Eastlink Park is gearing up for a new season

 

By Laura Bohnert

Are you ready to hit the slopes? Eastlink Park is busy gearing up for another year of winter fun.

“Currently at the park, we are fixing our lift issues from earlier this summer,” says Eastlink Park’s new General Manager, Marcus Amerl.

Amerl took over for Mike Morin as General Manager at the beginning of September.

“We have also gladed out the trees off of Pembina Trail in order to provide fun, safe beginner tree skiing for youth and fresh adults to develop new skills, and to add a little excitement for our more experienced clientele. We are also just finishing our new beginner teaching hill, where we will be implementing a new A style teaching system for our growing school programs.”

“This season, we will be offering tubing, beginner ski lessons, and a larger terrain park with more variety and a creative new design approach,” Amerl adds. “The goal for the terrain park is to offer features for all skiers, from beginner to advanced; we will have the terrain park built to its fullest extent from day one, and it will change and evolve as the year goes on based on customer feedback.”

“One major thing for our season pass holders to get excited about is our growing reciprocal program within CWSAA,” Amerl notes. “This program will offer our staff and season pass holders discounts of up to 50% off at over 30 other ski resorts in Western Canada, including local hills within a two-hour drive and distant hills as far west as Vancouver and as far east as Manitoba. The information on this program will be posted on our website hopefully late next week (www.eastlinkpark.com).”

“We will also be hosting open park sessions for all ages and skill levels every second Saturday,” Amerl says excitedly. “This will be a fun day of filming, music, and tasty food as we attempt to make a fun and exciting Eastlink Park movie throughout the season.”

With so much going on at Eastlink Park, it’s easy to get caught up in Amerl’s enthusiasm, but the Park’s new features, he reminds, only add to the excitement of the sport of skiing itself.

“In my eyes, skiing is a wonderful sport fundamental to the growth and development of children, both physically and mentally,” Amerl explains. “The physical side of that statement is obvious: kids develop co-ordination, strength, reflexes, and durable, tough muscles that stick around well into their adulthood.

“The mental angle, however, is far more crucial and far more interesting. I believe that skiing and snowboarding help youth to grow into tough, determined, and resilient people. When you ski or board, one of the first things you learn is to set goals, both long- and short-term. A short-term goal would be being able to go down the big hill; long term would be being able to do a double black at one of our many big sister hills. To reach your long-term goal, you must set a series of small goals and always know how to progress as you improve. Once you finally reach your long-term goal, you will learn how it feels to succeed, the process of achieving success, and exactly how hard you must work to reach your goals.

“You will also learn that, no matter how good you get, there is no such thing as perfect, and there is always a new height to reach. Skiing is a fun and constructive way for kids to learn to reach for the stars, even when you know you may never get there.”

“However, more importantly,” Amerl notes, “it teaches kids to fall. Its teaches kids that no matter how many times you fall, you must keep going; it teaches you that you will fail more often than you succeed, but with a little grit and determination, you can prevail. That is a crucial skill for stepping into the real world, but, of course, skiing and boarding also teaches you how to get up (a skill that has been crucial in my life), no matter how hard it may seem. It teaches you to face your fears and overcome all obstacles in your way; and, most importantly, it’s got to be just about the most entertaining sport that I could possibly think of!” he laughs.

“I find, throughout the ski industry, from customers to staff to managers, that there is this incredible sense of resilience and modesty that is developed from such skills,” Amerl concludes. “It is rare to come across a life-long ski bum who has not been beat around by life in general, and who has not eventually prevailed. There is this sense of ‘Lift your head up and keep going’ whenever you meet one of the staff, instructors, or managers of a ski resort, or even a professional skier or snowboarder. From a young age, the sport has taught them this attitude, and those who stick with it eventually prosper and reach their goals.”