Sledders warned to stay off ice, closed trails as two men have close call
Tom Carr with Fatal Force Outfitters in Orillia was called into action Monday night after two snowmobilers crashed through the ice on Lake Simcoe.
"They got themselves out of the water, but they were breaking through almost every footstep they were taking, and we just aided them to shore and made sure everyone was safe," Carr said from the scene Tuesday as he tried to get the sled off the ice.
The close call happened after repeated warnings from police for people to stay off the ice until further notice.
On Tuesday, provincial police and the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) sent a message to anyone who sleds on OFSC trails.
"We need riders on those trails only when they are open and when you are on those trails, be mindful the speed limit is 50 km/h," said OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.
The OFSC opened a few of its trails in Wasaga Beach and Orillia Tuesday.
The club has roughly 30,000 kilometres of trails in Ontario.
"The trails that are marked red are unavailable right now. Let's have a little bit of patience, let our volunteers do their thing, and they will do their best to make them available," said Ryan Eickmeier, CEO of the OFSC.
Brent Liddard is one of the many groomers working area trails.
"We still need to pack the trails. We still need to fill in ditches. We still need to finish checking the last little bit of signage and make sure everything is good to go."
Police remind everyone that you are not insured and can be charged if you take your sled on a closed trail.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.