Blackstrap Lake Ice Cover Parking Lot

Abstract

During the Canada Winter Games (1971) more than 4000 cars were parked on the ice cover of Blackstrap Lake during the skiing events on Mount Blackstrap. The rapid increase in winter recreation activities will result in increased use of ice covers for sporting events and parking. Ice thickness and buoyancy measurements were made at regular intervals over the lot during the 3 weeks immediately prior to the Winter Games. Continuous recordings of the ice surface deflection were obtained in the critical loading area. Systematic loading trials of increased magnitude were carried out to measure the static and dynamic performance of the ice cover. During the Winter Games the design load distribution was adjusted daily so that it was equal of less than the observed buoyancy of the ice cover in the parking area. This load distribution was achieved by controlling the parking density. This criterion provides a conservative estimate of the allowable distributed load for loading periods of several hours duration.The procedures developed provide a reasonable guideline for the safe use of freshwater covers for similar events.