By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — Slabs of thick ice on the city's streets and sidewalks have vexed Manhattanites all week — but up on the High Line, the usual solutions won't cut it.
The salts and ice-melt chemicals used to cut down on slipperiness in most of the city can't be used along the elevated park, according to Friends of the High Line's blog, because they are toxic to its extensive plant life.
Instead, reopening the High Line on Thursday — the park was closed for Wednesday and part of Tuesday — was a matter of old-fashioned labor.
"This week was tricky… we've had to rely on our shovels and the sun's warmth to melt the ice," Melissa Fisher, director of horticulture and parks operations for friends of the High Line, told DNAinfo. "It took a little longer than usual to open under these conditions, but we're happy to say that we've cleared a path."
In order to make that happen, maintenance workers, gardeners and other High Line staffers started work in the dark, no later than, 6 a.m., all week.
Although the High Line's maintenance crew sticks to ice picks, shovels and a power broom along the bulk of the old rail line, they do make an exception on the stairways that visitors use to enter and exit the park, according to the High Line's blog. Here, they use an eco-friendly ice-melt product.
With the ice cleared, the High Line — which last week hosted its first-ever snow sculpture competition — is encouraging visitors to climb back up and take in the winter landscape.
