A Vancouver Island non-profit freestyle ski club is hoping to boost its future by winning $100,000 in a ski community competition.
The Mount Washington Freestyle Ski Club comprises of young skiers aged seven to 17 years old from all over the Island and Sunshine Coast. It’s volunteer-led and prides itself on its group of committed athletes.
They are competing to win the Mackenzie Top Peak contest, which in its fourth year, is looking to find Canada’s most invested ski team.
According to board member Chris Thompson, the club came together as freestyle skiing took off in the early 2000s. Having been running for over 20 years, the club has seen many great skiers emerge, including Olympians Cassie Sharpe and Teal Harle.
He adds the win would be a “game changer” for the club as they look to expand and develop, and they are looking to get a more permanent home.
“Right now, we don’t really have a home. We used to have a space up on the mountain that we lost unfortunately,” said Thompson. “We’ve put together a proposal to repurpose some sea cans, so a sort of environmental and sustainable approach.”
Thompson adds it will give a clubhouse atmosphere for their athletes and help them purchase equipment like rails and boxes that would be very useful for training.
As far as community goes, he says the community has shown its commitment to skiing as the Island can have hit-and-miss snow conditions. He recalls athletes putting on garbage bags, coming out in the rain and lack of snow and not letting obstacles hold them back.
“If you want to compete at the highest level, you need to show that dedication. A lack of snow and rain certainly hasn’t held us back,” said Thompson. “We’ve continued to operate our club all season, we’ve had tremendous support from the Mount Washington Resort as much as they’ve struggled.
“It’s just been great to see our community come together and recognize that ‘hey, it’s not always going to be big powder days and blue sky and sunshine,’ but our kids just have so much fun skiing it doesn’t matter what the weather is.”
Thompson adds that because they are the only freestyle club on the Island, it shows how devoted the Vancouver Island community is to skiing and that will hopefully push them over the edge to win.
You can support the club by visiting the Mackenzie Top Peak website and searching for ‘Mount Washington,’ or looking for the club on Facebook and a link to vote.
