Yellowknife mayor Mark Heyck cut the ribbon on NWT Snowboard’s new tow rope at an opening ceremony on Saturday.
The tow system, years in the making, completes the association’s Bristol Pit park. Snowboarders in Yellowknife no longer face a slow trudge back up the hill when training or competing.
NWT Snowboard officials say having the system in place will make the development of boardsports and freeski athletes much easier.
“This is really exciting for us,” said NWT Snowboard president Louise Dundas-Matthews.
“This has been a community effort. It started five years ago. We didn’t have any resources so we started the challenge of figuring out how to pull this off – we put the word out and it’s amazing how much the community has come together.
“At the time, I don’t think our association had any idea what we were getting ourselves into. In retrospect, I’m not sure we would do it over again if we knew what we know now – but we’re very proud and happy that we have pulled it off.”
Heyck told ceremony attendees that the city’s close relationship with the sport extended to donating clean snow from the nearby airport’s runways for use by snowboarders.
“I was a city councillor five or six years ago when conversations first started around setting up this facility,” said Heyck.
“We want to support sports and recreational activities here in Yellowknife. Often, when these things get off the ground, it has to be a community effort and clearly that’s what resulted in this great addition to the Bristol Pit.”
Territorial championships, in March, will be the next major event to make use of the now fully-equipped park.
