December 4 --Newsletter from "da prez"
Well, what a difference a week can make! It stopped snowing, which was a VERY Good Thing. Then we got the machines fixed, which was another Very Good Thing. Then I’m not sure how many people came out on Saturday, and the biggest logging operation since we cleared the trails got under way. And that was The Best Thing of all!
Thank you so much to everyone who came out. It took 7 hours, 3 snow mobiles, the Piston Bulley and a 4-track quad, 4 chain saws and many hands to clear all the downed trees, but we did it. Well done, and thank you everyone!!
So the trails are open, but not all of them. Because of the volume of snow and the fact that a lot of it was powder, there are still pockets of air under the surface and grooming is difficult. Also, Saturday's logging operations made a bit of a mess. So…..the Beaver is packed, tracked and ski-able but not beautiful, so is the Dog and the Moose as far as the Lone Wolf turn around. The rest is packed and ski-able by experts with metal edged skies only. Skate skiing is not advised. The parking lot is clear and the groomers will be out after work during the week. We’re hoping for some fresh snow (believe it or not) to cover up the logging scars.
You may notice a hole at the start of the Dog Trail. Someone with a Hummer thought it would be good to take a drive down there. Remember those air pockets under the surface I mentioned earlier? He found one.
One tow truck bill and a long conversation with some of our skiers later, he decided that might not have been such a bright idea. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy doesn’t it?
Rentals: The other excitement on Saturday was the first rental day with good weather and LOTS of people came to pick up their skis. So many, in fact, that we are now completely out of adult skis. Thanks to Ken Earl, for your help! We went flat out for 2 hours! This means that the hunt is on for more adult sized skis – 180 cm and up. Those of you who have been members for a while know that the rentals began as, and still are mostly donated and rescued from the recycling center and the Salvation Army. You would be astonished at how many 3-pin bindings I have removed and replaced on perfectly good skis that have spent the last 20 years in the back of someone’s garage. So what I’m asking you to do, is look far into the back corner of your garage or basement, or your friends or families, and dig out those old skis, boots too if they’re any good, and drop them off by the ski cupboard. I’ll take it from there. No moleskin skis please.
I still have kids' gear, including skate skis. So I will be at the trails on Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 7:30 to 9 pm and again on Saturday, Dec. 10 from 1:30 to 3 pm. Again, that’s for kids only. Please note, this means the Tuesday and Thursday (Dec. 6 & 8) dates are cancelled. I’m hoping to have more skis fairly soon but I will be away over Christmas so it may not happen until January. If you’d like to speed things up by helping out, give me a call.
Membership: As of yesterday, our membership is up to 228, many of whom are new members. To the newcomers – Welcome! It’s great to have you out at the trails! I’d like to encourage you to have a look at our website and especially the newsletters. If you click on search this web site, and enter newsletters in the search box you get a long list of past letters. Starting last December, I began explaining a few things that newcomers might not know – things like costs of grooming and how and why we do things the way we do. You might find it interesting and I hope you find it useful.
For example, here’s a little membership history that you probably don’t know. About 10 years ago we were down to less than 100 members. I, personally, skied 3 times that winter. We had no snow. We cancelled Rabbits, there was no racing team (there still isn’t officially – we need to do something about that) and executive meetings were not fun. The dates of our annual scheduled races are at the end of January and February. We were so fed up we just wanted to cancel – everyone else in the province had. But President Terry Brown said – “Cliff can groom 4 inches of ice with the Ginzu,” and we held our races! Best bit of grooming anyone had ever seen – hardly anyone there for the event, but Snow Valley, by cracky, held their races!
It took a long time to rebuild the membership. We had 12 children in Rabbits the next year. But with the start of our little rental business and more snow that lasted well into the spring, and the excellent standard of grooming and trail maintenance that we work hard to maintain, it has been building steadily.
Which brings me to the Standing, Ad Hoc Membership (SAHM) Committee. We keep our fees reasonably low compared to many other ski clubs. We want our sport to be affordable for everyone. It’s comparatively inexpensive for a family to join and our rentals are as cheap as they get. (In more ways than one – but what do you want – cheap or new?) Keeping costs low means that we need to bring in new members all the time. Every member of the Club is automatically a member of the SAHM Committee. Bring your friends, family, coworkers and neighbours out to ski and introduce them to the best way to spend winter in Canada! Looks like we’re going to have a long one so let’s get everyone out enjoying themselves!!
Speaking of enjoying – we have snow so that means it’s time for our sort-of-annual Jingle Bell Ski Party! It’s sort-of-annual because sometimes we don’t have any snow in December. Parties in our Club are pretty simple – someone announces a reason and date – and it’s a potluck followed by a night ski. (Sometimes we send the kids off to ski and the adults sit around the wood stove talking.) No alcohol because everyone’s driving. Organizers come early, light the fire and put table cloths on the tables (they’re in the drawer). They also make sure clean up is done properly. BTW there’s less clean up if everyone brings their own dishes and takes them home in a plastic bag. So now I need someone to organize the Jingle Bell Ski Party (everyone wears a bell and maybe you-know-who turns up with candy canes or something). I’m booked solid so someone else has to do this one – volunteers please!!
Our Club Open House will be on Jan. 7 for 1 – 4 pm (I think). We need volunteers to do rentals, meet and greet, give lessons and lead tours. We will also need some baking. You will be phoned, or you could just volunteer! Please write it in on your calendar. It’s a fun day.
Rabbits starts on January 14th at 10 am. and adult lessons do too, starting at 10:30. Geoff Phillips is organizing the adult lessons and plans for a week day evening again this year, probably Wednesday. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to sign up for skate, classic, beginner or intermediate lesson.
And finally, if there’s a teen in your family who’s looking for something a little different to do, there are quite a few teens from Kitimat coming out on Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday afternoons to ski. They’re mostly all beginners and your teen is welcome to join us.
Also the Biathlon Club is set to go at the Terrace Rod and Gun Club and their teen contingent is having a blast. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at the Rod and Gun.
We’re in business everyone! Let’s ski!!!
Liz Thorne (da Prez) This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
So the trails are open, but not all of them. Because of the volume of snow and the fact that a lot of it was powder, there are still pockets of air under the surface and grooming is difficult. Also, Saturday's logging operations made a bit of a mess. So…..the Beaver is packed, tracked and ski-able but not beautiful, so is the Dog and the Moose as far as the Lone Wolf turn around. The rest is packed and ski-able by experts with metal edged skies only. Skate skiing is not advised. The parking lot is clear and the groomers will be out after work during the week. We’re hoping for some fresh snow (believe it or not) to cover up the logging scars.
You may notice a hole at the start of the Dog Trail. Someone with a Hummer thought it would be good to take a drive down there. Remember those air pockets under the surface I mentioned earlier? He found one.
Laughing
Rentals: The other excitement on Saturday was the first rental day with good weather and LOTS of people came to pick up their skis. So many, in fact, that we are now completely out of adult skis. Thanks to Ken Earl, for your help! We went flat out for 2 hours! This means that the hunt is on for more adult sized skis – 180 cm and up. Those of you who have been members for a while know that the rentals began as, and still are mostly donated and rescued from the recycling center and the Salvation Army. You would be astonished at how many 3-pin bindings I have removed and replaced on perfectly good skis that have spent the last 20 years in the back of someone’s garage. So what I’m asking you to do, is look far into the back corner of your garage or basement, or your friends or families, and dig out those old skis, boots too if they’re any good, and drop them off by the ski cupboard. I’ll take it from there. No moleskin skis please.
I still have kids' gear, including skate skis. So I will be at the trails on Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 7:30 to 9 pm and again on Saturday, Dec. 10 from 1:30 to 3 pm. Again, that’s for kids only. Please note, this means the Tuesday and Thursday (Dec. 6 & 8) dates are cancelled. I’m hoping to have more skis fairly soon but I will be away over Christmas so it may not happen until January. If you’d like to speed things up by helping out, give me a call.
Membership: As of yesterday, our membership is up to 228, many of whom are new members. To the newcomers – Welcome! It’s great to have you out at the trails! I’d like to encourage you to have a look at our website and especially the newsletters. If you click on search this web site, and enter newsletters in the search box you get a long list of past letters. Starting last December, I began explaining a few things that newcomers might not know – things like costs of grooming and how and why we do things the way we do. You might find it interesting and I hope you find it useful.
For example, here’s a little membership history that you probably don’t know. About 10 years ago we were down to less than 100 members. I, personally, skied 3 times that winter. We had no snow. We cancelled Rabbits, there was no racing team (there still isn’t officially – we need to do something about that) and executive meetings were not fun. The dates of our annual scheduled races are at the end of January and February. We were so fed up we just wanted to cancel – everyone else in the province had. But President Terry Brown said – “Cliff can groom 4 inches of ice with the Ginzu,” and we held our races! Best bit of grooming anyone had ever seen – hardly anyone there for the event, but Snow Valley, by cracky, held their races!
It took a long time to rebuild the membership. We had 12 children in Rabbits the next year. But with the start of our little rental business and more snow that lasted well into the spring, and the excellent standard of grooming and trail maintenance that we work hard to maintain, it has been building steadily.
Which brings me to the Standing, Ad Hoc Membership (SAHM) Committee. We keep our fees reasonably low compared to many other ski clubs. We want our sport to be affordable for everyone. It’s comparatively inexpensive for a family to join and our rentals are as cheap as they get. (In more ways than one – but what do you want – cheap or new?) Keeping costs low means that we need to bring in new members all the time. Every member of the Club is automatically a member of the SAHM Committee. Bring your friends, family, coworkers and neighbours out to ski and introduce them to the best way to spend winter in Canada! Looks like we’re going to have a long one so let’s get everyone out enjoying themselves!!
Speaking of enjoying – we have snow so that means it’s time for our sort-of-annual Jingle Bell Ski Party! It’s sort-of-annual because sometimes we don’t have any snow in December. Parties in our Club are pretty simple – someone announces a reason and date – and it’s a potluck followed by a night ski. (Sometimes we send the kids off to ski and the adults sit around the wood stove talking.) No alcohol because everyone’s driving. Organizers come early, light the fire and put table cloths on the tables (they’re in the drawer). They also make sure clean up is done properly. BTW there’s less clean up if everyone brings their own dishes and takes them home in a plastic bag. So now I need someone to organize the Jingle Bell Ski Party (everyone wears a bell and maybe you-know-who turns up with candy canes or something). I’m booked solid so someone else has to do this one – volunteers please!!
Our Club Open House will be on Jan. 7 for 1 – 4 pm (I think). We need volunteers to do rentals, meet and greet, give lessons and lead tours. We will also need some baking. You will be phoned, or you could just volunteer! Please write it in on your calendar. It’s a fun day.
Rabbits starts on January 14th at 10 am. and adult lessons do too, starting at 10:30. Geoff Phillips is organizing the adult lessons and plans for a week day evening again this year, probably Wednesday. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to sign up for skate, classic, beginner or intermediate lesson.
And finally, if there’s a teen in your family who’s looking for something a little different to do, there are quite a few teens from Kitimat coming out on Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday afternoons to ski. They’re mostly all beginners and your teen is welcome to join us.
Also the Biathlon Club is set to go at the Terrace Rod and Gun Club and their teen contingent is having a blast. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at the Rod and Gun.
We’re in business everyone! Let’s ski!!!
Liz Thorne (da Prez) This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it