SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A proposal to revive a multi-use path across Frame Lake has stirred the pot with the Great Slave Snowmobile Association.
City councillor Bob Brooks poses with a pylon marking the current path on Frame Lake that is maintained for the city by the Great Slave Snowmobile Association using a trail groomer. Brooks says he is in favour of Ecology North's proposal to establish at least one fully-plowed trail across Frame Lake that cyclists can use. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo |
Last week, Lorraine Hewlett of Ecology North asked the city to plow a path across the lake because it would provide a safe and clear way for residents to walk and bike over. The city currently contracts the Great Slave Snowmobile Association for $1,000 a year to make a trail across the lake every winter using a mechanical trail groomer, which packs down snow but doesn't clear it away. However, Hewlett said the packed snow trails aren't as safe for walking as they could be with the snow cleared away.
"The frustration comes when you look over the hill at Great Slave and you see that on Yellowknife Bay, motor vehicles on the Dettah ice road, snowmobiles, kite skiers, and dog mushers all peacefully co-existing," she said, noting territorial government statistics show no snowmobile fatalities on Yellowknife Bay.
Lloyd Thiessen, a member of Ecology North's transportation issues committee, was clearing his own trail on Frame Lake with a quad and a shovel in the winter of 2007-2008 but was told to cease and desist by municipal enforcement officers who warned him he was putting snowmobilers in danger by creating berms along the trail's edge that snowmobilers travelling at high speeds couldn't see.
A snowmobiler was killed in 2003 after crashing into the side of dogsledding trail near the old Caribou Carnival site on Frame Lake.
"It was just six weeks between November and December, but then bylaw pulled me over and basically read me the riot act and said I would be sued if anyone got hurt on the trail," Thiessen said.
The trail proved popular, however, so the city contracted the snowmobile association to pack down a trail bordered with red pylons.
The snowmobile association, meanwhile, remains firmly opposed to the idea of a plowed trail.
Bruce Hewlko, president of the Great Slave Snowmobile Association, said any trail across the lake, such as the one Thiessen had been clearing, creates dangerous berms.
"What I understand is that the (proposed) trail would be a plowed trail and we are against that for several reasons," said Hewlko. "If you look at the dog mushers' trail on Yellowknife and Back Bay, they create a berm on both sides. So crossing that with a snowmobile or cross-country skis or simply walking over it is difficult. It is more susceptible to drifting and it is harder to clear. When you do, the berm only gets higher."
The packed trails allow more users to access them, Hewlko argues.
Nonetheless, city councillor Bob Brooks said he is in favour of having a plowed multi-use path across the lake, despite previous councils being tripped up by legal concerns stemming from a fatal accident in 2003.
Brooks said a lot of the safety concerns on the lake have been taken care of since then with the use of the red pylons and a reduced speed limit of 25 km/h.
"I am encouraging that council of the day looks at the issue again and look at how we can do it," said Brooks. "There are ways to mitigate concerns when plowing it across to make sure the ridges aren't too big and to continue using the red pylons as markers. We want to encourage active transportation as much as possible."
Coun. Rebecca Alty, who doesn't have a car and gets around by cycling, said Thiessen's plowed walkway was a great addition while it lasted.
"I loved it personally, as a user, so I would love to see how we can make it so that it is (viable)," said Alty. "It would be nice to find out how we can make all of this work and see if we can get people in the community still interested to see what it would cost for the city to do it."
- March 2003 - Jason William Christensen, 21, dies after crashing his snowmobile into the berm of a dogsledding trail near the Caribou Carnival site.
- January 2008 - Resident Lloyd Thiessen is stopped by municipal enforcement officers and warned against clearing pedestrian trails with his quad across Frame Lake.
- January 2009 - City lays out its own 700-metre trail on Frame Lake, stretching from Dakota Court to the Co-op store, with help from the Great Slave Snowmobile Association. Unlike Thiessen's trails, the snow isn't cleared off the ice but packed down with a trail groomer instead.
Source: Yellowknifer archives
