There are those who say that if you don't own a snowmobile, snowboard, skis or toboggan, winter in Timmins can be dull.
Well, forget about trying to play dodge ball with curling stones at your neighbourhood rink, the tube runs at Kamiskotia Snow Resort are ready a full month ahead of schedule and they’re waiting for you!
“This is the earliest that we’ve ever had the tube park open since it’s opening in the mid 90’s,” says Mathieu Vachon, General Manager at Kamiskotia Snow Resort.
“The tube park opened for the season last Saturday, November 22nd and there are a few things that have contributed to that,” said Vachon.
“We’ve gotten some help from College Boreal who brought their heavy equipment to the hill and shaped everything to give us exactly what we need. Now if we get just a little bit of snow, we can open as early as possible.”
The ski hill needs more snow than the tube park to open so it will be a couple weeks before that’s ready to go but the Kamiskotia web site and Facebook page are posting regular updates for anyone looking to hit the slopes.
With an active online presence, Vachon explained how seriously they take feedback from members and the public when it comes to how things are run at Kamiskotia.
“After our first day of the season, we got a lot of feedback from the public and we definitely want to listen to what people are saying,” said Vachon. “While we want to make this an enjoyable experience, we also have to build a successful business.”
“One of the ideas that we took from the feedback was the idea of adding a one hour rate instead of a two hour rate,” he said. “It made sense, being that there are younger families with the kids, two hours is just too long. We’ve now addressed that and have implemented a one hour option.”
With a 900 ft. (approximately 300 metres) run for the tube park and an elevation of about 120 ft. (approximately 40 metres or 12 stories) Timmins families and visitors are coming out to enjoy the biggest tube park in the province.
“We’re here because it looked like fun and my kid loves to be outside,” said Amanda Chartrand, who got together with a number of friends to bring their children out for a day of outdoor fun. “We’re coming back for sure.”
In addition to all the fun and excitement on the hills, it must be noted that Kamiskotia Snow resort is a registered not-for-profit organization who are actively seeking to help other non-profits in the area.
“We want to start letting other non-profits know that we are also not for profit and we’re here to help,” says Vachon. “If they’re looking for a place to raise funds or hold events, we’re totally in the business of working with them.”
“We’ve hosted events for the Canadian Cancer Society and Timmins Ski Racers. There’s a group called Snow Bound that helps people with physical disabilities who come out to use the hills on Saturdays as well as a lot of school programs that come out to use our facility and we want them to continue to do so,” he said.
“We’d like to see more high schools using the facility and we welcome any non-profit looking to do some fund raising.”
“Our chalet has been redone inside and we can host more events ranging from concerts to speaking engagements, the facility is very spectator friendly,” says Vachon. “We have a great asset here in the community. Please come here and use it.”
For anyone looking for pricing or information, Kamiskotia Snow Resort can be found on Facebook or through their website at www.kamiskotia.com/.
(Photo: Mathieu Vachon, General Manager of Kamiskotia Snow Resort, launches riders during the opening weekend of the tube park. Dave Kramer for TimminsToday.)
