Winter fun

Saskatchewan offers some of the best snowmobiling in North America. And the Yorkton area ranks at the top within Saskatchewan for facilities and snowmobile conditions.

Saskatchewan has millions of acres of open land for snowmobiling, and an estimated 10,000 km of developed trails including hundreds of kilometres in provincial parks. The Yorkton area is the perfect destination for snowmobile enthusiasts. It has an excellent trail system of more than 250 km which is maintained with a Marcel groomer.

Expanded routes include links to Sheho, Foam Lake, Rhein and Canora. The Route 66 trail runs through a unique blend of rural and wilderness areas on its way to Good Spirit Provincial Park. Throughout the trail system there are warm-up shelters and accommodations to add to the enjoyment.

Legal snowmobile access into the city of Yorkton on designated routes was granted in 1996 and was great news for local and visiting enthusiasts who now have easy access to food and fuel services within the city.

Visit www.sasksnow.com for area and provincial route maps.

Cross country (nordic) skiing is a very popular sport in Saskatchewan, where hundreds of kilometres of groomed and marked trails can be explored and enjoyed in parks and forests. Cross country skiing is readily available just a short drive from Yorkton, as well as within the city.

An extensive network of trails carve through the forests in the southern half of Duck Mountain Provincial Park an hour's drive northeast of Yorkton. To the northwest lies Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park which also provides scenic cross country trails and accommodations. Log cabins with fireplaces at the park are very popular with skiing enthusiasts. For more information call 1-888-797-6111.

Much to the surprise of those who think Saskatchewan is one flat stretch of land, the province's valleys, steep rolling hills, and highlands are ideal spots for our own brand of downhill skiing. Just an hour from Yorkton are ski hills at Fort Qu'Appelle. The facilities offer several slopes to choose from including longer runs, novice slopes, and hills for snowboarders.

Two city parks provide a place to play crokicurl: Heritage Heights Park and Silver Heights Park. Crokicurl is exactly what the name sounds like, a cross between the board game crokinole played with wooden checker-like pieces, and curling played with rocks with handles.

In crokicurl, the game is played on an ice surface by sliding wooden curling rocks with handles attempting to remove the opponents' pieces, and scoring points by placing pieces closest to the centre, or in the "button".

The crokicurl surface in the two parks is available anytime, any day or evening until the lights go off at the nearby outdoor rinks. The crokicurl rocks are available on site. The sites are not supervised but are checked daily by Parks Department staff in conjunction with the daily inspections of the outdoor rinks. If there is a concern or issue with any of the rinks or crokicurl surfaces, please contact the Parks office at 306-786-1780 or email cdpr@yorkton.ca.