On roads, one seldom interacts directly with other people. Sure,  your car might sniff the tail end of another car. But people-to-people interaction is extraordinarily brief.

It’s different on a pathway. Eye contact with other people walking, with people cycling, with dogs walking their care givers, is the norm. There’s the mom cycling through the slush to school to pick up the kid. The dog wearing sox colour matched to the necktie, better dressed than many humans going to work. Wave to the driver of the OTrain. And get a wave back.

So on the OTrain Trillium line pathway the other day why was I surprised to meet four American snowboarders.

Snowboarding on the MUP.

Well, actually they were above the MUP:

First they climbed Mt. Snowscrape to the upper ramp level of City Centre Building, formerly the first prize winner for the ugliest building in Ottawa, and now Totally Trendy in former-industrial-properties-free-Ottawa. (We have so few old factories to convert to lofts, we are building a brand new condo designed to look like a converted factory building over on West Wellington in the Kingdom of Hip. I digress.)

From the upper level, they slide down the parking lot pseudo-snow dumped between the ramp and the Somerset Viaduct. Then over a gulch by way of a couple of pallets picked up from the handy piles on site.

Jump up a bit, and slide along the cement ridge that caps the pathway underpass. It’s cheating to use the flat surface that forms the tunnel roof; instead it’s better to snowboard on the 45 degree angle of the upper bit of cement. More thrills, I guess.

at the far right, the cement ledge gives out to a sudden drop. Said snowboarder then flies off into the air, doing a 90 degree rotation, and landing on ground level in the narrow space between the lamp post and the chain link fence To Keep OTrain Passengers Safe.

Passing OTrain driver gives a toot.

Then Mr Snowboarder Tourist climbs back up to do it all over again.

Americans.

Winter in Ottawa.

Who needs Whistler?