Preparations for the skating trails on the Red and Assinibione rivers this winter are at a standstill.
It’s a far cry from how things looked at the Forks at this time last year.
“I’m heartbroken; it’s not fun,” says Lucy Rust, one of about a dozen people using the skating trails on land at the Forks on Tuesday morning.
“I used to just go and tear down those trails on the river, that’s my favorite thing to do.”
If the river trail stays closed this year, it would be the first time it hasn’t opened in some capacity since 2000.
“At this point it’s not looking good. It would be very challenging to overcome the issues that we’re looking at right now,” says Larissa Peck, communications director at the Forks.
Large chunks of ice along the river bank are causing some major problems for crews hoping to get started on this year’s trail.
“What we’re really struggling with this year is safely moving people and equipment down onto the ice,” Peck said.
Even though Winnipeggers most likely won’t be able to skate on the river this year, the Forks have been focusing their energy on opening additional land trails this Friday.
“With the Manitoba 150 trails, we’ve got about two kilometres of trail. They’re going to look different than they have in the past so that’s something cool you can come explore, they will be winding through the parks Canada site.”
Last winter, the trail was open for a record-breaking 76 days.
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