcountry skiing or backpacking. But many of our favorite skating destinations in the Anchorage area were house-ringed lakes accessed from parking lots, neighborhoods, or highways. Campbell Lake, Big Lake, Potter Marsh, and even Kenai Lake were all fantastic places to skate. But “backcountry?” Not really.

Nordic skating on Anchorage’s Campbell Lake. Many people skate on urban lakes and ponds far from the backcountry.

“Outdoor ice skating” got closer, but this too had problems. Outdoor hockey and figure skating rinks were outdoors, as were cleared pond hockey rinks on lakes. But none of us were spending hours exploring a tiny rink between snow berms. There was nothing wrong with skating in confined spaces, of course, but that just didn’t capture the magic of what we were pursuing.

In the end, we settled on the term “wild ice skating” because it put the emphasis where it belonged: on the spectacular, unpredictable, and always-interesting naturally-formed ice that made our trips possible. The term “wild ice” separated it from manmade or human-maintained ice, while “skating” provided just enough specificity about the activity itself (we were traveling under human power with blades on our feet — not, say, ice boating, snowmachining, or running in cleats).

WISCA didn’t invent the term “wild ice,” but adopting it for the name of our club did help cement the term within the community. Having a memorable, accurate, and widely-recognized term has made communication about the activity easier, and helped differentiate it from other ice sports and pursuits.

Wild ice skating on Kenai Lake

Nordic skates in context

As the owner a Nordic skate manufacturing company, it may seem counterproductive that I’d want to draw a line between wild ice skating and Nordic skating. But in the long run, I trust that wild ice skaters (and our customers, both current and future) understand and benefit from the distinction between our products and the places in which they excel.

All of us at WISCA are still happy to share the ice with those on figure skates, hockey skates, speed skates, or any other type of skate. In fact, some of us still use non-Nordic skates too. One of our board members even started taking figure skating lessons last season! While we love Nordic skates here at Ermine, the wild ice skating community benefits when people can approach it from many different angles. In most respects the different skating pursuits are all complementary.

Of course, when skaters are ready to level up their wild ice adventures with the most efficient, comfortable wild ice skates out there – Ermine is waiting.”

- Paxson Woelber has been a dedicated Nordic skater and advocate for wild ice skating since 2016. In 2021, he founded Ermine Skate, North America's first Nordic skate company. Today, Ermine offers a range of premium Nordic skates and Nordic skating products designed for wild ice.