The Archie Simpson Arena is an indoor arena located in the community of Fort Chipewyan, which is a small aboriginal community within the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo along Lake Athabasca in northeastern Alberta.
The arena and its natural ice surface was buried when the roof collapsed from the weight of snow in 2005.
The community is only accessible via land when a 100 mile long ice road is built each winter. Boat or plane is required the rest of the year.
The arena became the first rink in North America to a synthetic surface to replace the ice. [1]To be able to use an ice surface for more than 3 months a year, it would take an investment of about $2 million in an ice making system and about $300,000 in maintenance costs. The synthetic surface cost $559,000 to install and has a life expectancy of about 20 years (ten years on each side)