Undeterred by cold, people have been coming out to Prince Albert National Park for everything from snowshoeing to Christmas trees. (Submitted Photo/Prince Albert National Park)

By Rob Mahon

Prince Albert National Park

Despite cold weather, more people visiting Prince Albert National Park

Feb 16, 2022 | 1:00 PM

Saskatchewan residents know how to make the most of winter, even when it’s at its coldest and snowiest. Case in point, Prince Albert National Park, which has been far busier than usual this year despite frigid temperatures and constant deposits of snow.

“During the October to December period, our 2021 visitation was higher than any of the past five years,” said Arron Bahry, promotions and non-personal media officer with Prince Albert National Park. “It was actually 56 per cent higher than 2020 for that period of time.”

The above-average snowfall this winter has actually helped the park on some level. After all, a lot of their most popular activities can’t happen without a healthy dump of snow.

“It’s quite the winter wonderland up there,” Bahry said. “We have about 50 kilometers of cross-country ski trails and 20 kilometers of snowshoeing trails in the park, and they’re packed with snow right now.”

The other defining factor of the weather this winter has been a lot more time in extreme cold temperatures. According to Environment Canada, December, January, and February have all had more days than average below -30 Celsius.

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“During those extreme cold temperatures, we do cancel our interpretative programs but that’s when it’s extremely cold,” said Bahry. “The rest of the time, we’ve had no stops on interpretive programs or any other activities.”

One side effect of the pandemic, with people not able or not willing to travel as much, was people finding things to do in their own back yard, and an increase in day trips would indicate more locals were turning to Prince Albert National Park for that.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest events of winter for the park is just ahead as they prepare for the week of Family Day with activities starting on the Feb. 19. In addition to their usual skiing and snowshoeing, they’ve got several other attractions lined up.

“There’s skating at the local rink, the Paul G Horne Community Arena,” said Bahry. “We also really promote people going and using one of the five enclosed shelters in the park for lunches or warming up. There’s ice fishing. We recommend people watch out for wildlife, because this time of year there’s a large potential to see wildlife, given that there’s so much snow on the ground.”

According to a release from PANP, wildlife in the area includes elk, deer, wolves, and foxes.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP