Ice Skating

One daughter, barely 16, lives in Houston, where she has developed into the country's best gymnast. Another daughter, 14, lives in Southern California, where she is making a name for herself as a figure skater. A son, 18, the eldest of half a dozen children, has returned to the family nest in Northfield, Ill., an upper middle-class suburb of Chicago, after sharpening his speed skating skills for a year in Butte, Mont., and Calgary.

Big Bear Lake is getting ready to offer some cold comfort all year long. The Southern California resort town known for its ski resorts and cool mountain climate will open a new indoor ice-skating rink Saturday. The 1,300-square-foot rink in the Big Bear Funplex will be open daily for recreational skating. "Big Bear will now have a piece of winter 365 days a year," owner Lisa Brogan said in a statement. Brogan and her husband, Raymond, will operate the business, called simply the Ice Rink.

Kim Yuna had boot problems. The reigning world figure skating champion took the ice for her morning practice at the Toronto Cricket Skating & Curling Club, skated a few minutes, then limped off. Kim removed her right skate and gave it to her mother, Park Mee-Hee, who had been watching from beyond a glass wall that separates the club's lounge from the rink. This unremarkable episode two months before the Winter Olympics would have been headline news in South Korea, where three TV networks had shown her arrival at a November Grand Prix event in Lake Placid, N.Y., then run endless loops of her fall on a triple loop jump in . . . practice.

The great thing about visiting Moscow from Los Angeles is you don't have to reset your watch. It's a 12-hour time difference, so all you have to do is think about the time in a different way. Of course, winter in Russia is a little bit different from winter in Southern California. As the sun sets on Moscow, it's 7 degrees below zero and your guide is giving thanks for the mild weather. "It was 20 below zero last night," one local told me when I arrived Tuesday. "Be careful of icicles," said another.

World champion Kristi Yamaguchi of Fremont, Calif., took the lead in the singles events Friday in the Lalique Trophy figure skating competition. Yamaguchi won the original portion which started the women's competition. She hit all the elements to a flowing version of the waltz, "Blue Danube." Midori Ito of Japan, 1989 world champion, was second. Ito missed a difficult jump combination slightly. It put her a notch below the American after the portion that counts for one-third of the total mark.

Nearly 50 young athletes participated in the 21st annual Orange County Special Olympics ice skating competition Friday. Some raced around the Huntington Beach rink with great speed. Others required help from coaches to steady them as they competed in shorter and slower-paced races. Winning didn't seem to be everything to many.

Santa Clarita Valley's first ice-skating facility will open Saturday for public sessions and lessons. Ice Station Valencia has an Olympic-size figure skating rink, a regulation National Hockey League-size rink and a 600-square-foot studio rink for private lessons. The two-story, $12-million facility includes a restaurant, a banquet room and sophisticated sound and lighting systems. Natural light also illuminates the 93,000-square-foot building.

Like thousands of high school seniors in the county, Jennifer Heyl is waiting with anticipation for graduation day. But unlike most students who attended high schools, Heyl is one of many who took the less traveled route, having earned her diploma through an independent study program while pursuing her dream of becoming a professional ice skater. Today, as valedictorian, Heyl will give the commencement speech as she graduates with 67 of her peers from Silverado Continuation High School.

Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan. In the minds of many, it's villainess vs. victim. But what about the minds of the only people who really matter, those who will judge them on the ice in the figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics. Can the judges totally block out the constant barrage of information about the attack on Kerrigan, which has bombarded them from every media outlet, and fairly assess these two skaters and the other competitors solely on the basis of their performances?

Owing $450,000 in rent and mired in financial trouble, the Irvine Ice Arena shut down Thursday evening as a synagogue prepared to complete its purchase of the property. "There goes my office," arena hockey director Mike Jones said as he carried his belongings from the red barn-like building into his car. Workers carried out the soft drink machine, others packed up the sports shop.

MUSIC Noel Gallagher The former Oasis staple is front and center, both live and on his solo debut, "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. " Not as memorable as Oasis' best anthems in the '90s or as nasally rock-ready as his brother's latest incarnation, Beady Eye, but the album hovers within a melodic good-to-average middle ground. The album encircles themes of love, melancholy and aging. Royce Hall, UCLA. 8 p.m. $37-$77. uclalive.org . Kyuss Lives! Ax wielder Josh Homme may have moved on to Queens of the Stone Age, but the band he helped jump-start two decades ago in Palm Desert lives on. Vocalist John Garcia has reunited with Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri to continue the group's heavy metal desert rock assault.

EVENTS For the fifth year, the corner of 5th Street and Arizona Avenue in Santa Monica will morph into an 8,000-square-foot rink by the beach called, fittingly, Ice. In addition to ice skating, events include a L.A. Kings-hosted hockey clinic, adults-only after-hours broomball, wacky hat Wednesdays, a post-Halloween costume skate and rock 'n' skate on Fridays with live bands and DJs. 1324 5th St., Santa Monica. Fri.-Jan. 16. Various times. $12. iceatsantamonica.com.

I’m guessing most New Yorkers have had enough of that whole winter-wonderland thing by now. They certainly seem relieved that after such a stormy winter, most of the snow in Manhattan is melted now. But what about us tourists from warm places, looking for that rare chance to lace on some skates? Not to worry. Though one of the city’s best-known seasonal ice-skating rinks will close Feb. 27, the rinks at Rockefeller Center and Central Park will stay in business through early April.

Put away the eggnog and break out the sneakers ? it's New Year's resolution time, and no doubt millions have made the pledge to get fit. Many of them will join a gym only to find they're bored with the monotony of cardio equipment and weight training routines. But exercise shouldn't be drudgery. Plenty of pleasurable activities deliver a legitimate workout without the hamster-on-a-wheel feeling. Surfing, kayaking, ballroom dancing, trail running and self-defense classes are just a few ways to avoid a fitness rut or supplement a regular gym workout.

EVENTS Just because you live in L.A. doesn't mean you can't conjure up an East Coast-style winter wonderland for yourself. Come downtown to Pershing Square for a spin around the ice rink, and, if you squint, it'll be just like Rockefeller Center. Well, almost. Pershing Square Park, 532 S. Olive St., L.A. Fri.-Jan. 18. Mon-Thurs, noon-10 p.m., Fri-Sun, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. One-hour sessions: $6; skate rental: $2. http://www.laparks.org , (213) 847-4970.

New York City visitors can cut a fine figure on the Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center , which opened over the weekend for the 2010-11 winter season. But if you don’t want to travel so far to pretend you’re Michelle Kwan or Scott Hamilton, just wait a few weeks: "Downtown on Ice" at Pershing Square will open next month in Los Angeles and will run through Jan. 17.   Yes, I  know New York City’s rink is more famous—and offers more appropriate ice skating weather.

It was nearly midnight Thursday, the day of triumph running into the day after, and both Kim Yuna and Brian Orser already were looking at the days ahead. The skater and her coach were in a car going from post-competition doping control to a news conference that would be aired live in South Korea, where half the country's 48 million people already had watched TV broadcasts of their national hero becoming their first Olympic figure skating champion. During the 20-minute ride, Kim and Orser could have sat back and looked at the gold medal she won three hours earlier with a performance of record-breaking, mind-boggling quality.