'There's nothing more enjoyable': Winter sports in full force after snow and cold hits Manitoba

A woman and her dog seen skijoring in Winnipeg in an undated photo. (Susie Strachan)

Winter sport enthusiasts rejoice, with plenty of snow and cold weather in the last few days, the conditions are perfect to hit the slopes, trails or rinks.

Susie Strachan said she is excited to get back on the trail and enjoy what winter has to offer.

"It's so lovely. It's like having a regular winter," said Strachan.

Strachan's sport of choice is skijoring. It's where an animal, like a horse or dog, pulls someone on skis through a groomed trail.

Strachan founded Snow Motion, which is a skijoring and kick sledding (the same as skijoring but on sleds) club.

At Snow Motion, they use their dogs for the activity.

"There's nothing more enjoyable, as far as I'm concerned, than getting outside with my dogs and going for a ski in the winter. It's lovely to be outside on a day like today. You've got the sun out, the snow is sparkling. If it's not too windy, you can hear the little birds twittering in the bushes."

She said living in a city like Winnipeg means embracing the winter and not hiding inside.

A dog taking a break from skijoring in an undated photo. (Susie Strachan)

Snow Motion plans to launch this weekend, a major upgrade compared to last winter when there was very little snow on the ground.

"I think we did our fall training walks right up until the end of December, and we didn't get on to the trails, the groomed trails, until about mid-January."

If the weather is consistent this year, Strachan said they could be skijoring until the beginning of April.

Outdoor rinks around Winnipeg are also opening up. Kevin Leclair, the operations manager for the Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre, said he saw people out for a skate Friday afternoon.

"It's nice. We do so much work to get these rinks up and running and to have people out there skating, it's a huge bonus."

He said it's still a little later than normal for the rink to open up, noting they like to have it done by the beginning of December when possible, but it is still an improvement over last winter.

"Last year was kind of a crazy year. I think we only had 23 days of actual days that we could have outdoor ice," said Leclair.

He said it takes about 20 to 30 floods of the rink before it is ready for skates to hit the ice. It's always a popular destination, as they have around 4,000 people a year using it.

To have a successful outdoor rink, Leclair said they need temperatures to stay cold and not have the sun beating down on the ice for long periods of time.

"As long as it stays relatively -10C to -20C, we're going to have lots of people and the ice will last a long time."

The hope is they can keep the rink open until the beginning of March and get as many people to enjoy it as possible.