back to overview

The Ice Master

1 - The man in the picture is called Norbert Jank. He has an unusual job: he’s an ice rink keeper. But he doesn’t sell delicious ice cream, as you might think. Instead, he works in winter on a large frozen lake. He clears away the snow and prepares the ice so people can skate on it.

2 - That’s quite a lot of work, and you have to know the lake very well. Norbert Jank has been the official ice master of Lake Weissensee since 1988. The lake is in Austria. It has frozen over every winter so far because it is quite high up in the mountains. Thousands of visitors come here every year from December to March.

3 - In winter, the ice master drives across the frozen lake every day, sweeping, planing and smoothing the ice. He knows exactly when it is safe to go onto the lake and when it is too dangerous. Norbert Jank watches how the water freezes and how the ice develops. It is different every year.

4 - It depends on the weather: How cold is it? How much snow has fallen? How strong is the wind? The first layer of ice usually forms on the lake around the beginning of December. The ice master measures how thick it is. Skaters may only go onto the lake once the ice is at least 10 to 13 centimetres thick.

5 - In one of the photos below, you can see Norbert Jank using a chainsaw to cut a square out of the ice. He then pulls out the cut piece with a large pair of tongs. Next, he measures the block of ice with a tape measure: the ice is already 50 centimetres thick. So there’s no danger.

6 - Norbert Jank is a special kind of ice master because he works on a natural lake. Ice masters usually work in indoor ice rinks and maintain artificial ice surfaces. He taught himself everything. He has been working on Lake Weissensee for over 50 years. At first, he took visitors across the ice in horse-drawn sleighs.

7 - Norbert Jank uses some very special machines for his work. He and his sons built most of the vehicles themselves. They must not be too heavy, so the ice can support them. But they must still be able to work across a large area of ice, for example to clear snow to the side.

7 - The ice master is especially busy in January. That’s when several major ice-skating races take place on Lake Weissensee. Competitors race over distances of up to 200 kilometers. Around 6,000 visitors arrive over the course of two weeks, most of them from the Netherlands. For them, it’s a substitute for the Elfstedentocht.

8 - When rivers and canals freeze over in the Netherlands, a competition is held there. Participants cover a distance of 200 kilometres through eleven cities, hence the name Elfstedentocht. But rivers and canals now freeze over only rarely. That is why the competition has been moved to Lake Weissensee in Austria.

9 - Ice master Norbert Jank ensures the ice rink is in good condition and keeps the lake safe. When skaters all set off together, the ice has to be able to support 240,000 kilograms. That is about the weight of 400 elephants.

10 - And what does the ice master do in summer? “Then I eat ice cream,” he says with a laugh. “And I play with my grandchildren.”