Believe it or not the next skater makes their own tracing and a kind of stick thingy is used to measure the size of the tracing compared to the skaters height!!
Oh yes, I saw them doing that, too. I guess my question is more basic...do they just move to a clean patch of ice after each skater, or do they wipe that same patch of ice clean each time? I know, kind of a dumb question, but my curiousity is piqued now! LOL
Something like that ,but the sheer perseverance for perfection is quite incredible when you watch it online. 7 hours is a long slog ,but would be fab to have them back as a skating formality .I hope when a next compulsory figures camp comes around it will be heavily promoted and marketed because it really deserves a shot especially with the amount of adult skaters on ice these days . I believe they will love them !! 
As a skater, I would love to see more of this, too. It's pretty amazing stuff! I think I'd give more credit to the skills of someone who can do all those perfect tracings, rather than someone who can do a quadruple jump. But I can understand why it was cut as part of competitions...it just takes too long and is not meant for spectators.
Rene
