Users give Mammoth Park slides thumbs-up after reopening
Share this post:
After a 10-month moratorium on rides at the Giant Slide complex in Mammoth Park, it took teenager Mary Janetka only about 10 minutes Tuesday to give the slightly recontoured, re-signed and reopened slide facility her seal of approval.
“Oh yeah, it’s fun!” said Janetka, 15, who was accompanied in the Mt. Pleasant Township park by her aunt, Patricia Hart, of nearby Hecla, shortly after her first slide in the complex minutes after the park opened at 9 a.m.
Janetka, of Clairton, is spending part of the summer with Hart. The pair was planning to walk around Mammoth Park Lake, but opted to detour to the slides after learning the complex was reopening after being closed since August due to safety concerns.
“It was sneaky fast in a way,” said the teenager, who will be a sophomore at Clairton High School in the fall.
It was Janetka’s first trip on the slides, which opened July 2 as part of a $1.1 million park renovation. However, the slides were shut down just over a month later to investigate reports of injuries.
Janetka said she was a veteran user of the former 45-year-old slide that was demolished in 2018 to make room for the new complex which features two 100-foot, stainless steel slides and a 50-foot slide for smaller children.
During her initial run, Janetka, who was wearing cotton sweat pants, seemed to stall on the maiden trip due to the dirt and dust that had collected on the slide caused by months of inactivity.
“I could have used some of that wax paper from the old slide,” she joked.
Wax paper and other speed enhancements, including pans, are banned under the safety regulations instituted after the moratorium.
Hart, who is a few decades older than her niece, recalled landing face first on her first trip down the old, 97-foot slide when she was in her 20s and using wax paper.
Hart joined her niece for the second trip down and easily passed her… saying she had an assist from the yoga pants she was wearing. However, Janetka’s second and third trips down were much faster than the initial voyage.
Multiple safety inspections by engineers deemed the slides safe, but county officials pushed ahead with about $30,000 worth of improvements in the area surrounding them. Many of the injuries were related to improper use, county officials said.
Parks officials encourage users to adhere to safety protocols that are now prominently posted.
Signage about the proper use of the slide, a rubberized surface, new cargo netting, handrails and barriers that separate the equipment from nearby rocks are among improvements made during the past 10 months. Security cameras have been installed.
One rider is allowed at a time.
The complex also includes climbing walls, walkways and new landscaping.
Shortly after Hart and Janetka departed, Nathan and Matthew Logesky, six- and five-years-old respectively, arrived with grandparents Mike and Bonnie Logesky of Greensburg for a test run.
“We’re out here all the time with the grandkids, but haven’t been able to ride the slides because they were shut down. We saw they were reopening today and thought we’d get out this morning and have some fun,” Mike Logesky said. “We’re glad they’ve finally reopened them.”
Nathan Logesky enjoyed all of his multiple trips down the slide as he would immediately rush up the climbing trail consisting of large rocks to the entrance for another trip.
Matthew was a little apprehensive his first ride, stopping halfway down before finishing at the urging of his grandparents. He quickly warmed up after his second trip, rushing back to the top, step-for-step alongside his older brother.
“It’s good. And a lot of fun,” he said before running past a reporter to join his brother for another ride.