Another ski season is upon us and we’re raring to go!
All the preparation is done on the trails, on the equipment, on the facilities – and that is no small feat. As for the trails, there has been logging this summer which will give us quite the vista when skiing out Sunshine.
You will notice a change at the South Hub where John Thielman cut a trail from Reino’s Run directly down to the Hub to give an option to the sharp corner at the bottom of Sky Trail.
Many folks were out clipping the trails which they had “adopted” plus Take Back The Hill brings out a number of folks to clear trails in readiness for snow.
The uber-cold weather in November has helped set up the trails and the bogs so that when the snow comes, it will stay. The heavy snow mid-November was too much for some of the trees trail-side so skiing early in the season requires clippers and/or saw to help clear the debris. The skiing is really quite fine.
The chalet has a new look – this week it received new flooring, and we will no longer be faced with painting the floor every second year.
Thanks to a grant from Tire Stewardship BC which supports use of recycled tires and to a generous donation from the the City of Salmon Arm, we were able to purchase and install Dinoflex flooring. Looking forward to the durability and non-slipperiness.
The Junior Racers are gearing up for another busy racing season. With 89 skiers on the team and 16 coaches, the program includes pre-season dryland training which they have been doing since the summer.
By the time a racer gets on snow he/she should be in shape. Just about every weekend from here on in will be spent racing – locally and around the province.
The Larch Hills will be hosting the Okanagan Teck Cup on Dec. 26, followed by the annual Fun Race on Dec. 27.
The Midget Championships are in Mount Washington on Vancouver Island Feb. 7 to 8, then the BC Championships in Kelowna, where Larch Hills hopes to repeat its winning ways by capturing the points trophy.
Taking advantage of a Canadian government initiative to encourage student exchanges across the country, the Larch Hills Race Team is currently hosting 16 skiers from Nakkertok Ski Club in Ottawa. All 16 and chaperones are billeted with Larch Hills skiers and will spend a week in Salmon Arm busy with activities organized by their hosts, including team practice in the Larch Hills, skiing Revelstoke and visiting the Railway Museum, participating in activities at Quaaout Lodge, taking in a race at Sovereign Lake, skiing and tubing at Silver Star, attending Shuswap Theatre. What a wonderful opportunity for both visitors and hosts.
Then, come late January, the exchange skiers and chaperones in Salmon Arm go to Ottawa for a week to complete the exchange. Good timing – it’s Winter Carnival time in Ottawa. And they will ski the lovely Gatineau Hills which Jim and I skied two years ago.
Alysson Marshall won a sprint race in the U.S. this past weekend. Skiing and training in Canmore, Alysson is on target.
Check out the web site: skilarchhills.ca. The webcam gives a visual and the current temperature, and there are daily trail reports.
Think snow!
