For a few months each winter, Lake Windermere stops being a lake and becomes a road. The Toby Creek Nordic Ski Club plows and grooms a skating and cross-country trail directly onto the ice, and at its longest it has been measured at just under 30 km — which earned it a Guinness World Record for the longest ice skating trail.

It starts at the bottom of Invermere, which means most of our homes are a short walk or a two-minute drive from getting on it.

Best Times to Go

Late Afternoon

The light on the ice in the hour before sunset is the reason people photograph this place. It is also when the wind usually drops.

A First Skate

The trail is flat, wide and forgiving, which makes it a far gentler place to learn than a rink. There is no board to cling to, but there is also nobody going fast around you.

If Half Your Group Does Not Skate

Alongside the skating lane there are groomed skate-ski and classic cross-country tracks, and much of it is walkable. A group that cannot agree can still do this together, which is not true of most winter activities.

Deep Winter

In the season the record was verified, ice thickness ran from around 30 cm early on to nearly 76 cm at the coldest point. Thicker ice means more of the trail is open and the surface is better.

What to Know Before You Go

What to Bring

Wind on open ice is colder than the same temperature in town. Everyone underestimates this once.

Bring:

• Skates, or plan to rent in town

• A windproof outer layer rather than a thick one

• Gloves you can still hold a phone in, plus a warmer spare pair

• A hat that covers your ears

• Something hot in a flask if you are going out for more than an hour

For a longer session:

• Sunglasses — glare off ice is worse than off snow

• A small pack, because layers come off and back on

• A plan for where you are getting back off the ice

An hour on the Whiteway before dinner is something you can genuinely do from most of our properties without it taking a day.