Last year was a very mild winter. My tarp went down (30x40 rink) on grass since we has no snow. We got about 12 inches yesterday, and I still need to get the tarp down. I was thinking that I would go out and compact the snow best I could to avoid high spots. I am not sure if the weight of the water would flatten it naturally, or if I still could get some peaks and valleys if I don't flatten it.

Any input appreciated.

Hi Dale - I just moved this topic out of the "introductions" forum so more would see it.

I'm actually in the same boat with a few of my customers who decided to wait to fill. I have one this afternoon, and we got 7 inches of snow yesterday. I thought about borrowing some snowshoes to flatten it down in lieu of shoveling a 28x60 rink, but I'm worried that I won't compact it enough and that the relatively warm water would melt the snow underneath, stretching the liner and possibly ripping it. So I think, unfortunately, I'm going to either shovel or snowblow it. Neither will be fun, since I need to be sure I don't destroy the lawn.

Sorry to bring up an old topic, but I'm going to be filling in January, when I assume I'll have a decent amount of snow on the ground. Any update on how this went? Has anyone tried filling on top of packed snow? I'd rather not shovel my 24x48 if I don't have to, but if there's no other choice, I'll just put on my big boy pants and do it to it.

We actually ended up snowblowing. We were just careful to not dig up the lawn. You don't need to get rid of 100% of the snow, but since the water is warmer than the snow, it will melt as it fills, dragging the liner down as it does so. Just leave lots of slack in your liner as you fill.

I have my liner down. I had some deep spots that are filled in and I can walk and even jump on now. It has snowed and know there is snow on the exposed parts of the liner. I don't want to shovel in fear of ripping the liner. What should I do?

Pack that snow by any means (snowshoes, plywood, lawnroller or just by walking on it) and then soak the snow until it is slush. Bring it level with you existing fill and let it freeze. Once frozen, resurface as one and pretty soon you'll be skating.

Thanks a lot Kev. I did it last night and of course the 5% chance of snow the weathermen called for turned into 5 in. So I just got done clearing the rink and now hopefully the cold air will do it's job.

No worries. I hope it works out for you. Keep us posted.