The Clyde Curling Club may be down, but they’re by no means out.
Trouble with the ice plant put a chill on this year’s season, and may mean a significant expense to repair, but club president Dennis Hampshire said the club’s 40 members are sticking it out.
“I’m proud that everybody agrees we don’t want to take the year off,” he said.
“Everybody said ‘No, let’s call Westlock and see if they have ice time available to us,’ and they made it work.”
Clyde’s curlers now face the drive to Westlock on Monday nights for their league curling, and although it’s not the same as being on their home ice they’re keeping their heads up.
The problem with Clyde’s ice plant is the chiller, one of the three main components of the plant. The condenser and compressor are still in working order.
“The chiller has leaked, which holds the brine,” Hampshire said.
“After time it corrodes. I don’t know how many years old it is, but it is no longer functioning.”
The club had explored the possibility of using an old chiller from Mallaig, Alta., after a club in that community put in a brand-new plant, but that proved to be a fruitless venture.
After a club member picked up the chiller and had it inspected by a company that could do the installation, they discovered the chiller was missing the steel certification plate on the outside of the pressurized vessel — meaning the company wouldn’t install it.
“Now we’re sitting with a 5,000-lb. paperweight,” Hampshire said.
While the club is making use of Westlock’s facilities for the time being, it could still be possible to get ice in Clyde by the end of the season — but it’s not likely.
“We’re trying to weigh all our options,” he said. “We can buy a new chiller, but for the price of that do we just bite the bullet and try to find a matching grant? Right now we’re weighing all our options.”
The price of a brand-new ice plant retrofitted into the existing building would come in at more than $115,000, Hampshire said, depending on what extras might need to be done during the installation process.
Regardless whether they opt for just a new chiller or a brand-new plant, the work wouldn’t likely begin until January or possibly later, which raises the question of whether it’s worth it to make ice for just a partial season.
One way or the other, though, the club will persist.
“The nice thing is our club has stayed strong,” Hampshire said. “We’ve had a couple meetings and put it to a vote, and nobody wanted to disband the club or let it sit idle for a year.”
