Winter fun a 'long-standing tradition' on frozen rivers in Winnipeg

Countless Winnipeggers have laced up their skates and hit the river trail at The Forks – it is a long-standing tradition in a city that has learned to thrive on winter activities all centred on its frozen rivers.

Countless Winnipeggers have laced up their skates and hit the river trail at The Forks – it is a long-standing tradition in a city that has learned to thrive on winter activities all centred on its frozen rivers.

"During the fur trade and during the Red River settlement days, winter was really a time of community and a time of sort of get together," said Winnipeg historian Murray Peterson.

"That just moved forward as technology improved and as the population increased, and so you got large, which looked like incredibly fun, wooden slides for toboggan slides. There was lots of river cleared for skating and snowshoeing and all sorts of activities along the river."

Historic photos give a glimpse at what winter was like at the turn of the century in Winnipeg, from tobogganing runs that operated on the river as early as the 1890s, to a ski jumping hill on the bank of the Red River in River Park.

"I mean one of the things that we always laugh about is how high those toboggan runs are, and that, probably wouldn't be allowed by bylaw now to build something that massive," Peterson said.