If you’re a tobogganing fan or picked up the hobby this winter to fill the lockdown time, you’ve probably visited the Christie Pits hill a few times this season. But the thrills of that hill have been cut short by a city sign that was just added to the hill, noting that tobogganing and boarding are banned.

A few locals must have noticed the sign on Wednesday and posted it to various social media sites, causing a bit of a reaction from Toronto fans of tobogganing and good, old-fashioned fun.

#Toronto. You shall have no fun this winter. Spotted just now at Christie Pits pic.twitter.com/P5ha2Bxg1U

— nicolas bello (@nbellotoronto) February 2, 2022

Municipal Code #608, which states that not person shall ski, toboggan, snowboard, skibob or sled in an area where it is posted to prohibit it, means that the new city sign has made the Christie Pits a no-fly zone for thrill-seekers.

But social media users on Reddit speculated that the signs get posted for the purpose of waive liability from the city in case of injury (one reply to the sign noted that an ambulance was called to the hill just a few days prior after someone was hurt on the hill).

It looks like the signs are a common strategy for the city; in 2020, after the same sign was posted in Christie Pits during tobogganing season, city councillor Mike Layton replied to a photo of the sign on Twitter.

“This has everything to do with city keeping its insurance. Unlikely to ever be enforced,” he wrote.

This has everything to do with city keeping its insurance. Unlikely to ever be enforced. Long story begins some of these signs, but sadly, to keep our insurance they needed to go up.

— Mike Layton (@m_layton) February 10, 2020

He noted that Christie Pits hills with fences at the bottom attracted so many lawsuits that the city had to put up a sign. “As a local resident I can attest that it hasn’t really decreases tobogganing,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet. 

It turns out the hill is one of those unofficial ones that happens to draw a lot of tobogganers nonetheless in Toronto; the city’s official list of 26 Toronto tobogganing locations doesn’t include any Christie Pits hills. The hill recommendations are based on safety, and after taking a look at the massive patches of mud and dirt that have been created over time on the hill, it’s no surprise Christie Pits didn’t make the list.

Despite the posted sign, it remains to be seen whether residents will continue to risk the hill for the sake of the thrill and take the sign for the bureaucratic red tape that it seems to be.