ATHABASCA – Skiing and snowboarding can be treacherous to learn. Before beginners can even think about hitting the slopes, they need to master the basics — how to keep both fight pointed in the same direction all the way to the top of the hill.
Learners at Tawatinaw Valley will have one less hurdle to deal with after the Dec. 16, 2023, opening of the new “Red Carpet,” a conveyor belt that transports skiers and tubers 250 feet to the top of the beginner area.
“It’s a game-changer for sure,” said ski club president Wendy Batog. “In the county south of us you’re allowed to go skiing from Grades 1 to 3, and those schools would never come to us when we had the rope tow.”
“When we took over the hill we had a planning event with our community partners, with Athabasca and Westlock as well as the surrounding counties, and the largest need that was noted was that the rope tow should be replaced.”
The rope tow in question was inherited by the current ownership group, the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Club, in 2018. The rope tow had been in place since 1967 and was powered by a 1950 McCormack tractor donated by a community member decades ago.
While it got the job done, the rope tow relied on a person’s strength and balance to get them to the top.
“The biggest advantage is for people who don’t have good upper body strength, when you’re riding a rope tow you have to grab onto it and use your hands,” said Brad Giroux, a ski instructor at Tawatinaw. “With this you just shuffle onto it, and you ride on up, you’re standing there the entire time. It opens up a lot of opportunities for new skiers that maybe are hesitant to start on something like a rope tow.”
Learners aren’t the only patrons that benefit from the new carpet; anyone looking to partake in the ski hill’s tube runs can save a few steps as well.
“No longer do our tubers have to walk up 425 feet,” said Batog. “People are so thankful for it, young families in particular. They had to carry their children up with the tubes.”
While the project had been on the wish list for the hill since it first made its strategic plan in 2018, the somewhat prohibitive cost slowed things down. Tawatinaw Valley is a non-profit organization, and the carpet was estimated to cost $277,000. By the time it was done, the price tag had reached nearly $400,000 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues.
With the help of a $125,000 community facility enhancement program grant from the province, as well as some community fundraising, the organization was able raise $383,000, something Batog and the ski club are thankful for.
“On Jan. 13 we’ll be having a ribbon cutting and donor appreciation dinner for all the people who helped us with our sponsorship, and all our partners we’ve had along this journey over the last three years,” said Batog.
