The results of the landslide in May (photo courtesy of Johnathan Clarkson and Nitehawk)

By Liam Verster

Fundraising for a new chairlift

Community Foundation partners with Nitehawk to support Landslide Recovery Fund

Sep 28, 2020 | 1:08 PM

The Community Foundation of Northern Alberta is supporting the Nitehawk Landslide Recovery Fund through a partnership with Nitehawk Year-Round Adventure Park.

The goal of the Recovery Fund is to raise approximately $2-million to replace the chairlift that was taken out by a landslide in May with a new one, or find an alternative solution that would allow for the section of slope to reopen.

Laura LaValley, Chief Executive Officer of the Community Foundation, says the landslide, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, has put Nitehawk in a tough financial position, and they wanted to do their part to help out.

The Community Foundation is a registered charity, which means that those who donate to the Recovery Fund will be eligible for charitable tax receipts where applicable.

“Basically, if a donor was wanting to support Nitehawk by contributing a tax donation of over $20, we’re able to issue tax receipts for that. There’s just other things like ticket purchases and that sort of thing that don’t qualify for tax receipting, so that’s part of our job here at the Community Foundation is to just manage that piece for the Nitehawk (Landslide) Recovery Fund, and we’re looking forward to helping out with that.”

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Tax receipts will be emailed to the donor.

LaValley adds that the Community Foundation is also working with the Municipal District of Greenview in order to help funnel the money raised through this initiative directly to Nitehawk in order to help with the recovery efforts.

The landslide that occurred in May took out the chairlift towers, and Parkland Geotechnical is conducting ongoing geotechnical surveys and work on the slope to determine how to move forward.

Johnathan Clarkson, General Manager of Nitehawk, says the preliminary work, including LIDAR mapping and analyzing reports from Alberta Transportation, has been completed. The next stage of the work is a bore hole drilling program, which will determine soil composition and ground water levels. That work will be done in the coming weeks, and should provide information on whether or not the slope can be stabilized and a new chairlift can be installed.

Depending on the findings, which will be reported to Nitehawk Administration in November, they will decide how to move forward. Clarkson says while they want to install a new chairlift, they are considering alternative options.

“If we end up not being able to reinstall the chairlift, then we would possibly be looking at a T-Bar. Ultimately, our goal as management, as well as our board of directors, is to find a long-term solution, not a short-term band-aid fix. We want something that is going to ensure that the ski hill is going to be there for another 60 years.”

He says the T-Bar could cost anywhere between $1.5 and $2-million, and a full chairlift would cost more, but until the geotechnical work is completely finished, the fundraising goal is set at $2-million. They hope to raise that money in the next six months, in order to secure a contract and have a new lift installed and operational for the 2021/22 season.

Nitehawk is celebrating it’s 60th anniversary this year, and will still be operating the west-side of the ski hill this season. That section includes the top of Showoff, the Halfpipe Run, Will-O-Way, Terrain Park, Bob’s Bump, the Adventure Zone area, and the Aquatera Tube Zone. The platter-lift, 600-foot conveyer and Bob’s Bump conveyer will all be running this winter.

Nitehawk will open on either November 15 or November 20, weather dependent.