New user, been lurking and reading the past couple of weeks because I thought I might try to put in a backyard rink this winter. My son is in his 2nd year of mites and loves to skate.

So following some of the instructions I found on this site, I staked out the flattest area my yard has to offer.
And by flat, I mean, not flat at all. Unfortunately, our whole neighborhood is graded towards the retention ponds and nobody has a flat yard. That and the fat that we are in the foothills of the Pocono mountains in Eastern PA...well you get the idea.

So I staked out a 30x20 area where our yard is the flattest (we actually have a really flat area at the bottom of the yard but wouldn't fit more than a 5x10 as we have a pie shaped lot)

Also, I have a slight "hump" in my yard just north of my high end...and what I wound up with is 5" depth at my high end and a 21" depth at my low end.

That's ridiculous, right? I mean, can that possibly work? I mean, I guess I could do a 30x15, but the 30x20 seems ideal for our yard size, the size of the skaters etc.

I've included some pictures..one of the stakes before I ran the string and took measurements and the 2nd a simple diagram of the measurements I came up with.

Thanks in advance for any advice the experts can provide :)

It can work with that differential in depth but you are going to need way more water than you would with a smaller slope difference. You would also have to brace the deeper end much more than the shallower end.

I've been exchanging emails with the people at Iron Sleek who came up with a plan for me..unfortunately, the amount of hardware needed might make it cost prohibitive at this time.

We'll see.
If I do go forward, I'll post pics.

Thanks for the response.

Is topsoil out of the question? If you added some topsoil to the lower section of the rink but maintained a slope to the retention ponds, you would be able to lower the differential between the top and bottom.

I have about a 14" slope over 24 feet in my yard & made it work last year with 1/2" 2'x8' OSB. You can do it without too much concern if you brace the hell out of it - probably angle braces every 1-2 feet.

The past two seasons I put a rink in my front yard (24x36) which had a huge slope. First year I had about 30 inches of ice on the deep end, and last season I put pallets down there with some old carpet over them under the liner and ended up with probably 22 inches of ice. I never did get the whole rink useable (the shallow end never did get enough to skate on) but I probably ended up with a 24 by 24 foot rink that the kids (and me) had a blast on. This season I've got a few loads of fill into the back yard to create a nice level space to build. That said, even extreme slopes are useable. It might be frustrating by times, but it can work if you are willing to work with what you have. Jeff