NYT Vocabulary: Forest Skating

No matter how enjoyable at first, whooshing round and round the constrained oval of an ice rink can get ​ (a)   for even the most die-hard skater.

• monotonous
• momentous
• provocative
• ridiculous

But gliding on the ice through miles of pristine forest, with birds in the trees, paw prints of wildlife imprinted in the snow and a new discovery beckoning around every bend? That never gets old to skaters in Ottawa, and ice trails winding through woodlots are multiplying in and around the city, Canada’s capital, helping fill what seems to be a/an ​ (a)   demand there for new recreational skating options.

• insatiable
• finite
• fleeting
• intermittent

“This is an actual childhood dream come true: to be able to skate anywhere you want,” said Michelle Reid, who drove with her husband, Lee Larson, for about two hours from Kingston, Ontario, to celebrate their 23rd wedding anniversary at Icelynd, which became Ottawa’s sixth ice-trail network when it opened this January. “It’s travel by skate through a forest, instead of circles on a rink.” Chris Neil, a defenseman in the National Hockey League for 17 years, began cutting down trees last autumn to ​ (a)   a patch of forest into Icelynd.

• transform
• grow
• preserve
• relocate

Chain saws in hand, he and one of his business partners, Jarrett Gibbons, plunged into the 25 acres of land that Mr. Neil owns. They had to chart new paths through the forest because the sorts of trails used for hiking, mountain biking, snow shoeing or cross-country skiing aren’t suited for skating. Slopes that would go ​ (a)   in any of those activities could mean water running downhill before it can freeze.

• unnoticed
• unloved
• unmanned
• unused

More worryingly, steep downhills can cause even experienced skaters to lose control — potentially creating a variation of ice cross downhill, the gladiatorial ​ (a)   sport in which contestants wearing full hockey gear plunge down ice tracks at speeds of up to 45 miles an hour.

• extreme
• sluggish
• supreme
• gentle

Which short summary below would you say BEST captures what the piece is about?

• A new problem threatens Ottowa's old growth forests: athletes who need challenges beyond what staid ice rinks can offer.

• Ottowa's winter-lovers can now pick among half-dozen skating trails that wind for miles through the wilderness in and around the city.

• The COVID pandemic inspired skating trails as a safer alternative to skating indoors.

• Trail skating is unique in many ways, including its lack of need for Zamboni operators.