The Adanac Ski Club had reason to celebrate recently - and it had very little to do with any specific race results.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

Race officials who assist with timing and such for events hosted at the New Sudbury venue which re-opened in December of 2005 after being inactive for a handful of years are now far better equipped to do their jobs – thanks to a concerted effort from an entire local ski community.

Sparked in part by a $50,000 prize that was awarded by Mackenzie Investments and with plenty of work from those involved with ASC and friends of ASC, a brand new building at the foot of the hill, adjacent to the lift, has been built – one which serves a whole variety of purposes.

At least as important, however, was the work of the many that culminated with the official grand opening of the new structure at the end of February, a facility that was desperately required to replace the dilapidated shack that was home to flooding and freezing each and every year.

Mackenzie Investment officials were impressed – enough so to award arguably the smallest vertical in the country with the kind of funding required, pushing this project forward. “It’s the heart of the community that made this happen,” suggested Samantha Cherry, Senior Manager – Sponsorship & Community with Mackenzie.

“It’s all the different people that came together to make this happen.”

While she may very well travel from coast to coast and experience some of the most majestic mountains in the country, Cherry still has a soft spot for a northern Ontario city in which she still has family to visit. “The fact is that we live in a country where there are long winters,” she said.

“The fact is that we do want to find things for kids to do and things that bring people together. That’s what really matters; it doesn’t matter what size your ski hill is.”

A long-time skier, parent to kids that have been involved with Adanac since 2017 and a current board member, Stephen Winckel attempted to capture the emotion of the moment for all those involved.

“I think it’s pretty amazing,” he said. “We’re typically a hockey town, so to see this come to fruition is really something.”

And while Adanac is not going to mistaken any time soon for Tremblant or Whistler, there can be some advantages for those training on a regular basis on the site that continues to be brimming with locals pretty much every single weekend of the winter.

“We’re fortunate to have a really great chair-lift that is quite fast – so even though the runs are short, it gets us up the hill very quickly,” Winckel noted. “We can get a lot of runs in. And there is some variety on this hill. We see the main hill but there are a couple of runs on either side where skiers can practice various skills.”

It seems to be more than doing the trick for the likes of Ella Prosperi and her best friend, Anna Corsi, the former finishing first in the U12 slalom race recently at Mount Antoine and third in the grand slalom the next day.

“We’re lucky that we actually get a hill; it’s really nice to have it here,” said Prosperi, a 10 year-old grade five student at Ecole Hélène-Gravel. Strapping on her first set of skis before her second birthday, the aspiring racer is happy with the progress she has shown in recent years.

“You need the mobility to do small turns,” she said. “When I was younger, I could only do massive turns.”

Of course, part of that development comes courtesy of another local skier who is often at her side – or perhaps helping her off at the top of the hill. “My coach (Sydney Coe) is amazing,” said Prosperi. “She pushes me out of the start gate and helps get me motivated. It’s really nice to have her as my coach.”

Following in the footsteps of her older brother, Tomas, who also finished first in Mattawa, Anna Corsi is starting to show signs of really getting a handle on the technical basics of the sport that she loves to share with her classmate and friend.

“It’s hard to really get on your edges a lot and actually start stopping properly,” she explained. “You want to do it like a hockey stop, stop with both edges.”

While most of her time is spent at Adanac, Corsi also enjoys the chance to get out on the larger mountains as well – such as Mont Tremblant in Quebec. “It’s fun there; there’s one run full of moguls,” she noted. “I am terrible at moguls, but it’s super fun.”

That said, there really isn’t anything quite like home.

“This building makes it so much easier,” said Corsi. “When you go in there (the Vale Chalet) on weekends, there isn’t enough room. You can’t find a place to eat or sit down or warm up. There’s so many people.”

“In here, you can go in and sit down – and the paintings are so cool.”

Clearly, the new facility is getting thumbs up, right across the board, and the collective Sudbury ski community could not be happier.