RNSC: 2016-2017

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The Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club Newsletter 2016-2017

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:

WWW.REVELSTOKENORDIC.ORG

Welcome to the RNSC! by Gary Graf

Welcome back to all our returning members and a hearty welcome to our new members. We are certainly looking forward to another great season of Nordic skiing. I feel privileged to have been invited to join the Board and to serve as President. Since joining the Board on June 1st, I have been on a steep learning curve and have certainly benefited from very respectful, encouraging and supportive fellow directors and staff. We have a very strong board that is committed to the long-standing traditions and goals of the Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club. I can happily report that these purposes of our club are being well served. Our Staff and Volunteers This year we can again look forward to building on the solid traditions of local community membership and dedicated volunteers. More recently, we have benefited from a highly skilled and dedicated staff. Our skier development program is looking forward to another exceptional year, especially for our youth who are establishing a very positive profile for their skill and sportsmanship.

Our exceptional and well-groomed trail network is attracting the attention of many visitors to Revelstoke. Consequently, there continues to be a very impressive evolution of the sport here in Revelstoke. Club Improvements Since last season, we have focused our attention on maintaining the exterior of our lodge and shop. We have also been working towards replacing our groomer so that we can continue to provide a first class Nordic experience. We have also been watching, with pride, the summer activities of our young skiers. This season, stay tuned for the continuation of first class Nordic skiing in our area. Happy skiing to all,

Issue Date Website Updates You may notice some small changes to the website this year, and we hope that you continue to find www.revelstokenoric.org a useful site. We will be placing the trail and grooming reports front and center, and we’ll post key events, some photos, and all the information that our members and guests will need for a great season of skiing. We are happy to hear from you if you can think of ways to improve our website. In the belief that sometimes less is truly more, the RNSC will not be maintaining a presence on Facebook this year. We are choosing instead to focus our energies on continued improvements to our website and making it your one-stop-shop for all things Nordic.

Gary Graf President Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club

www.revelstokenordic.org

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The Dog Days of Winter by Lucie Bergeron

Welcome to another great season of skiing with your dog! The Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club (RNSC) has one of the best dog loops going, and it is unique in a number of ways. A quick survey of other clubs across the province reveals that clubs that offer trails that welcome dogs are quite rare. Further, when trails are available, they are often segregated from the main trail system, very short, and rarely groomed. Our dog loop is groomed regularly, is a respectable length, is accessible from the parking lot, and includes connector trails that make it fun to loop around and around. All this to say, love your loop! Review the club’s dog policy on our website, respect other skiers, and please, please, please clean up after you pet. Take it a step further and toss any waste that you run across while skiing. To ensure the continued success of the dog loop going forward, there are few minor issues that can easily be addressed through the cooperation of members who use the dog loop:

Numbers The RNSC Dog Policy sets a limit of two dogs per person on our trails. Large groups of uncontrolled dogs are a hazard anywhere, but are of particular concern on ski trails.

Use Your Leash Please keep your dog on a leash in the parking lot. This protects your dog, and as the parking lot is often busy and slippery, it is a courtesy to others. Dogs should be on leash in the stadium area as well. Finally, dogs should not be tied to, or brought into the lodge. There is a hitching post at the beginning of Roadway Ramble that can be used to secure your dog while you are getting organized.

Roadway Ramble As you move your dog from the parking lot to the dog loop proper, you will be skiing along a trail where you are most likely to run into very young, novice, and elderly skiers. Please keep your dog on leash for the first 200 metres of the trail.

Saturday is for Bunnies On Saturdays, please consider waiting until after 11:30 am to take your dog for a ski. Our very youngest skiers, the Bunnies, are often on Roadway Ramble on Saturday mornings, and so the on-leash area extends to the woods on Roadway Ramble at this time. Any good-sized dog easily looks these little guys in the eye, and an uncontrolled dog can be terrifying for them.

Intersections and Downhills Please ensure that your dog enters intersections in a safe manner. Train your dog to move out of the way of oncoming skiers, particularly on downhills.

Brown Klister (Poo) Known as brown klister in some circles, nobody wants dog poo on their skis or churned up in a freshly groomed track. Please pick up any messes along the trail. There are trowels at regular intervals along the trails for this purpose. If you dislike skiing back to get a trowel, using your ski pole or a branch is also an option. If the possible repercussions of mismanaging this fill you with dread, it is also possible to use a dog waste bag as a glove and throw the waste off the trail.

Whatever method you use, make sure that the waste is well off the trail. If none of these options appeal to you and you really prefer to bag your waste, please be careful not to drop it, and make sure to dispose of it at home. Finally, keeping your dog close-by ensures that you are aware of the need to clean up.

Looking Ahead The success of the Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club’s Dog Loop is a testament to the cooperative and invested spirit of all our members: those who don’t ski with dogs, for bearing with the growing pains and changes as the loop has evolved, and those who do ski with dogs, for taking the needs of others into account and for owning their responsibilities as dog owners. The Dog Loop enjoys a lot of support, and it the cooperation of dog-owners and their respect of RNSC policies that will help keep our club dog-friendly for years to come. Concerns, questions, and feedback about the dog loop can be addressed to Lucie Bergeron: [email protected] 250-837-2536.

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The RNSC Ski League by Matt Smider

Rabbits and Bunnies Our Rabbits and Bunnies are getting ready for another year on-snow! Our Rabbits hit the snow Saturday, December 3rd after the usual Pancake Breakfast Kick-Off and the Bunnies will begin January 7th.

Rabbits: 2x per Week Once again, Rabbits 2 – 4 will be skiing as a group on both Saturdays and Tuesdays, adventuring in both skate and classic skiing.

Thanks to our Coaches! For several years, Robyn Thomas was the Director of our Youth Programs, and Janette Vickers ran the Rabbits program. This year, Pat McMechan will take over Robyn’s position and Brendan MacIntosh will be our Rabbits Coordinator. We’d also like to thank all of our volunteer coaches for all the time they put in.

Volunteers Needed We still need coaches to help with Bunnies. If parents have any questions about the program or would like to volunteer their time within the program, feel free to contact our Rabbits Coordinator, Brendan MacIntosh, [email protected] or Coach Matt [email protected].

Come to the Parents’ Meeting Are you a new parent with questions about the Revelstoke Nordic Ski League programs? Come to the Revelstoke Nordic Parent Orientation on Monday, November 14th from 7 – 8pm at the Community Centre Multi-Purpose Room. We will cover everything you need to know get you and your skier started on the skill development pathway.

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The RNSC Race Program by Matt Smider

Thanks to our Coaches Revelstoke Nordic skiers have enjoyed a productive season of dryland training. Coach Matt directed programs throughout the dryland season, with extensive support from a dedicated group of volunteer coaches: Robyn Thomas, Tanya Wolgram, Mandy Kellner, Rory Luxmoore, Bruce Granstrom and Matti Little.

Our Junior Development (JD) crew began one weekly session in May and increased to three weekly sessions as school wound down in late June. JD skiers are now training four times per week as a team through the remainder of the ski season. Many eager Track Attack (TA) skiers joined our summer sessions twice weekly and their program kicked off in earnest at the start of September, with three weekly sessions for our TA squad.

rides on the Macpherson trail network; paddling adventures to Carnes Creek; triathlons at Williamson and strength workouts with our “mobile gym” setup at Centennial Park. The best part is that we don’t have to travel far to get all new adventures next season!

Provincial Training Camps In addition to the multitude of local adventures, 10 Revelstoke provincial team athletes and four invitees benefited from the extensive provincial team training camp schedule. The Talent Squad (co-lead by Coach Matt) saw skiers Revelstoke skiers aged 13 – 15 partake in dryland camps in Whistler and 100 Mile House. Revelstoke’s Development Squad skiers (ages 14 – 16) and BC Ski Team skiers (ages 15+) were treated to two Whistler camps, a Revelstoke camp and memorable training opportunities (for both athletes and Coach Matt) on the Haig Glacier and in Sweden Provincial team athletes can now look forward to November on-snow camps in Vernon and Whistler.

So, what do Nordic skiers do during the six months and over 70 team workouts between May and the tempting November precipitation? Lots! In an effort to overcome what some may refer to as “monotonous distance training”, our dryland sessions strive to utilize Revelstoke’s superb playground to the fullest.

Summer Dryland Capitalizing on the endless training opportunities surrounding us, we held a Revelstoke Summer Dryland Camp which saw over 50 skiers from Calgary, Kelowna, Vernon and Salmon Arm join our team for a week in July. This season’s dryland highlights include: runs to Balu Pass and the Asulkan Hut; hikes and striding intervals up Mount Revelstoke, Begbie, Cartier and Mackenzie; rollerskiing Meadows in the Sky Parkway, south along Airport Way or up freshly paved Clough Rd; urban orienteering in Revelstoke’s downtown; sinuous runs and

Fundraising Fundraising efforts have been maintained through volunteerism at local environmental and sporting events and our annual bottle drive, which recorded an impressive total of $2672. The ongoing sale of Save-On cards and a raffle draw to be awarded at our Okanagan Cup are the major funding events throughout the winter season.

As Winter Approaches November’s on-snow camps are followed quickly by the Vernon and Rossland Nor Am events in December, and everyone is looking forward to fun season on the skinny sticks!

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The RNSC Race Program provides excellent coaching and many new opportunities. Here is a personal account of a summer training camp attended by Alana Brittin, an RNSC member since 2007.

RNSC Racers in Sweden by Alana Brittin

This summer Elizabeth Elliott and I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Sweden with a group of people from BC and two coaches, Matt and Chris. It was an extremely exciting trip where we got to meet some really fast skiers from Sweden and were also able to have some amazing training opportunities. In short, the trip included one week in Torsby staying at the ski tunnels and training on the roller ski loop and in the 1.4km ski tunnel loop, and one week in Solleftea at a ski camp where we met with other racers from Sweden including the Junior National Team. We also spent a day wandering the streets of Stockholm and being tourists.

The really cool thing about training in Torsby was that you could transfer what you had been learning to do on your roller skis into training on snow. This was possible because we could ski for an hour in the tunnel and then go right onto our roller skis from basically out the front door of the ski tunnels. The roller ski loop was about 5km long of perfectly smooth pavement and almost always had skiers training on it. Also, in the upstairs of the building was a gym for strength training, rooms with treadmills for testing, and a rollers treadmill that both Elizabeth and I agreed looked absolutely terrifying to try. You could say we were spoiled with ideal training environments while we were training here. We also went for a long ski on a rural road near Torsby that just happened to have perfectlypaved, new pavement.

Solleftea Ski Camp

Tunnel Training in Torsby The photo above shows the team in Torsby. Behind us you can see the entrance and exit to the ski tunnel loop. There was also a biathlon shooting range in the next room over so that the biathletes could train in the tunnel too. The ski tunnel was surprisingly quite cold (about -5 degrees Celsius but it felt much colder) and it got very repetitive after many long slow skis on the 1.4km loop.

Next, we drove to Solleftea stopping in Mora and looking at the museum for the Vassaloppet which is a historic ski race that is 90km long held there. In Solleftea we stayed at this beautiful hotel up on the hillside of a mountain above the town. We also got to watch the world cup roller ski races and even a few of the people on the team were able to compete in the long-distance skate race which was really exciting for them! In the photo to the right, you can see part of one of the buildings of the hotel we stayed in. Just inside those windows was a pool and a couple hot tubs. There was also about 6 different saunas and a cold tub which was perfect for doing some hot cold at the end of long training sessions.

A Mountain Race On the first day of the camp we did a running race up the mountain, which was actually a ski hill that operates during the winter. This race, although very intense, was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and it was a really exciting way to kick of the camp with the Swedish skiers.

Route-Finding and Running Another one of our highlights from this camp was the long-run day. This was a day where the coaches bused us down to Solleftea, and then they gave us a map and sent us on our way. The funny thing about this run was that the map was not very clear at points and if you lost the group you had a chance of getting lost. The policy for lost skiers here was a little bit different than in Canada for if you got lost they might not start looking for you for a couple hours. Before we left for this run, they told us to bring our phones and some extra money in case we got lost. The run we did that day was just over 30km and fortunately we all made it back.

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Groomed to Perfection by Jeff Ferguson

Trail Work As a vital part of the RNSC, our trails receive year-round attention so they can be in top shape during the winter season. This year was no exception and we have plenty of good news to report.

Brushing During October, more than twenty RNSC members volunteered for a work party on the trails.

Downie Timber also helped out with our trails this year. They donated several days of heavy equipment time towards some trail improvements on Mickey's and Evelyn's. The work consisted of hauling in gravel to build the trail up in sections where water pooled and also to cover bedrock outcroppings that can damage the groomer tiller when there is a thin snowpack. We’d also like to thank BC Timber Sales, and Balcaen Consolidated Ltd. for their work on our trails this fall. This work will result in a more consistent snowpack on these trails for early and late season skiing, as well as reduce the chance of damage to the tiller on the new groomer.

Lighting Armed with brushing saws, volunteers cut down encroaching vegetation along many trails so the snow will fall evenly on the ground, and to ensure that no branches or small trees would affect the new groomer or its tiller.

Our lit network of trails has become a favorite feature for many of our members. Maintenance on the lighting network has ensured that all the lights are working for this winter, and the RNSC would like to thank Rick at Canyon Electrical for donating time to keep our lights lit.

A New Groomer! One of the most exciting developments for the year ahead is the purchase of a new groomer. The RNSC now owns a 2016 Prinoth BR350, and it is expected to arrive in mid-November.

This new machine has the same physical dimensions as our current one. However, it has modern technology, more power, better fuel economy, and a tiller which will perform much better in our often wet and heavy snow conditions. It will be set up with three Nordic track setters (like our current machine), and the expected delivery date is in mid-November

Funding Purchase of our new groomer was made possible from a combination of the following sources:  $100K grant from Tourism Infrastructure Fund  $100K grant from CSRD Economic Opportunity Fund  $70K from the RNSC Capital Replacement Fund  The sale of our Bombardier BR275. This machine is Ontario-bound now and it has been sold to a winter road builder in Thunder Bay.  Financing through the Revelstoke Credit Union. Thank-you to all of our community partners for their support.

THANK-YOU GROOMER CREW! Our grooming volunteers contributed approximately 400 hours of grooming time last season. We want to thank the following people for helping to make our trails great: Al McInnes Dave Kaegi Duane Dukart Harry Van Oort Kevin Bollefer Mark Davis Mark Gunner Mat Wallace Pat McMechan Rob Evans Rob Jay Tom Patry Trent Kappler Wade Viznaugh

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The RNSC Executive: 2016-2017 by [Article Author]

To begin, we’d like to thank the following RNSC board members for their service and dedication last year: Robyn Thomas (Youth Programs), Kurt Grabinsky (President), Paula Hill (Dog Trails/Snowshoeing), and Brendan MacIntosh (Communications). As we move into the 2016-2017 season, here are the volunteers on the RNSC Board who are working to ensure that Nordic skiing in Revelstoke continues to thrive: Gary Graf: President Lori Milmine: Secretary Mark Gunner – Treasurer Directors: Pat McMechan: Youth Programs Koreen Morrone: Membership Jeff Wilson: Communications Jeff Ferguson: Trails and Grooming Lucie Bergeron: Dog and Snowshoe Liaison Josie Woodman: Seniors Liaison

Details from our Club Constitution: Our club constitution states that our purposes are: a) To promote interest in and to develop sportsmanship and proficiency in Nordic skiing. b) To organize, administer and coordinate appropriate Nordic skiing opportunities for all ages in the community. c) To enter into affiliation or reciprocal arrangements with any other society or club with which it is considered advisable, that it may in any way assist in achieving any or all of the purposes of the club. d) To obtain and manage the necessary finances, personnel and equipment to operate Nordic skiing programs and facilities.

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS Thanks to the following people who contributed to this year’s fall newsletter: Writers: Gary Graf Matt Smider Lucie Bergeron Kelsey Knoll Jeff Ferguson Alana Brittin Photographers: Rob Buchanan Mike Thomas Jeff Wilson Matt Smider Editor: Jeff Wilson

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Lodge Life by Kelsey Knoll

The RNSC is happy to welcome Kelsey Knoll back for her second season at the lodge. Here is her letter to members.

Hello Skiers! For those of you who haven't met me, my name is Kelsey and I'm the Club Manager. This will be my second season in this position, and with every frost I'm getting more excited for the coming ski season. You'll see me around the lodge and in the office-selling day passes, memberships, and rentals, shoveling snow, writing grooming reports, cleaning bathrooms, and the like. Please come say hello, I do love a good chin wag. Since last season, there has been some exciting new developments at the lodge: The club has a new addition to the rental fleet-snowshoes! Give them a try when you want a change of pace, or to bring non-snow-sporting folks to enjoy the winter season. As with all our rentals, it's a good idea to call ahead to make sure equipment will be available when you want it, especially during the holidays. You also might notice that the flooring in the boot changing area was renovated. The floor and stairs are now covered with rubber made from recycled tires, thanks to help from the BC Tire Stewardship Fund. Be sure to make use of this beautiful space to store your bags and change your boots in comfort. I look forward to seeing new and old ski friends soon! Happy trails, Kelsey

The Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club Lodge: 250.814.4264 Snow-phone: 250.837.7303 [email protected] www.revelstokenordic.org