OLDS — Mountain View Nordic Ski Club vice-president Jim Crawford is hoping for a coldish winter.
Not too cold mind you, but cold enough that the club’s trails in Olds and west of town in the Trail Creek property will retain lots of snow.
“I’ve got mixed emotions,” Crawford said with a laugh during a recent interview, noting he and his wife Debby tend to take warm a holiday somewhere during the winter.
“I know the one year, we did a full moon ski in the evening and the next morning at 6 o’clock we were at the airport going to Mexico, so you’re not sure which way you want the weather to go,” he said.
Crawford is hoping more people will join him, Debby and other club members out on the trails this year.
Crawford noted the club bought a new snowmobile to pull a machine which creates tracks in the trails for Nordic skiers to follow.
The new sled replaces a couple of the club’s other snowmobiles, which date back to the early 1980s.
They bought it for just under $20,000 from a store in Sundre after raising money a variety of ways over the past two years or so. They were determined to buy locally.
The money came from a couple of oil companies, the Kiwanis Club of Olds, Rotary Club of Olds and Mountain View Power, which is owned by the Town of Olds.
Crawford is urging local residents to give Nordic skiing a try if they haven’t already done so.
He notes that ski equipment can be rented from the Community Learning Campus in Olds.
“We’ve partnered with them to acquire ski equipment over the last few years. We’ve got more money again this year, so they are purchasing more,” he said.
Crawford said the club will help with costs for those who show interest in learning to do Nordic skiing but can’t afford it. They’re also looking for an instructor.
He estimates there are two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half kilometres of trails in Olds and about 10 kilometres of trails at Trail Creek, a privately-owned property that’s made available to the club.
“There’s a $5 a charge if you’re not a member. We just have an honourary box out there. And we just ask that people contribute to it when they can.”
Dozens of people belong to the club.
“We get people from Sundre, Carstairs, Didsbury, Crossfield – all around the area,” he said.
“It’s quite fun. Families, kids, everybody comes. Around the fire pit there’s always hot chocolate and that kind of thing.”
Moonlight ski occasions are also very popular.
Some schools also take kids out to Trail Creek to give the sport a try.
The Trail Creek property is a kind of best-kept secret.
“Just the other day I was in the bank, talking to the teller,” Crawford said. “I was doing some business for the Mountain View Nordic Ski club and she goes, ‘where that at?’
“I said, ‘well it’s (near) Olds.’
“She drives by the gate on her way to work.
“Next time I was in there she said, ‘I’ve seen the sign, I was looking.’”
Over the last few years, club members have enhanced the Trail Creek property by clearing existing trails and building new ones.
The various chinooks that blow through the area aren’t great for ski conditions, Crawford conceded, but said on the other hand, the club is lucky with the way the Trail Creek facility sits.
“It kind of slopes. It’s not steep, but it slopes to the northeast. So during a big part of the winter, it doesn’t get direct sunlight, so our trails, once we get good trails, they tend to stay good.”
And he said one of their track devices actually has the capability of picking snow off the sides and moving it on to the trails.