Martock makes 243 snow angels for Canadian Ski Patrol Day

Ski Martock is one of 80 hills across Canada celebrating Canadian Ski Patrol Day on Saturday by attempting to break a Guinness World Record.

The record is for most people making snow angels across multiple venues. Melissa Sutherland is the patrol leader at Ski Martock and one of the organizers for the event. She said there have been a couple of weeks worth of planning even though the snow angel making only lasts for a moment.

“It’s a lot of behind the scenes, but right now it is go time,” said Sutherland, about 20 minutes before the event started. “We’ve had people setting up netting all morning, getting sign poles, taping poles, just so much that goes on in the background to make it happen.”

Jessica and Shawn Myra participated in the event with their three children.

“I wanted the kids to participate and to be involved,” said Jessica Myra. “Just to be outside and be involved in a world record. Hopefully we beat it.”

When asked about why he liked making snow angels Shawn Myra said, “Well, they bring us back to childhood, don’t they?”

The couple’s oldest son Quade Myra said he likes making snow angels because it gives him something to do during snowy days.

“I just lay down and move back and forth and then I put my feet in the snow and jump away so I don’t leave footprints,” said Quade.

To record the number of participants, two non-ski patrol volunteers counted people as they went through a small red archway into a closed-off area. Once on the other side, patrol volunteers gave out raffle tickets to win a Ski Martock hoodie, which also helped keep track of numbers.

In Nova Scotia, both Ski Martock and Ski Wentworth participated in this one minute long event at 2 p.m. First counts estimate 243 people participated at Martock and 298 at Wentworth.

Sutherland said all the hills usually share their numbers within 24 hours of the event, but she wasn’t sure how long it takes Guinness to review the numbers. She said even if they don’t break the record, they have fun trying.

“We look at it as a day to celebrate and have a little bit of fun,” said Sutherland. “Having the public come and participate and support us, I think goes to show that they appreciate (the volunteers).”

Sutherland is one of 4,500 volunteers across 220 hills with the Canadian Ski Patrol. She said the volunteers are ambassadors for the hills and they make sure visitors have a good time.

“Really, we’re here to help people to enjoy their day. In any aspect, really, from the first aid to helping with the skis,” said Sutherland. “We could be picking up garbage on the hills, a lot of us spend time getting the netting up and we’ll help the little kids up the T-bar.”

A school board in Ontario currently holds the snow angel world record with 15,851 angels. This is the Canadian Ski Patrol’s third time attempting to break the record. Last year they made just over 8,000 snow angels.