Celebrating winter sports at the Edmonton Ski Club

Ice climbing at the Edmonton Ski Club. Saturday Feb. 12, 2022 (CTV News Edmonton)

The Edmonton Ski Club hosted a family-friendly afternoon of skiing, snowboarding and ice climbing in celebration of the winter Olympics.

People attending had a chance to watch professional freestyle skiers and snowboarders as well as ice climbers.

“We kind of pride ourselves on being a learner’s hill so to have these more advanced athletes… for the learners to be able to look up to them and see that’s what they’ll be able to be one day, it’s just really important,” said Ella Borynec, the assistant manager at Edmonton Ski Club.

The club has seen more people coming out to try winter sports since the start of the pandemic.

“It’s brought people outdoors and for our sport, we’re a little club here and we’ve seen exponential growth in the last couple years and we’re just so excited about that,” said Claire Devaney, board president with Edmonton Ski Club Alpine.

“It’s just been so awesome to see people enjoying the river valley, even the ski resorts in Alberta are busier.”

The Edmonton Ski Club has had Olympic athletes on their hill before, the 2022 games has been capturing a lot of attention at the club.

“Being able to see things like the world cup at Lake Louise earlier was unreal and then being able to see the Olympics in the same year and cheer them on is just really cool, great for our racers to see it too,” said Devaney.

There are several ski and snowboarding hills in the Edmonton area, including Snow Valley, Rabbit Hill, Edmonton Ski Club and Sunridge.