Plastic sole instead of rubber, asphalt instead of ice, trainers instead of winter boots: what really changes in summer — and what you must readjust on the stock.
Yes, you can play all year: in winter the stock runs on ice with a rubber running sole, in summer on asphalt with a plastic running sole — and the sole is the only part you need to swap [1][5]. What you do have to relearn is the feel for the run. Here the surface dictates everything.
Historically it was different: the sport was originally played only in winter on frozen bodies of water and only later became year-round [3]. Today summer play is not a substitute programme — it is the larger part of the year, and over a hundred German clubs let you start exactly there and lend you the equipment [2].
The honest rule of thumb for the switch: summer forgives you slipping, but not sloppy distance control. On asphalt you stand rock solid — in exchange the stock reacts far more clearly to sole, temperature and surface [1][5].
The stock is built in three parts: handle, stock body and an exchangeable running sole [4]. For the seasonal change you swap exactly that third part: rubber in winter, plastic in summer [1][5].
This is not cosmetic. The sole is the only component that touches the surface — it determines how far and how fast your stock runs [1].
Rubber compounds are specified in Shore A, plastics in Shore D [5]. The basic rule holds on both scales: the higher the Shore value, the harder the plate and the faster the stock runs [1].
In practical terms [5]: a softer plate brings more frictional resistance and glides more heavily — but forgives inaccuracies in the swing. A hard plate glides aggressively and far and demands excellent distance control. For a summer start the softer option is the more honest choice: you lose a few metres of reach and gain control.
Important, because a lot of half-knowledge circulates here: the colour scales for hardness grades contradict each other between sources [1]. So rely on Shore value and the manufacturer's specification, not on the colour of the plate.
Play happens on asphalt and concrete, increasingly also on concrete paving stones [1]; hard-aggregate screed is named as well [6]. These surfaces are rougher and, depending on how they were laid, far less uniform than a milled ice sheet.
Concrete figures for how much slower a paved lane runs compared with asphalt are not available in the source base — and invented values would help you least of all. So do it yourself: two or three trial attempts at medium swing length as a measurement, then recalibrate your distances.
Plastic works with heat. The world federation's rulebook explicitly addresses the thermal expansion of plastic base plates: at higher outdoor temperatures the referee must tolerate expansion beyond the otherwise permitted maximum diameter [7].
Take two things from that. First: the sport regulates this administratively, not metrologically — there is no laboratory measurement giving you a characteristic curve [7]. Second, practically: on a hot afternoon your material runs differently than on a cool evening. Anyone who calibrates in the morning and plays in the evening calibrates twice.
One requirement is worth knowing before you buy a used plate: summer running soles must have an active, plane running surface of at least 120 millimetres in diameter [7]. On top of that come tightly toleranced limits for bulges and hollows in the running surface, which the referee checks with standardised gauges [7].
For club night that is irrelevant. As soon as you enter a registered competition, it is not.
A side topic, but one with a direction: because natural ice is becoming rarer, the sport increasingly moves onto synthetic ice rinks [8]. How an ice stock runs on such panels, however, has not been measured — the available laboratory data come from a manufacturer-commissioned test on skate blades, not on stock soles [8]. So treat synthetic lanes like an unknown lane: calibrate, don't guess.
The obvious advantage of summer: on asphalt you do not slip away as you do on bare ice — ordinary trainers are enough [2]. That does not amount to a free pass, though: whether injury numbers really are lower in summer is a plausible but unproven assumption; no study directly compares summer and winter.
What remains is impact from other people's equipment: a stock leaving the lane is just as heavy on asphalt as on ice. Insist on lane separation, never stand between lanes, never step onto a lane while a stock is running. Add for summer: sun protection and drinking — tournaments drag on, and an asphalt court heats up.
This guide explains and motivates, it never replaces a supervised club or course where someone shows you the right sole choice for your lane in person.
For every lane you play regularly, keep a small sole card on your phone: surface, Shore value of the plate, time of day, rough temperature, and how your medium swing length ran there. After three summers you have something no colour chart can give you — your own reliable reference for the moment when you get just two trial attempts on an unfamiliar lane.
Yes, the sport is played year-round: on ice in winter, on asphalt in summer [2]. What was originally a pure winter sport on frozen water has long been a year-round sport [3]. Over a hundred German clubs offer taster sessions and lend out the stocks [2].
Winter on ice: rubber sole. Summer on asphalt or plastic screed: plastic sole [1][5]. Rubber is specified in Shore A, plastic in Shore D [5]. The sole is exchangeable, the rest of the stock stays the same [4].
The higher the Shore value, the harder the plate and the faster the stock runs [1]. Softer plates brake more and forgive inaccuracies in the swing, hard plates glide aggressively and far and demand excellent distance control [5]. For beginners, softer is the more controllable choice.
The colours are meant to mark hardness grades — but the colour sequences contradict each other between sources [1]. That is why no colour scale appears here. Binding are Shore value and manufacturer's specification; anyone buying a used plate asks for both instead of for the colour.
In summer ordinary trainers are enough [2] — the elaborate grip question of winter disappears on asphalt. Beyond that, mobile clothing, sun protection and enough to drink make sense, because an asphalt court heats up strongly and tournaments drag on.
Off-Lane Training for Ice Stock Sport: Core, Legs and the Fitness That Keeps Your Delivery Stable