Ski hill "all about the kids"

Jake Chirico, Jacklyn Wallace (c) and Julie Burke want to help save Jack Pine Hill through community involvement. Photo by Phil Novak.
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Saving Jack Pine Hill is “all about the kids,” says ski instructor Terry Lucenti, and Julie Burke, Jacklyn Wallace and Jake Chirico couldn’t agree with him more.

All four were on hand at the hill this morning as the Save Our Ski Hill team was unveiled during a news conference.

Some vitality
Former Nipissing MPP Al McDonald chairs the committee, which also includes Tim Robb, owner of Can-Blast, Kelly McCarthy, branch manager of Motion Canada’s North Bay operations, insurance adjuster Reno Daigle, and John Richardson.

The group, a not-for-profit corporation, plans to lease the hill for $1 from the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority and run it independently during the upcoming ski season.

“I think there’s some vitality here and I believe these people really care about it and have the right attitude, and it is all about the kids,” Lucenti said.

Great place to go
During his speech at the news conference McDonald said 80 per cent of Jack Pine Hill users “are young people.”

Chirico and Burke, both 16, and Wallace, 12, are among that contingent and appealed to the public to help save the hill.

Burke, also a ski instructor, said Jack Pine has provided city teenagers with a “great place to go” on weekends.

She said when she started looking for a place to volunteer, “the hill was the first place I thought of.”

“I was able to learn so much. Teaching kids hands on and learning from the other instructors is something I can’t replace,” Burke said

“And I would hate to think of all the opportunities that today’s youth will miss if this hill is closed. We can’t let this happen.”

Good investment
McDonald said the committee will have to raise $600,000 to run the hill for the year, with the city committing $150,000 in principle.

Lucenti believes that’s a good investment

“I don’t think $150,000 a year from the city is a lot to maintain this. You see houses going up all around and we don’t want to see houses over here.”

Bad brush
Jack Pine had been run by the conservation authority, but chairman Marc Charron said the organization was going to get out of the ski hill business.

Lucenti said the hill became “tarnished and painted with a bad brush.”

“I was only an instructor and I didn’t get to see the bottom line but I saw the happiness on the children’s faces,” Lucenti said.

“You bring a four or five-year old and this is Lake Louise to them.”

Very upset
Wallace said Jack Pine Hill was "very important" to her.

"It is a great place to be. Skiing and snowboarding are great sports that the whole family can do together, or you meet up with friends and ski with them," Wallace said.

If it weren’t for Jack Pine Hill, she added "many of us" would not know how to ski.

"I have talked to a lot of my friends and we all would be very upset and disappointed if the hill closed," Wallace said.

"Where would we ski? If we don't get the hill open now, we may never be able to open it again."

Best and happiest
Jake Chirico, nephew of North Bay deputy mayor Peter Chirico, said keeping Jack Pine Hill open is a "very important" community issue "that affects all of us."

Chirico said he's been skiing and snowboarding since he was two, and the hill has provided him some of his "best and happiest moments" with family and friends.

"It has allowed me to meet new friends, share a common passion and grow as a person," Chirico said.

"What a shame it would be if future generations did not have the same opportunities and the great memories that we have."

Good day
Lucenti said he learned how to ski at the hill, as has his seven-year-old daughter Aimee.

"She loves coming here, this is her winter," Lucenti said.

"What do you on a February morning in North Bay? Hang out in the mall? There’s nothing like a bowl of chili after a good day of skiing."