Carlington Park is a large park in
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
It contains one of Ottawa's largest hills.
It is a
City of Ottawa owned and operated park. Located in
Carlington, a neighbourhood in the west end of Ottawa, it is bordered by McBride, Morriset, Clyde, and Laperriere street. Its official address is 1640 Laperriere Ave, Ottawa, ON, however the address of Carlington Hill is 1599 Morisset Ave, Ottawa, ON.
Most of the park is an
Urban Environmental Protection Zone, declared by the City of Ottawa in 2005.
Features
Carlington Hill
One of the most notable features being Carlington Hill (frequently called Dulude Hill), a large hill with long gradual slopes. Part of it was formerly a ski hill with a tow lift (known previously as Anne Heggtveit Hill), but is now used as a City of Ottawa approved sledding hill. The western part of the hill was quarried for
limestone, which was crushed and used as lime for the production of
cement. The former quarry is now used as a city
snow dump. Also, on top of the hill is the Carlington Heights Reservoir and Pump Station which supplies approximately one third of the city's water. Urban forests and green spaces surround the park, but are often frequents victims of
dumping.
Bike Pump Track
In 2011, planning started for a
mountain bike course atop of the hill. With a budget of $300 000, the city completed the project in late 2019. Since then, there have been approximately 30 000 visits from across the city.
Other
It has multiple baseball diamonds, which are frequently used for
small-game baseball. There is also a
community garden with 5 raised beds, and more planning to be added soon.
History
Carlington Hill, the most notable feature of the park, is a former ski hill. It was known as Anne Heggtveit Hill, named after
Anne Heggtveit
Anne Heggtveit, (born January 11, 1939) is a former alpine ski racer from Canada. She was an Olympic gold medallist and double world champion in 1960.
Early years
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Heggtveit was raised in New Edinburgh, one of the o ...
who won Canada's first
Olympic gold medal in
alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...
.
The hill's construction finished on December 9, 1965 after being under construction for 5 years. It was the site of a city former landfill, with an estimated 15 feet of garbage covering the park. There are still pieces of
trash found in the nearby woods as a remainder of the former
dump
Dump generally refers to a place for disposal of solid waste, a rubbish dump, or landfill. The word has other uses alone or in combination, and may refer to:
* Midden, historically a dump for domestic waste
* Dump job, a term for criminal disposal ...
. It had a high-capacity
T-bar lift able to carry 1,400 skiers up the hill every hour, which are still there today. The hill closed in 1987, after it going unused for almost a decade. Efforts were made to make the hill "more
natural", however the middle part of the hill still remains clear, and is used for
tobogganing.
References
External links
*
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Parks in Ottawa