Another sign that warmer weather is finally around the corner arrived early Saturday morning, after a stretch of the Stanley Park Seawall finally reopened.
The stretch of the iconic pathway running from Siwash Rock to the Lions Gate Bridge had been closed since Feb. 7 due to the risk of falling ice from the rock face directly above the path.
Early Saturday morning, the Vancouver Park Board announced that the pathway had reopened, ending what they called the longest closure of the seawall in its nearly 40-year history.
The park board has been updating the public regularly about the status of the pathway, saying they were waiting for above-zero temperatures to stay steady enough to melt the ice.
WATCH: Stanley Park seawall closed because of ice bombs (2016)
The closure came in the midst of a nasty winter for the Lower Mainland, which saw heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures blanket the region.
Wildly shifting temperatures in the days following the snowfall in early February caused ice to break off and fall onto the path.
Vancouver Park Board director Howard Normann said Saturday the closure took especially long because of the lack of sunshine on that stretch, which allowed massive amounts of ice to form.
Normann said scalers were brought in over the past three days to break any loose material off the wall, and a crew cleaned and power washed the rockface to get the path ready for Saturday morning.
The director added getting the path reopened is a huge relief for both the Park Board and visitors to the seawall.
“People were definitely frustrated, because everyone loves the seawall,” Normann said. “But safety first is always our priority.”
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