Community Halls and Recreation Facilities
The Community Halls and Recreation Facilities is no longer available. Please visit the Recreation Infrastructure program page
View Funding Program
In 2009, Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club received a $20,000 grant and a $40,000 loan from Northern Development through the Community Halls and Recreation Facilities program towards this $322,000 project. This has been a funding partnership of Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club, Northern Development, BC Gaming, Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, and Western Economic Diversification
2012-The Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club is a non-profit organization for cross-country skiing enthusiasts in the Kitimat and Terrace area. Today the club runs and maintains the Onion Lake Ski Trails located half-way between Kitimat and Terrace. The club is run entirely by volunteers through the support of people in its surrounding communities, local governments and local businesses.
Surrounded by the beautiful coast mountains and located in a snow belt, the Onion Lake Ski Trails have over 35 km of groomed trails which includes 5 km of lit trails for night skiing. Newest to the trail system is a 6 km ‘Doggy Trail’, where your canine friend is welcome to romp beside you while you ski. The trail system has been built to suit a variety of skill levels and still provides easy access to many small lakes and spectacular views of the valley. Each year the club organizes and hosts the numerous events at the Onion Lake Ski Trails.
In anticipation of the 2010 BC Winter Games that were held in Terrace in March 2010, the Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club conducted a number of important facility upgrades in order to host cross country ski races at the Onion Lake Ski Trails. The society invested in equipment to maintain safe access roads to the facility, cross country trail grooming equipment, and a construction of a new equipment storage building that is used as a marshalling point for athletes during events.
In addition, the ski lodge’s kitchen underwent a series of major upgrades enabling the society to operate the kitchen and cater to major events while also meeting Food Safe standards. Through implementing the kitchen improvements, the society also expanded the kitchen, increasing the capacity to meet growing demand from visitors throughout the year. These upgrades helped to make the Winter Games’ cross country ski events a major success and has dramatically improved the quality of the Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club’s facilities that will support the long-term financial sustainability for the Society and ensure great winter recreation opportunities for the people of Kitimat and Terrace.
"Since the 2010 BC Winter Games, the membership of our club has doubled. More people are moving to the area for work on major projects and finding high calibre recreational facilities available to them always seems to be a welcome surprise. We hope it will help keep them here for the long haul."
Liz Thorne, President, Snow Valley Nordic Ski ClubThe BC 2010 Winter Games attracted over 100 cross country ski athletes and para-athletes from all over British Columbia. This was the first year para-athletes competed in the BC Winter Games, so these events set the standard for other communities who will host BC Winter Games in the future. Many of these athletes traveled with their families who stayed at local hotels and shopped locally during what is usually a slow economic period for the communities of Terrace and Kitimat.
The upgrades completed under this project are allowing the Snow Valley Nordic Ski Club to provide access to a facility that local residents rely on for winter recreation and community events. The enhancements the project involved are also drawing visitors back to Kitimat and Terrace during the winter months to enjoy the excellent quality of the groomed trails and the cozy cabin and kitchen facilities at the Onion Lake Ski Trails.
Other regionally based ski races are scheduled annually at the Onion Lake Ski Trails that will continue to attract athletes and their families throughout the North from Prince Rupert to 100 Mile House to Kitimat and Terrace for competitions. The high quality of the facilities and excellent grooming of the trails, not to mention the immense amount of snow that falls every year in this area, will continue to draw athletes and winter sports enthusiasts to Kitimat and Terrace every winter.
The Community Halls and Recreation Facilities is no longer available. Please visit the Recreation Infrastructure program page
View Funding Program
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