Photo from the Nitehawk Facebook page.

By Curtis Galbraith

Community

Canadian Olympic ski success beneficial for ski hills

Feb 13, 2022 | 7:00 AM

The general manager at Nitehawk says Canada’s success in skiing and snowboarding at the Winter Games in Beijing is a proud moment for many at the hill.

Johnathan Clarkson says that includes the alpine, freestyle, and snowboard clubs at Nitehawk and the young people who take part in them.

“Seeing somebody like you that is taking part in the same sport that you participate in is always a proud moment and something to really make you strive to make you do better in the sport that you are training in,” Clarkson explained.

“The Olympics, as it is every four years, is certainly a good lift up for the industry and also just the publicity that the industry gets on an international stage.”

Clarkson says the snow school at Nitehawk has also been getting a lot of inquiries about lessons.

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“I know our snow school has seen an increase in phone call traffic coming through,” Clarkson added.

“Obviously with the ski hill, we’ve had a limited operational capacity just from our lift capacity point-of-view, but we’ve been selling out every weekend for the last few weeks since Christmas holidays ended, so it’s certainly great to see that and see the community get out and enjoy snow sports.”

The ski facility recently opened up a new T-bar lift after the chairlift was damaged from a landslide in May 2020.

Clarkson mentioned it is good to see people, especially kids, get out and be active and healthier.

“I think that is the great thing about skiing and snowboarding is it’s not just a spectator sport. You can do it as a family. You can plan trips around it,” Clarkson said.

“So many families start at their small local hills like Nitehawk and get their practice miles in over the course of the season and then plan that one spring break trip to Jasper or maybe down to Banff.”

Clarkson says it is fun to see generations come through Nitehawk as people who worked there when they were kids are now bringing their own kids out to the hill.