The icing on the ... concrete

Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Star Tribune

Friends Christian Abraham, 5, and Miles Ware Jr., 14, engaged in a little slipping and sliding for fun at Theodore Wirth Park after school on Monday. They brought the inner tube, and Monday’s snow freshened up a hill on the golf course.

Recent weather conditions have given metro-area residents a new challenge: Just walking around the block.

By BILL McAULIFFE, Star Tribune

Last update: February 4, 2008 - 9:44 PM

With sidewalks like luge runs and steps like ice sculptures this winter, mail carrier Carol Biernat has been getting a lot of practice on her whirlybird.

"It's one of those where your arms go 'Whoo!' and you catch yourself," Biernat said, describing the on-ice-and-hope-no-one-saw-that maneuver that metro area residents have been testing all too frequently in recent weeks.

Thanks to a month of thawing and freezing and thawing and refreezing, even sidewalks that residents have shoveled religiously have become mottled with ice. Monday's light snow made matters worse, concealing the booby traps.

Ten people came to Hennepin County Medical Center on Monday with injuries from falls on ice -- wrenched backs, twists, jams and banged knees, said spokesman Christine Hill.

Biernat herself did a fanny plant Monday morning, even though she's been walking about 10 miles a day for eight years on her northeast Minneapolis route and has made many of her own paths. And that was despite wearing the slip-on coiled grippers on her shoes that the Postal Service mandates in snowy and icy conditions.

"It's treacherous," she said.

Biernat said she doesn't mind working outside all winter, especially on a day like Monday, with a picturesque snow falling and temperatures higher than they've been for a week. But the recent development of ice and frozen snow has added an hour to her route every day. All she asks is that people clear their walks, as required by city ordinance.

As if granting her wish, Alex Savage was shoveling right around the corner from where Biernat was delivering mail. Even as the snow fell, the walk spanning his narrow lot was nearly snow- and ice-free.

"I like the fact I have a clean walk. I don't want no one tripping or falling," said Savage, who added he almost fell several times on an earlier walk around the corner to Walgreens.

Generally, residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul are required to have their walks cleared 24 hours after the end of the most recent snow.

Monday's snowfall totals by 6 p.m. ranged from 4 inches in Martin County, along the Iowa border, to 2.2 inches in St. Paul. Light snow was expected to taper in the overnight hours.

After a high of 32 Monday, temperatures are predicted to fall back to the 20s for the rest of the week with slight chances of snow. Sunshine is expected to return Wednesday.

Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646

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