Saskatoon landscaper creates 'ice stairs' at Chief Whitecap dog park

Meet the man behind the long, ice-carved staircases at the Chief Whitecap dog park south of Saskatoon.

Terry Piche, who owns Terry Piche’s Lawn and Yard Services, has been making two sets of “winter steps” at the dog park for years. One of them has 86 separate stairs.

But this year, he’s added a third set of steps that are already more than 150 feet long. Piche spent about eight hours chipping away at his newest project, adding he’s not quite finished yet.

He said it keeps him busy while his dog, Leila, runs around.

“Because I have a high-energy dog and I can’t keep her busy enough to burn off all the energy she’s got, so she plays with the other dogs and I just do work.”

Piche said he uses an ice scraper to form the snow-packed area into stairs. Then every six or seven feet, he uses a backpack blower to get rid of the debris.
“It’s time consuming but I’ve got nothing to do sometimes,” he said.

Piche said people always ask him if he’s the person who makes the stairs, and seem thankful when he tells them yes. Even with his help, Piche said the trek to the dog park is still fairly dangerous. He hopes the recent snowfall will help make the stairs easier to walk on.

“I do snow angel stuff, so this way I get to snow angel a lot of people,” he said.