February 2020 Newsletter
Greetings club members and friends, we have a lot to report in this newsletter. We have 715 members this year—100 more than last season and the most we’ve had in 10 years! Thank you members for supporting the club and making it what it is.
Our trails have been skiable since early December despite the low snowpack and are currently in peak condition. The Buchfink Brunch, Tour de Soup, and Welcome Day all had fabulous turnout.s Starting with the snow camp in December, the nordic skills development program has been very busy with practices and races.
The jackrabbits program started up in January and is already more than halfway done their season. Lots of hardware was earned by the biathlon team at the winter world masters game in Austria. This past Sunday we hosted the Chris Dahlie Open and the final event of our racing calendar, the Wetzin’kwa loppet, is less than a month away.
Table of Contents:
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Membership Update
Membership registration for the 2019-2020 season has closed with 715 members signed up. Going back to 1996-1997 there have only been two other years with more members than this—720 in 2009-2010 and 744 in 2001-2002 . By the end of the early bird pricing in early December we already had more members than many previous years, and that was despite the low snow conditions at the beginning of the season. We were able to ski on this very shallow snowpack following three years of trail work to improve drainage, grade, seed, and carefully mow a network of early season trails. The club worked closely with Wetzin’kwa community forest so that roads needed to salvage dead pine became high quality ski trails when logging was complete.
Several years ago the club purchased a “Ginsu groomer” and a roller that can be used early in the season when the trails are not ready for the Pisten Bully. Together, we now have a system of early season trails and grooming equipment that should let us get skiing even when the snow is fairly thin; this will become more important in future years as the impact of climate change may mean later winters and sometimes extended dry spells like we witnessed last December.
Funding for these projects has come from Wetzin’kwa Community Forest, the province’s Rural Dividend, and Recreation, Sites and Trails BC. Next year we hope to do more work to improve a few of the rough and wet spots we still had on some trails this year. Our sincere thanks to all involved and we welcome all new and returning members to the trails.
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Nordic Centre
The bulk of the funds from membership and ski passes goes towards the operation and maintenance of the nordic centre—trails, buildings, grooming equipment, etc. Steve Osborn, director of nordic centre operations, wrote a detailed post about the nordic centre and how it operates on our website. The key points of the article are:
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Challenges like weather and mechanical issues sometimes limit our ability to provide a great skiing experience.
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Lots of factors are considered in grooming priorities, including weather, events, programs and usage.
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We want you to email map@bvnordic.ca to tell us your favourite ski route and whether you prefer skate or classic on that route.
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You can make our trails better by clipping those pesky branches and giving freshly groomed tracks time to set.
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Recent lodge improvements include new lights for the downstairs prep room. Thanks to EECOL Electric for the lights and Josh Wimbush of HIS Electric for the installation.
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Website and Social Media
Our website, https://bvnordic.ca, is where you will find the most up to date information about club news, grooming updates, and weather conditions.
From the homepage you can click through to grooming updates from the past three weeks, detailed weather history charts on our Weather Underground page, and the past six months of news updates. There have been some changes recently to make the Weather Underground data update more reliably.
You no longer need to visit Weather Underground for a webcam timelapse, it now has its own page on the website. Visit https://bvnordic.ca/trails-and-facilities/webcam to see the fancy new timelapse player which defaults to showing you a timelapse of the current day.
We also are active on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bvnordic/ and Instagram as @bvnordic. Consider tagging us on your posts from the nordic centre, we love to see people enjoying the facilities.
While the club Facebook page is only open to posting from club administrators, we also have a Facebook discussion group that is open to posting from any member. The goal of this group was to have a place for people to find other members to ski with, coordinate ride sharing etc. It needs more members to join for this to be an effective forum for these purposes, check it out if you are on Facebook. We could also make a new mailing list for ride sharing if there is enough demand for that. Email communications@bvnordic.ca if you’d be interested in a ride sharing list.
Another online social way to interact with club members is to record your ski with Strava and/or Trailforks. If you are already on Strava join our club group https://www.strava.com/clubs/bvnordic.
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Buchfink Brunch
In early December we hosted the first Buchfink Brunch to kick off the season. In the past we have had a Buchfink Memorial Lodge Day later in the season and had unfortunately not consistently hosted this event the past few years. We intend on continuing to host this early in the season going forward to avoid it getting lost in the flurry of activity later in the season and it is important for us to reflect on the contributions of the Buchfink family to the club. Deb Courtliff recently spent some time refreshing the Buchfink family memorial display in the lodge, including some great early club history pictures. Check it out next time you are in the lodge.
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Tour de Soup
This was the fifth annual tour de soup and despite frigid temperatures leading up to the Sunday event the weather moderated and over 170 skiers and volunteers came out and enjoyed a wonderful wintery day on the trails.
The soup stations were busy as participants sipped delicious soups from local businesses and compared their poker hands. We would like to thank the following restaurants and businesses for their generosity – The Roadhouse, Two Sisters Café, The Alpenhorn, Louise’s Kitchen, Nature’s Pantry, Happy Pig Organic Farm, Rustica Woodfired Bakery, and the BV Nordics soup. As well this year we would like to thank the generous folks at McBike, Nature’s Pantry, BV Pool & Recreation and BV Nordics Racing Team for the use of their tents which helped with the equally generous snowfall.
Marlene Thimer came up with the brilliant idea of Tour de Soup in 2016 and since then it has doubled in size and become a highlight on the Club’s calendar, welcoming club members and visitors to the Nordic Centre for this very fun event. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out and made everybody feel so welcome and thank you to all who skied the trails and shared your laughter and good cheer.
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Welcome Day
Our 4th annual Welcome Day greeted hundreds of new skiers, attracting many who were helped into skinny skis for the first time, and other occasional skiers enjoying a free day at the Nordic centre. A great family time, kids from the school program brought their parents, and Community Services organized their staff to bring our new immigrants up to enjoy the snow and try out skiing. Since 2016 this day has become much anticipated throughout the community, as a free nordic event for everyone.
The day is made possible by McBike Ski Shop, they hauled up all their rental gear, and fitted boots and skis for everyone to try, a record 98 people! The club kids gear was also made available, so we could offer sizes for all. Club hospitality was also extended into the lodge, where free refreshments were served.
It was a happy day all around, smiles from regular club members to see so many new faces, and laughter from those slipping and sliding for the first time. It was not too cold, and some big fluffy snowflakes graced the scene.
Thank You to all the club members who helped, with the boots, in the kitchen and out on the trails to make our guests feel Welcome.
Thank You to Rustica Bakery for their donation of breads for the event (always gracing the Nordic table) and Thank You to McBike Ski & Sport - without all the sets of skis we could not host this lovely day.
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Nordic Skills Development Program
This season we have 97 athletes in the Bunnies and Jackrabbit program (4-11 years old) and 36 athletes in the Athlete Development Program (10-19 years old). The bunnies and rabbits have had a number of fun events this season—superhero day and a night ski—and before we know it we’ll be wrapping up the season with a fun day and the loppet.
The Ski S’Kool program has hosted a large number of elementary school children thanks to organizer Kate Kantakis and a team of volunteer coaches. We could host even more visits with more coaches. Stay tuned for future communications on how you can help out with this program next season.
The older athletes have been busy on the snow since we hosted the Teck Northern Ski Camp December 13-15. A total of 46 athletes from Terrace all the way to Williams Lake came to Smithers for this camp. Matt Smider from the Revelstoke Nordic Club was a special guest coach for the camp. The snow camp provides a great opportunity for social development as well as skill development, with a fun dance lesson and talent show Saturday evening.
Teck Northern Snow Camp Press Release
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Enthusiastic snow camp participants and coaches
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Race Reports
Perry Rath does a great job of summarizing races that the team travels to. In an effort to try to keep this newsletter somewhat short, brief details of each race and a link to the full report are listed below.
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Teck Northern Cup #1—Smithers
The Bulkley Valley Cross Country Ski Club kicked off the Teck Northern Cup series on December 28th with an interval start classic race. This was also the BC winter games qualifier for Zone 7 for athlete ages 13-14.
Results
Cross Country BC Media Release
Teck BC Cup #1—Salmon Arm
A contingent of Bulkley Valley athletes and coaches travelled to Salmon Arm January 4-5 for the BC Cup #1.
Results
Cross Country BC Media Release
Teck Northern Cup #3—Burns Lake
January 26th 40 athletes from Bulkley Valley travelled to Burns Lake for the Teck Northern Cup #3. This was a mass start, free technique race with distances ranging from 1km to 7.5km. There was also a 22.5km option for the Omineca Open.
Results
Cross Country BC Media Release
BV Nordics Race Report
Teck BC Cup #2—Prince George
On February 1st and 2nd 27 Bulkley Valley athletes travelled to Prince George for the BC Cup #2. This is our largest regional race, providing a full weekend of racing—skate sprint heats and finals Saturday and a mass start classic race Sunday. It was the first time many of our athletes (and coaches) have experienced competition at this level—many clubs from around the province contributed to the 180 athletes attending this race.
Results
Cross Country BC Media Release
BV Nordics Race Report
Teck Northern Cup #4—Smithers
Results
Race report currently being written.
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The team at BC Cup #2 in Prince George
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Action shots from the sprint finish line at the BC Cup #2 in Prince George.
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Biathlon
Winter World Masters Games
In January two of our members travelled to the Winter World Masters Games in Austria. Callie Lancaster and Leah-Marie Bowes Lyon travelled with a group of approximately 20 athletes to the small town of Seefield to compete in Biathlon. The Winter World Masters takes place every four years, includes 12 different sports, and this year had over 3,000 athletes.
Leah Marie and Callie both had a fantastic trip, travelling with a team of other Canadian Biathletes. They had great races and brought home lots of metal..... Callie had one gold medal performance and two bronze. Leah Marie had three bronze medals. Congratulations to Leah Marie and Callie!!
If you are interested in trying biathlon, contact kevinkriese100@gmail.com. There is a practice every Saturday at 1:00 and athletes of all ages are welcome.
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Top: Relay team—Yvette Jackson (left), Callie Lancaster (middle) Lea-Marie Bowes-Lyon (right)
Bottom Left: Callie Lancaster gold medal in Women’s 40-45 Sprint race
Bottom Right: Callie Lancaster Bronze medal W 40-45 Individual (on stage in Masters Village Innsbruck)
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Upcoming Events
Club Events
March 14—Wetzin’kwa Loppet
Our final event of the season. More details available soon.
Events of Interest
March 6—Spirit North Ski Festival
Spirit North is once again hosting their ski festival at the Bulkley Valley Nordic Centre. The organizers are looking for volunteers. See https://bvnordic.ca/about-our-club/news/spirit-north-mar-6-2020 for more information.
March 6-8—Teck BC Championships
Kelowna BC https://telemarknordic.com/2020-teck-bc-championships/
March 20-22—Alberta World Cup Cross Country 2020
Canmore AB https://www.albertaworldcup.com
March 26-April 2—Canadian Championships
Vernon BC https://www.skinationals2020.ca
Host club Sovereign Lake is looking for volunteers to help with this event. More information on volunteering here https://www.skinationals2020.ca/volunteers-needed-for-national-championships
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Newsletter Contributors
Tenley Dahlie, Ben Forsyth, Anne Harfenist, Kevin Kriese, Annie Laurie, Steve Osborn, Perry Rath, Kathy Wilford
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