Welcome back Striders!
Grooming Update:
With the 2024 / 2025 season arriving slightly earlier than expected – hopefully the snow sticks around! We’ve been packing the trails with the UTV this week (always special thanks to the support from Souris and Area Wildlife!) and they are yellow / skiable. The trails are open / use at your own risk at this time, and if you haven’t had the chance to get a membership yet – feel free to do so online, but feel free to get out and explore the trails on snowshoes or skis while we are prepping to open the shop / lodge. The lights are currently turned on for the 3k flats. There is a solid base down, and I’ve (Chad) both classic and skated the base that is down – it’s not ideal, but its outside on skis in December – so it’s hard to complain. The groomer has been given some love in the past couple of weeks, so we will look to get it out for a test run over the weekend and then wait for another 6-8″ of snow to get a solid groom down (assuming the next week of mild weather doesn’t remove all of the current base). The warming hut at the biathlon range has all of the fixings for a fire, so feel free to start a fire in there any time, and always take a look for smoke on your way by as there could be some trial bums in there talking wax conditions and snow temperatures… or more normal things. There are a couple of small trees down on the snowshoe trails, which we will look to remove by the weekend or Saturday morning!
Trails – 24 December
Updates for the upcoming season:
- Memberships increased to $50.00 . This was based on a couple of factors – feedback at the lodge / market research and assisting in paying for our portion of a large project! If you do find this price to be out of reach for anyone at all – please let us know as we have also created a volunteering program where you can get a free membership by participating in volunteering opportunities with the club. One of our core values is still ensuring anyone can have access to the trails and this beautiful space in the winter!
- Volunteer Day was a huge success, with over 20 people showing up, and Mary providing some of her lodge-famous Chilli! Thanks to all!
- The only snowshoe trail addition for this year is the connection of the Legacy Loop to the warming hut for those interested in having a fire / snowshoe. The connector has flagging tape, and will receive some Orange Snowshoe signs this weekend. It is just east of Wishbone’s Pond.
- Large Project: We will be increasing the lighting around the 5k outer loop this year (fingers crossed we can get cable and lights in to finish!). We received the funding from ACOA and Rural Development late in the fall, and have placed all of the poles. Just waiting on fixture and light install over the next couple of weeks. So there may still be some work ongoing on the trails – so please keep an eye out! This will give 5k or 3k options to ski lit – or both covering 8k! We are super excited about this, and huge shoutout to Eastern Drilling and Foster Campbell Electric for stepping up to assist us in this endeavor. This would put us in the running for one of the longest lit trail systems in Atlantic Canada upon completion – right in our own back yard. So thank you to all of the community support the club receives.
- To also assist in this project – we will be doing a “pole sponsorship” program, where local skiers / businesses can sponsor a pole and have their name put on a project plaque / on the pole on the trails. We are still finalizing the dollar values / recognition program. Should you / your business be initially interested, please send an email to chad.amooney@gmail.com or sarah@colvillebayoysterco.com.
- Town of Souris sponsored all kids / teen memberships for this ski year! Huge shoutout to the town for this gesture!
- There has been some asks for lessons / revival of a “jackrabbits” style program. If anyone in the community would be interested in either participating in something like this or in instructing ski lessons, let us know and we can begin to explore options.
- We are currently exploring opportunities to provide grooming towards “The Glen”, a large network of dirt roads just east of the Souris Line Road, which would provide a new place to explore. Areas recommended for exploring are the Demonstration Woodlot and Fountain Head to start! This area is partially groomed by community members / snowmobilers. This would provide a space for people interested in skijoring / skiing with their dog to leave the lodge and head towards some backcountry trails – this is a work in progress and we’ll keep this page posted with updates. This area would not be managed by the Ski Club, but providing a trail to get to the entry point will allow users to park at the lodge to depart – it would not fall under club insurance, nor does anyone need a membership to ski out there! We are just looking for additional options / recommendations to provide dog owners / off-piste enthusiasts a place to explore.
- There are still some t-shirts / swag leftover from last season. We’ll reach out to those who’d ordered, and if they still aren’t claimed, we’ll sell them at the lodge.
- Elimination Draw is 21 February.
- Stay tuned for our social calendar for the year, as well as partnership events with Bogside and Loaf&Ladle.
For dog use and other key decisions, we will be having an Annual General Meeting on 14 January. After this, we should have some additional updates for all Striders! Tyler starts on 30 December (Monday). The first couple of days will be prepping for the season, so please call ahead to confirm he’s actually in the office area.
Trail Packing Boxing Day / Fallen Tree Management
Trails 26 December
