The 2023 Canada Winter Games Hosted at Crabbe Mountain
The Canada Winter Games was a complete success for Crabbe Mountain – which hosted the moguls competition.
Crabbe Mountain located 45 minutes northwest of Fredericton has welcomed athletes from all around Canada to perform their impressive aerobatic skills on a recently built moguls course on Norm’s Nightmare.
Crabbe Mountain was given the opportunity to host the Canada Winter Games because the initial moguls event was supposed to be held at the Mark Arendz Provincial Ski Park, in North Wiltshire, Prince Edward Island (PEI). Unfortunately for the ski park in PEI, their mountain did not qualify for the moguls competition because is did not have a steep enough pitch.
Fiona Bragdon, who sits on the sports organizing committee for Crabbe Mountain, was glad that Crabbe Mountain became the lead contender.
“We built the pitch on Norm’s Nightmare two years ago, we changed the pitch slope last year and hosted the junior nationals, so this year is our first time hosting a moguls event,” said Bragdon.
The moguls competition is where freestyle skiers go down a steep downhill slope covered in various bumps of snow. While maneuvering the rough terrain, the skiers must make swift, and sharp precision turns down the course until reaching the jump ramp to perform their aerobatic stunt.
The Canada Game’s moguls competition took place on Feb. 24 and 25, and weather conditions were at -10 Celsius. Even though the cold weather was not the best conditions, spectators such as family members, friends, and community locals, all came to cheer for the competitors.
Those that wanted to participate in the event and watch the competitors compete, would need to be capable of skiing to Norm’s Nightmare. The lift tickets ranged from $30 to $50 for the day and spectators are required to ski down “Greg’s Way” until reaching the chair lift. People would need to take the chair lift to the top and then ski down to Norm’s Nightmare to reach the event.
At around 4 PM the moguls competition was finally over. While judges were tallying the points, all competitors, volunteers, and spectators were requested to return to Crabbe Mountain Lodge for the moguls ceremony.
The 2023 Canada Games ended with Quebec winning gold in the Female and Male category for the individual and dual competitions and British Columbia taking the top spot for the moguls team mix.
Ian Logan, is one of the Crabbe Mountain Volunteers.
“This is a huge opportunity for Crabbe and I’m really really enjoying it. The atmosphere here is wonderful, everyone is having a really really good time,” said Logan.
“For me personally, I’m stoked. I’ve grown up on the mountain my whole life so, just to see this happen it makes me so happy,” said Logan.
This is the first and last time the Canada Winter Games will be held in Crabbe Mountain.
