Winter traditions abound in Quebec City, but few are as thrilling as sliding on a wooden board down a hill of ice at 70 kilometres an hour. For 140 years, visitors and locals have flocked up the hill on Dufferin Terrace towering 83 metres above the St. Lawrence River, climbed onto wooden toboggans without being tied to anything and flown down the hill on the toboggans.
"We get calls from people saying, 'We want to make sure the slide is going to be open before booking our plane tickets,'" said Marc Duchesne, co-owner of Au 1884, the company that has managed the toboggan slide since 2014. In those 11 years, though, Duchesne said he's seen the number of days the slide can be open shrink due to climate change. Last year, the company had to close the slide for 32 out of its target 95 days of operation because of the weather, about a third of the season.
So the company is investing $400,000 to refrigerate the slide, thanks to financial help from Tourisme Québec for winter infrastructure. The icy toboggan slide in Quebec City has riders flying down the hill at up to 70 km/h. (Submitted by Au 1884) Duchesne said the slide can close due to rain, snowstorms and strong winds — which are especially frequent in that part of the city.
The refrigeration system will be similar to the one used for the past five years at the skating rink on the nearby Plaines d'Abraham. "Technically, now, we'll be able to slide even if there's no snow," Duchesne said. The company wants to expand its seaso.