Officials with The Forks are holding out hope that skating season at the currently closed frozen river trail is not finished for the year.
"Now, we’re just playing the waiting game," said Chelsea Thomson with The Forks North Portage Partnership.
“We typically close the Red River Mutual Trail around the end of February, or the beginning of March.”
However, if the ice quality does not improve and the trail remains closed, this would be the shortest skating season on the river at The Forks.
“Hopefully, with a few nights of cold, at the very least we could have another weekend of skating,” Thomson said.
Thomson said the on land skating trails will not be reopened this year, but she’s confident the canopy skating oval and the Crokicurl circle can be up again soon.
Kevin Tordiffe with the Lifesaving Society Manitoba Branch worries about the quality of frozen rivers, lakes and ponds across southern Manitoba.
He said colder temperatures might not make ice surfaces safe again.
"In some ways, I would say that it makes it worse, because we get the impression that it is colder and the ice must be safe, but the damage has been done, because of the warm weather we had," Tordiffe said.
Tordiffe called it rotten ice and said the gaps and bubbles that have formed below won't allow the ice to freeze solid.
The unsafe ice has also forced the postponement of this weekend's FMG Ice Dragon Challenge until March 11.
