Unseasonably warm temperatures leave winter athletes in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., in the lurch

A warm start to winter in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., has left the community's young winter athletes without a good place to practice as skating meets and Arctic Winter Games tryouts loom.

Trevor Kjeldsli, the senior ice maker at Fort Simpson's recreation centre, said crews are doing all they can to open the community's ice rink as soon as possible — but temperatures just haven't been cold enough. 

"The weather has been just unbelievably weird this year," Kjeldsli said.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fort Simpson saw temperatures 3.7 degrees warmer than the seasonal average this fall. In 114 years of data, this is Fort Simpson's fourth warmest fall.

The community of about 1,200 people, which sits on an island at the confluence of the Liard and Mackenzie rivers, relies on mother nature to start their winter sport season. But Kjeldsli says rising temperatures seem to be pushing the season back later and later. 

Payton Bennett, a 13-year-old speed skater from Fort Simpson, flew to Yellowknife Friday with another skater, Megan Kaglik, also 13, and their coach to get some practice in before Arctic Winter Game trials on Dec. 13. 

She said usually, she and her teammates start practising twice a week by mid-November. 

But since the rink hasn't opened yet, she and the other skaters haven't gotten enough ice time to have a good chance of qualifying for the tournament — and they're losing the other benefits of the ice as well.

"I'm really missing our practices with all my friends and other skaters," Bennett said. 

Coach Val Gendron flew with the athletes to Yellowknife to help them prepare. She said there's more to the sport than competition, and without the rink, the athletes are missing out.

"I think there's that connection part, right, that relationship piece that the kids really do like," she said. 

Gendron said the athletes mingle between age groups, and that provides leadership opportunities — like when she was at the Arctic Winter Games last year and the older skaters still ran practices in her absence. "They did an amazing job," she said.  

Derek Squirrel coaches minor hockey in Fort Simpson. He's also Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation's community wellness co-ordinator. 

"This really has an impact on our mental health," he said. 

New infrastructure could help, says coach

As warmer temperatures continue to delay the rink's opening at the start of the season, and hasten its closure at the end of the season, Squirrel said Fort Simpson should consider investing in equipment for artificial ice so they can keep the rink open year-round.

He acknowledged the infrastructure would be costly, but said the community continues to lose recreation opportunities as the weather warms. 

He said in the past, the ski hill has cleared a section for snowboarding and sliding. "That section had a landslide so that's unusable now," he said.

Warmer weather also means the Liard River is freezing later. Squirrel said hockey players have missed at least two N.W.T. tournaments already this year because they haven't been able to drive out. Fort Simpson relies on an ice crossing during the winter, which has not yet opened.

With the opening of the community rink delayed, volunteers have made an outdoor rink at the snye. 

Squirrel said he's grateful to the residents who put that together for the community, but said without boards or lights, it's difficult to organize practices. 

Bennett, the speed skater, has been practising on the snye too. She said darkness is a challenge, though, and the ice is rough on her skates.

"It's a lot of changing them out," she explained.

Kjeldsli, the ice maker, said he knows how important the rink is to the community, and he's doing his best to get the facility open soon, but that they need consistent temperatures of –5 C before they can get the rink ready.

"We take pride in providing a safe and quality ice product for our community," he said. "It's just frustrating for us because we can't provide what the community needs."