BEIRUT: Under a towering remnant of a Civil War-era structure, the glittering Beirut Souks and a massive banking building, Downtown developers are trying something different this winter: an ice-skating rink, outdoors and uncovered.

Beirut Souks opened the city’s first outdoor ice-skating rink Thursday in the recently developed Beirut Central District with a performance by local figure skaters. The rink is the first skating arena in the Greater Beirut area for nearly a decade.

On its first weekend open to the public, the rink was a large draw for families and friends looking for something to do on a Saturday night. Under decorations of snowcapped mountains, igloos and penguins, people packed the 400-square-meter ice rink.

The largely beginner skaters tottered their way around the small square in figure and hockey skates, pushing up a thick layer of snow shavings over the ice from heavy use.

Setting up the rink outdoors in a country with a crippled electrical grid and heavy winter rains is a risky proposition. But for rink goers it is a risk that they appreciate.

“It’s a good thing that gets people together,” says 20-year-old Amar Hout.

“Because we don’t have anything like ice skating here it temporarily makes people happy,” the Lebanese American University student adds.

Families and couples made their way to the ice as a welcome diversion during the cool and rainy winter. LL20,000 buys skate rental and around two hours of ice time. The rink’s scheduled hours are 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. and the facility is supposed to remain open until the end of February.

“It’s a good idea because there’s no place for children to go outside and have fun,” says Leila Radwan, a 25-year-old banker.

The rink itself is kept frozen with a series of pipes and elaborate tubes spread underneath the elevated skating area. Ice-cold water runs through the pipes below to freeze the surface above.

The project is a collaboration between Beirut Souks, Solidere and BREMCO, a real estate company. Rink organizers say the system is a mobile setup that allows them to move the rink when the winter is over. Rink general manager Ahmad Sbeiti says it is likely they could set up the rink elsewhere in the country during the rest of the year.

Sbeiti says the mobile rink technology with an outdoor setup has been employed elsewhere in the Mediterranean, but never before in Lebanon.

The technology may be sophisticated, but with no covering over the ice it is exposed to the elements which can cause melting as the weather fluctuates.

The rink has already had to be closed due to rain, and significant water pooling on top of the ice is already visible on the rink’s third day open.

“Unfortunately the weather is not helping us,” says Ahmad Katergi, who manages a shop in the rink complex.

Katergi says if the weather improves he anticipates doing lots of business.

“Basically it’s attracting a lot of people,” he adds.

The small size of the ice and limited ways to maintain the surface are causing some trouble as well. Experienced skaters said the ice was bumpier than a frozen pond while others found it difficult to move in the packed rink.

All of the problems aside, skaters are welcoming a chance to skate in the area for the first time in a number of years. The last rink in the general area closed almost a decade ago leaving skaters without any alternatives.

Sam Khoury a 35-year-old civil engineer took his family to the rink because he says skating is a great outing for families.

“I think it’s a good thing, I wish we had something like this permanently, not temporarily,” he says.