High on Ice Winter Festival breaks ice-sliding record

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A new record has been set for the MNP Ice Slide during the 20th annual High on Ice Winter Festival.

According to a March 3rd Facebook post from the City of Fort St. John Recreation page, the ice slide was used 21,072 times over the festival’s three-day run in February.

Last year, the slide had a total of 12,083 turns.

Fort St. John city councillor Tony Zabinsky expressed delight in the slide despite the cold weather. 

“It’s always great to see that [attendees] take advantage, especially this year, when the average temperature was minus 32 degrees,” said Zabinsky.

Zabinsky described the slide as an important part of the festival that attendees enjoy yearly. 

“Although the weather sometimes inhibits our residents to come out, it appears that the ice slides are always a winner and it’s great that they use it every year,” added Zabinsky.

Councillor Trevor Bolin also expressed his surprise and delight at the slides’ usage in the cold season and the resilience of attendees. 

“I think it’s surprising considering how cold it was but that did not prevent families and kids from coming out and enjoying an amazing High on Ice long weekend,” said Bolin. 

Zabinsky said this year the slide was used continuously by people of all ages, representing its importance to the festival. 

“They use it during the day and they also use it at night, they dress for it, and they look forward to it,” said Zabinsky.

“The kids love it and I’m sure there’s some teenagers and adults that even use it so it’s a great function of High on Ice.”

Zabinsky expects the ice slide to be a continuing attraction at the festival in the years to come. 

“I don’t see us going away from some sort of slides for High on Ice as we move forward,” said Zabinsky.

Bolin echoed Zabinsky’s sentiment on the importance of the slide. 

“Even if we look to revamp it years in the future, I think those slides will probably always be a part of the High on Ice festival,” said Bolin.

The post also congratulated Jessenta Cooper, who gave the closest guess to the number of slides with 22,433.

Allyson Sperling was also congratulated for making the closest guess that didn’t go over the correct number, with 15,442.

The ice slide was made possible because of sponsorship of the MNP accounting firm.