Laurentian Ski Hill a great start for North Bay Olympians

Tyler Nicholson isn’t the first North Bay Olympian who has learned a sport on the Laurentian Ski Hill.

General Manager Cam Graham points out he’s been preceded by Kate Pace and Steve Omischl.

“What’s exciting about this is it’s 3 different disciplines these people have gone to the Olympics in-3 completely different sports. That shows something as well. It’s not just the Olympics either. It’s other national and provincial teams.”
He says the hill continues to evolve from just skiing to snowboarding and now something else.

“The Terrain Park came in. We wouldn’t have had that. That was once a tube park and now it’s a terrain park. And now the mogul competition. Something that hasn’t been here for almost 30 years.”

Meantime, Nicholson hasn’t forgotten where he’s come from.

The Widdifield grad has even authored one of his routines as the Wildcat.

School principal Lisa O’Kane was touched when hearing that.

“And that’s really cool and that’s amazing. Tyler was a part of this building and he took a piece of Wildcat with him. And you saw that when he walked back into our school a few years ago and he gave me one of his boards. That shows the connection and the pride he has for Widdifield.”

She says they take a lot of pride in Tyler’s success.

‘It takes a village. It’s not just Mom and Dad. It’s also school which is a key part of a students world. We know we had a special little guy on our hands and he needed something different and something special. So with working with Mom and Dad we figured it out.”