Park officials in Kaliningrad covered a sledding hill in sand to deter kids, to little avail

Officials at Kaliningrad’s Central Park for Culture and Recreation intentionally have intentionally ruined the biggest sledding hill in the entire Russian exclave, pouring sand all over the slope’s snow. The park’s administration says it determined the hill was unsafe for sledding.

According to the news site Klops, the sand was only poured at the bottom of the hill, to keep sledders from drifting into nearby hazards that include trees and a creek. This didn’t stop people from sledding down the hill, and they carried the sand to the top of the hill themselves, unintentionally, Klops reports. 

Ella Kadochnikova, the park’s director, clarified to reporters that sand was poured on a stretch of snow no longer than 3 meters (10 feet). “The sand is all over the hill only because children making their way to the top don’t go up the dedicated path, but walk directly up the slope, dragging the sand on their boots and sleds,” she explained.

The newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda suggests the slope was sabotaged for the financial gain of a nearby “official” sledding hill, where a single ride costs 50 rubles (about $0.64). That hill, however, has been under repairs since last autumn, and there’s no one using it now.

A correspondent for the news agency Novyi Kaliningrad visited the hill in Central Park and found that some locals are still sledding, despite the sand, though many people complain that it ruins their winter clothes.

Kaliningrad Mayor Aleksandr Yaroshuk told journalists on Tuesday that he’s aware of the incident at the public sledding hill in Central Park, which was supposedly covered in sand. “I’ll sort it out,” Yaroshuk promised reporters.