Ice ice baby!

With summer just around the corner, enjoy the fun of ice skating at your next trip to select city-based malls

Ice ice baby!

April 15 was significant for recording the highest temperature in April in the last two years. Amid such sweltering heat, the idea of ice skating might sound interesting to drive those beads of sweat away and to channel your little one’s energy to something productive during the vacations.u00a0While R City Mall in Vikhroli and R Mall in Thane have synthetic skating rinks, you can get closer to reality at Atria Mall in Worli and Neptune Mall in Bhandup which offer real ice skating venues.

Instructors show off their ice skating skills. Pic/ Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Ice rink adventures for mother and child
The newest ice rink on the block is the Get Lost rink at Neptune Mall in Bhandup. It is the only un-enclosed ice rink in the city, which means you don’t have to pay to watch the skaters in action. At any given time, the rink has atleast three instructors to help the beginners around. The rink covers a total of 2,000 square feet and has about three inches of ice to skate on. Daily sessions last for an hour each and cost Rs 250, which is quite less compared to other rinks in the city.u00a0For summer, they have a special ten-day coaching camp, which costs Rs 1,000. They provide the required safety guards such as helmets, elbow pads and kneepads. And if you are still worried about your little one’s safety, director Rohit Mathur, says, “Mothers usually stand outside the rink while children are skating. So, from May onwards, we have a special offer where mothers can skate for free along with their children. On weekends, we will have special light effects and music sessions as well.” The rink also provides free sliders or supports for beginners.

At: Neptune Mall, LBS Road, Bhandup (W).
TIme: 11 am to 10 pm

The real deal

Located on the fourth floor, in a corner of Atria Mall is Orama’s ice skating rink. The 2,000 square feet rink is an enclosed section and the temperatures dip quite low ensuring that you get close to the real deal. Apart from daily one-hour sessions for shoppers, Orama has three professional training modules — Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. The beginner modules cost Rs 6,000 for ten sessions and teach basic techniques such as walking, running and sliding or backward skating. You can opt for higher modules only after completing the beginner sessions and they cover techniques such as late passing, arm movement, relay changes, cross balancing and even dancing on ice (Rs 25,000).u00a0They have five instructors to train participants every day and the main coach at the venue is Rishi Sarode, a Guinness Book of World Records title-holder. Hourly sessions start from Rs 300 onwards and go up to Rs 425 during weekends.

Did you know?
One of the oldest rinks around Mumbai is located at the amusement park Essel World. They have a huge area of 3,400 square feet of real ice. Entry to the rink costs Rs 100 on weekdays and Rs 125 on weekends.