Opening of Winnipeg’s Nestaweya River Trail days away

One of Winnipeg’s winter crown jewels is set to open in the coming days, but officials at the Forks say 2024 will see the latest start ever when it comes to the Nestaweya River Trail. 

Thousands of people take to the Nestaweya River Trail as a winter activity annually, with skaters usually out in full force by this time, but Zach Peters, communications and marketing manager at the Forks, says the trail is not quite ready.

“We are close,” said Peters. “Later this week, into the weekend, is when we’ll officially be able to open it up to the public, again, barring no significant setbacks.” 

“We are now officially at what would be the latest time we’ve ever opened in sort of our records. 2020 was an odd year, leading into the pandemic, not related to the pandemic, it actually didn’t open that year at all because of some other circumstantial things with how the ice set, but in years that it has opened, the latest previously was January 21st so we’re just passed that now, but we’re still aiming for the January timeframe.” 

Not seen since 2016, the delay was partially caused by high flows on the Red River and Peters says teams are doing regular checks and flooding saying while the work involved in the cool amenity is immense — it’s worth it. 

“We’re a city winter after all, so getting down on that river — seeing the city from a unique and different perspective — is what it’s all about,” said Peters. 

Just because the river trail is set to open, it doesn’t mean River ice as a whole is ready to go, the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service responds to roughly 150 water and ice rescue calls annually.

“We are a safety organization so our mantra is safety, safety, safety, if you’re going out these days, we’ve had unusual weather in comparison to many years, so our recommendation goes on a supervised or designated ice surface — one that has been checked, that somebody is looking out for on an ongoing basis, because with all of the temperature fluctuations we’ve had, we’ve not had good ice formation weather at all this winter,” said Christopher Love, with the Life-Saving Society Manitoba.

Lve says 2024 has been a bad one when it comes to ice conditions and says if you’re planning to build your annual river rink, you have to do it responsibly, saying the clearer or darker the ice, the better.

“You have to be measuring that ice every day to check on it, and it’s not just the thickness you have to look at, you also have to look at the quality of the ice.”