By Chelsea Laskowski

Some winter activities off-limits at Little Red park

Dec 4, 2014 | 1:12 PM

The City of Prince Albert has some sad news for its outdoor enthusiasts this winter – parts of Little Red River Park are closed off.

Major riverbank erosion from 2013 flooding is to blame, said the City’s parks manager Alissa Baker.

A small toboggan hill, playground and shelter on the south side of Little Red River are shut down entirely. This is for safety as three of the pedestrian access paths to those areas are shut down.

However, the news isn’t quite so grim for those who enjoy downhill skiing or the most-used toboggan hill, which will remain open. The lit area of the river-area cross- country skiing trail is shut down, but Baker pointed out that’s a small area of the park’s large network of cross-country paths.  

The first access was a pedestrian bridge that crossed over Spruce River. That area was damaged after water from the dam at Anglin Lake was released in 2013, which ended up flooding significant areas of Little Red River Park. 

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“What happened is the erosion around the base of the bridge started to make the bridge unstable so we decided to remove it,” Baker explained.

This happened long before the snow fell this year.

There is another access to the west (or left) of the road leading into Little Red River Park’s main entrance that’s now off limits. This is because 2014 saw further flooding.

“We lost a chunk of the asphalt pathway this past year too with the high water and the increased erosion. So we made the decision to block that as well. So by doing that we’ve essentially blocked of the access,” she said.

The final path is a cross-country trail behind the ski hill that’s usually groomed. However, the single direction of the trail isn’t circular, meaning people would have to turn around. The led the caretakers to decide not to groom it this year.

“The idea of it being closed is it became a public safety concern now that we don’t have direct public access across the river into this portion of the park. With the river freezing… we will potentially have thin ice and we do want to prevent people from crossing that thin ice because it is a public safety concern,” Baker said.

Snow fences will block off the paths and “thin ice” warning signs have gone up already.

It’s not only ice posing a risk. The erosion has led to some harsh drop-offs that are dangerous to pedestrians or skiers.

“In the winter when you get that accumulation of snow, it’s harder to see that drop-off,” Baker explained.

In the summer, the cross-country trail behind the western hill will be reopened.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk