Better late than never: Forks opens first part of river skating trail

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This article was published 25/01/2024 (620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

James Torrance has been skating on rinks and trails across the city every day, biding his time in hopes that his favourite, the Nestaweya river trail, would open despite this winter’s generally mild weather.

He was sipping a hot chocolate inside the Johnston Terminal at The Forks after a skate Thursday morning when he saw news crews headed to the river and knew the time had finally come.

“Even when I was skating earlier this morning, I saw they already had the trees laid out to the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, and I said, ‘Well, it’s going to be pretty close, so maybe I’ll hang around a little while this morning,’” he said.

“And turned out that it paid off handsomely.”

The Forks opened the Port Rink on the Assiniboine River to winter enthusiasts Thursday, four days later than the previous record — Jan. 21, 2016.

Last year, the trail opened on New Year’s Day, but a slew of challenges, including flooding from the U.S. along the Red and above-normal temperatures forced The Forks to wait and watch, and then quickly prepare as soon as the ice was declared safe, spokesperson Zach Peters said.

“Yesterday was really getting the final sign-off. I texted our operations manager several times, being like, ‘OK, is this 99.8 per cent (ready)? Are we at 100 per cent? Where are we at?” he said.

“So it was waiting for that final word that we were safe on the river and going to be able to officially open it (Thursday).”

Operations staff have been flooding the trail daily to get the ice to a safe thickness level, and monitoring to ensure it hasn’t become too bumpy.

Forecasts have suggested above-average temperatures could persist through January and into the rest of winter.

Warmer temperatures (and direct sunlight) impact the surface level of the trail. If Winnipeg remains persistently balmy, Peters said while it’s unlikely the weather could directly render the ice unsafe again, it could make skating on it difficult.

“We’ve already staffed up for what we predict to be a little bit of extra work to keep it skateable and workable,” he said.

The Forks will unveil six warming huts Friday, and Peters said the hope is to open more stretches of the river trail, which typically closes for the season in March.

Until then, however, Torrance plans to get his fill. He skated for hours Thursday, and can’t wait to get back out again.

“When it’s open, it’s basically my main event for skating,” he said.

“I’ll probably go back tonight after supper.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca