In January 1998, National Geographic Magazine published a feature article about the Dutch winters.
"Ode to ice. When a hard freeze transforms the Dutch landscape, canals sing with the music of skates."
Author and illustrations text: Lisa Moore LaRoe.
Photographer: Co Rentmeester.
Schzz... schzz... schzz... the rhythmic push and glide of steel blades on frozen water is music to the Dutch soul. When icy canals fan out across the land like rays of sunlight, skaters warm to their national obsession, captured here in a portrait begun two decades ago.
Ice draws the Dutch outdoors with a primeval force as old as their history. Aks anyone there why, and the answer is the same: "Because there's so much water.". With one-quarter of the nation below sea level and nearly half its land reclaimed from the sea, the Netherlands is laced with canals, lakes, rivers, and drainage waterways. When winters are cold enough, these freeze into magical avenues for skating and celebrating Dutch culture with elaborate events such as races with horse-drawn antique sleighs.
A deep freeze is rare, which adds to the allure. "Our winters are influenced by the Gulf Stream and therefore are rather rainy and bland," says Co Rentmeester, who was born in Amsterdam. "But when winter is strong and very cold, the lakes and canals freeze, and the Dutch become like Olympians. It's a national passion."
Last winter was strong enough to hold the famous Elfstedentocht, or Eleven Cities Tour, a 200-kilometer (124 miles) skating marathon through 11 medieval Frisian towns that drew more than 16,000 skaters and half a million onlookers. Such events give the usually antinationalistic Dutch a chance to cheer their countrymen and their accomplishments. "We can walk on water and see the lands we made with our own hands," says historian Herman Pleij with a laugh. For Dutch skating champion Ria Visser, the appeal is more soulful: "To be in nature with the cold and the silence and the elegant movement of skates, it's like flying. You feel free."
Bitter cold ignites celebration in Hindeloopen, a 13th-century trading port whose frozen canal becomes a stage for schoonrijders, or "fancy skating". "It's a lot of fun," says Gerda Rinkes. "And it's a part of our culture that I don't want us to lose."
Copyright © 1997 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.
Published articles are not available online.
Most past issues of National Geographic are available for purchase by calling +1 800 NGS LINE (+1 800 647 5463) in the U.S. and Canada.
If calling from outside of the U.S. and Canada: +1 813 979 6845.
Or, try your local library.
Photographer Co Rentmeester took nearly 20 years to complete this romantic photo essay.
You can find schoonrijden at page 38-39.
Copyright © 1998 Co Rentmeester. All rights reserved.
De makers van www.rinkes.nl zijn zorgvuldig als het gaat om het geven van correcte en actuele informatie aan de bezoekers van de website. Desondanks kunnen zij niet garanderen dat de informatie in alle gevallen foutloos, volledig en actueel is. Daarom kunnen aan de informatie op de pagina's van deze website geen rechten worden ontleend. Verder aanvaarden de makers van www.rinkes.nl geen aansprakelijkheid voor schade als gevolg van onjuistheden en/of gedateerde informatie.
Wij stellen het op prijs indien u geconstateerde onvolledigheden en/of fouten aan ons meldt via het contactformulier.
Copyright © 2001-2012 Rinkes (www.rinkes.nl). Alle rechten voorbehouden.
Laatst gewijzigd: Monday 22 February 2010 12:58 CET.
