Sizing Each Other Up



Peak Elevation



Type of Ice



The Scene



Après-Skating Accommodations



Drinks Other Than Spiked Hot Chocolate



Some coincidences are just too strong to ignore. Like when a pair of hotels debuts a pair of ice-skating rinks. At the exact same time. Thus, we were compelled to investigate Skating in the Sky at the W Downtown and The Standard Ice Skating Rink. By no means should you consider this a competition. Though someone will skate away with a humongous trophy.400 square feet.3,000 square feet.The Standard. But the 12-by-40-foot rink at the W is still enough space for your Black Swan interpretive Ice Capades show.Five floors up.Ground level.The W. The Russian judge/cocktail waitress will appreciate the extra degree of difficulty.A futuristic hybrid-ice synthetic rink panel polymer.Frozen water.The Standard. There may or may not be a Zamboni. And we may or may not know where the keys are hidden.Panoramic views. Titans of the financial world working on their short program.Waitresses in tight black snowsuits. Models/skaters in tighter black jeans.The Standard. Imagine the rink at Rockefeller Center, but with fewer families from Tulsa, and more visiting European dignitaries.Skate-up, rinkside Ice Bar constructed entirely out of freezing-cold blocks of fake ice.Biergarten with Winter Oyster Bar. Cheese fondue.The W. It’s hard not to appreciate a winterized version of the swim-up pool bar.Kumquat Mules. Bourbon Hot Toddies.Hard pear cider. Bitburger Pils. Schnapps.The Standard. Martini glasses and slippery synthetic rink panel polymer make terrible bedfellows.