Dave Adams, a former competitive cross-country skier, is now a snow groomer responsible for keeping the Kichi Sibi Winter Trail open for Ottawans to enjoy.Ashley Fraser/The Globe and Mail
Like a Canadian winter version of Field of Dreams, lifelong skiing enthusiast Dave Adams had a vision.
Living close to the four-lane parkway that winds along the Ottawa River, he thought the space between the road and the water would make for a great ski trail. Home to a popular bike path, the long stretch of parkland was going largely unused during the snowy months.
A competitive cross-country skier in his youth, Mr. Adams learned how to groom trails when his two children were involved in a volunteer ski club in the Gatineau hills.
“I have a sense of wanting to contribute and leave this world a better place, and snow grooming was my thing,” he said while sitting down for an interview in his garage workspace, which is heated by a wood-burning stove and packed with old skis.
After organizing area community groups and obtaining approval for a small pilot project from the National Capital Commission (NCC), which is responsible for the land, he borrowed snow-grooming equipment from the Gatineau ski club, called Nakkertok, and groomed his first trail along the Ottawa River in the winter of 2016.
Shortly after his first grooming run, he posted about his project on Twitter, describing it as a new concept to test groomed cross-country ski trails along the river.
“People just came out. It just blew me away! Like, holy smokes. We are onto something here. And from that day on, I just said, ‘Okay, this is where I could give back.’ And I’ve been on this mission ever since.”
Mr. Adams got the idea to set up the winter trail on land owned by the National Capital Commission, the entity responsible for urban planning in the Ottawa area.
He built it, and they came.
Entering its eighth season, the Kichi Sibi Winter Trail, as it is now called, stretches to about 16 kilometres in length. It is generally open for about 100 days a year. In contrast, Ottawa’s main winter attraction – the Rideau Canal – didn’t open last winter at all as temperatures simply weren’t cold enough for the ice to reach its required thickness.
The winter trail’s eastern end is near the War Museum, just outside of the city’s downtown core, and the various trails and loops extend to Ottawa’s Westboro neighbourhood. The free-to-use, professionally groomed trails include parallel tracks for classic cross-country skiing that border a wide, flatly packed centre that can be used for skate skiing, walking, snowshoeing or riding big-tired bikes known as fat bikes.
The success of the trail has inspired several other neighbourhoods in the city to start their own. While the trails require teams of volunteers, Mr. Adams had the original idea and pushed to make the first one a reality. He said urban winter trails can be easily and cheaply replicated by other cities across the country.
Mr. Adams, 56, retired early from his career in the federal public service. He now manages the trail during the winter and handles administrative issues such as fundraising in the off-season. He receives a modest salary and recently secured charity status for the trail. Its operations, which have grown to include four snowmobiles and five grooming implements, are funded through individual donations, sponsorships from local businesses and some public funding from the NCC and the City of Ottawa.
Mr. Adams said that while urban winter ski trails are already popular in a few other Canadian cities, such as Edmonton, Montreal and Quebec City, it’s a model that could be easily replicated. He said a small fraction of municipal budgets used for amenities like hockey rinks and parks could go a long way toward providing a free active outdoor winter option.
Urban winter pathways are resistant to climate change, he said, especially when they are groomed on top of a flat surface such as a bike path.
On his grooming runs, Mr. Adams often gets stopped by people thanking him for making the trail a reality.
While out grooming on his snowmobile, Mr. Adams said he’s occasionally asked to pull over. Some people want to share what the trail has meant to them.
“I am brought to tears often,” he said.
In one case, a woman told him that she had lost her driver’s licence because of a head injury and was feeling very isolated. The trail was a welcome new activity.
“I had one chap come up to me who said: ‘I live in an apartment with terminal cancer. I can’t go anywhere. And I just need to get outside, and this gets me out,’ ” he said. “He made a point of stopping and telling me his personal story, and it was heartwarming for sure.”
Ottawa’s winters are viewed by many as a few cold months to endure. But Mr. Adams’ positivity stands out during those months through his nature photos, weather updates and energetic videos on social media.
The trails pass by three light-rail stations along the way. It is not uncommon to see people on the LRT with cross-country skis in hand as they commute to and from downtown offices.
An old rail bridge across the Ottawa River along the trail was converted for bike and pedestrian use in 2023. The city has closed the bridge for winter, but Mr. Adams is hopeful he will one day be able to groom it, linking skiers on the Ottawa trail to the Quebec side of the river and, ultimately, Gatineau Park, a popular destination for area skiers. City officials say they will study conditions on the bridge this winter to determine if future grooming can be done safely.
Ottawa councillor Theresa Kavanagh, an avid cross-country skier, helped organize a similar trail network further west along the river in her Bay Ward that was inspired by Mr. Adams’ efforts.
“When I heard about the trail, I just immediately thought: This is brilliant,” said Ms. Kavanagh, who was an early supporter and fundraiser of Mr. Adams’ project before she was elected to council in 2018. Once elected, she advocated for a similar project in her area, now called the Britannia Winter Trail.
“Copying is the highest form of flattery. So that’s what we did,” she said, adding that it was particularly welcome during the pandemic when people were looking for safe outdoor activities.
Ms. Kavanagh said Mr. Adams’ positivity is infectious and shows the influence one person can have in their community.
“It was totally inspiring,” she said. “He just kind of went for it.”
Mr. Adams works with his equipment as another day of snow grooming continues.