Ski hills will have to close when a province-wide lockdown comes into effect Saturday, but the push to keep them open continues.
Among those urging the government to allow ski hills to remain open are Orillia brothers Rebel, 13, and Racer McKay, 11.
The boys are on a freestyle ski team at Mount St. Louis Moonstone in Oro-Medonte.
“We didn’t want it to be cancelled. We want to go to the Olympics,” said Rebel.
He and Racer made a video and posted it to YouTube. In it, Racer notes golfing and boating were allowed during the summer and, for skiing, “we expect the same for winter.”
People rely on ski hills “for employment, physical health and mental health,” Rebel added.
The two urged people to show their support by visiting saveourskiing.ca.
While Rebel wouldn’t be able to ski this season anyway after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, he feels the season “shouldn’t be cancelled for everyone else.”
Gill Tillmann agrees.
The Orillia woman said local ski hills “have done a lot to come to a place where they feel they can offer a protective environment.”
“That industry has done its part to regulate how people behave on the hills,” she said.
This is coming from someone who contracted COVID-19 in March while skiing in Austria. However, “the environment of the bars and the après-ski activities and the gondolas people need to take up in Europe — we don’t have those same issues here,” she said.
Like the McKay brothers, Tillmann noted the importance of skiing when it comes to physical and mental health.
“While we’re being locked down, this is an opportunity to be outside and be active,” she said. “I was so looking forward to getting out on the hills. It’s just a shame, particularly when they’ve done so much work from September to now to keep things safe.”
She signed a petition, which can be found here, and urged others to do the same. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had garnered nearly 24,000 signatures.
Tillmann said she will seek out other outdoor activities this season, including snowshoeing.
Those in the region who want to take part in cross-country skiing can do so. Those operations, including Hardwood Ski and Bike in Oro-Medonte, are allowed to remain open during the lockdown.
Officials at Horseshoe Resort, Mount St. Louis Moonstone, and Hardwood Ski and Bike were not available to comment.
