This winter will see something completely different in Hay River – a skating trail on the river.
The Town of Hay River began work earlier this month on what it believes to be the first-ever such skating trail for the community.
When completed, it will stretch over a kilometre along the town side of the river from the main ice crossing to the Hay River Reserve to below Diamond Jenness Secondary School.
Jim Darby, the town's recreation director, couldn't commit to an exact date for when the trail might be open, explaining that will become clearer further into the work.
"The plan is we'll certainly be open for New Year's Eve, but if we find that the plan is going quicker, we'll try and get open at Christmastime," he said.
Darby told the council meeting on Dec. 12 that the trail is starting to take shape.
"We started to flood today from the ice crossing end," he said.
Kim Tybring, the lead maintainer with the Town of Hay River, said the original proposed date was New Year's Eve.
"It hasn't been done in the community before, so we're a little bit in uncharted territory," he said.
Tybring noted a skating trail was originally proposed to get community residents outdoors and as a good winter activity for visitors to the Arctic Winter Games in March.
The recent relatively warm weather won't have any impact on building the skating trail, either on the quality of the skating surface or the thickness of the ice.
"It's really not going to change the ice thickness in any way now," said Tybring. "The ice is still driving down. It gets cold at night. We're investigating what the ice thickness is on the river."
Snow is being cleared for parking just off the ice crossing.
Tybring said the skating trail would be about 1.5 km in length and 12 to 15 feet wide, and would be for leisurely skating.
Darby noted that signs will be posted advising that the trail is just for skaters, and not snowmobilers.
"We certainly just want to make it for skaters for a number of reasons," he said. "Safety being the key one."
Tybring noted the trail will stay away from the middle of the river because of the dogsled races held during K'amba Carnival in March.
Mayor Brad Mapes pitched the idea of a skating trail on the river to town council earlier this fall.
At that time, Mapes said the idea was partially inspired by the famed Rideau Canal skating rink in Ottawa.
The mayor said a skating trail would be another opportunity to showcase the Hay River and would tie in nicely to the Arctic Winter Games.