Well, many thanks to you who respond to my admonishments to “Think snow.”
It has been spectacularly successful! Keep it up. Skiing over the Christmas holidays was terrific – both on track and in the back country. Trips around the Great Circle and on Greenway, White Pine Walk, and Treebeards are wonderful in the deep snow.
Over the Christmas break there is a cadre of volunteers who serve as hosts on the hill for a three-hour session over the noon hour to greet skiers, welcome skiers from away, give info to skiers wishing directions, etc.
Reports from these hosts tell of skiers from the U.S., Alberta and coastal B.C. Thanks to all these hosts for giving such a friendly face to our ski area.
Larch Hills hosted the Teck Okanagan Cup #1 races in conjunction with the Larch Hills Annual Fun Race on Sunday, Dec. 30. These regional Teck (ie. sponsored by Teck Industries) races have been initiated to give racers more opportunity to race closer to home.
Other regions with Teck Cup series are Kootenay, Coast, and Northern. Okanagan #2 and #3 races will be in Kelowna and Vernon. Congrats to the organizers of #1 at the Larch Hills and to our skiers who did so well in this event.
Many of our junior racers will be attending Teck BC Cup #2 in Kelowna this coming weekend along with their coaches and parents.
Many of the parents are brought into the waxing scene since there are so many skis to wax in the morning before the races and the conditions can be changing by the minute. Thanks to the expertise of the coaches the wax of the day can be determined as they go. It is up to the athletes to test the wax job on their skis, then report back to the waxer as to how it is working. It can be a bit hairy just before a race getting the wax just right.
Best of luck to the gang heading to Kelowna this weekend.
The biggest event on the Larch Hills calendar is coming up fast.
The 29th Reino Keski-Salmi Loppet is Saturday, Jan. 19. I can’t believe it is almost 30 years since we launched this event! And now it is among the largest in B.C.
We continue our affiliation with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and Yukon so be generous with your donation through the loppet. Over the 28 years so far we have raised more than $400,000 for the heart fund. It is a good marriage of heart-healthy nordic skiing and fundraising for healthy hearts.
Skiers can register for the Reino Keski-Salmi Loppet online at www.skilarchhills.ca – click on loppet. Or, registration forms can be found at John’s Ski Shack and Skookum’s. They also collect registrations for the loppet.
The registration desk is open for last minute registrants at the SASCU Recreation Centre until 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18. That is also where skiers pick up their bibs. When you are in to pick up your bib, check out the Larch Hills scrapbooks which go back to the beginning of the club circa 1979. You may even find an earlier representation of yourself if you were skiing back then!
Check the web site for current conditions. Since snowshoeing has become so popular there are signs designating the snowshoe trails. However, this from the web site: “Great to see everyone out using the trails, especially the snowshoers. Please remember to stay on designated snowshoe trails only. Snow shoe tracks are extremely difficult for skiers to control on down hill.”
See you at the loppet. Think snow!