The Tweedsmuir Ski Club has been hard at work over the past year, and things are shaping up for a great winter season.
The latter half of the winter of 2012 was long, and snow stayed around East Branch well into May. Work on the replacement overnight cabin began in May when a long day of hauling materials brought most of the remaining cabin supplies into the site.
This included metal roofing, a great new Pacific Energy woodstove, and beautiful wood frame windows. Rob Stewart has been busy keeping materials organized for the work parties and doing many days of volunteer work on the cabin – a big thanks to Rob for keeping the push on. Ken Corbould and helpers worked till they couldn’t sled into the site anymore to sand the inside of the logs and clean and prep them for permachinking.
In late August we got back to it. Rob and many loyal helpers worked away to get windows, doors and stove fittings in place. Gord Gibbs and crews managed to build the woodshed and get most of the roofing on so the stove could be hooked up. Another weekend they built an outhouse base and filled the woodshed with lumber and even some firewood. Ken continued with the chinking and sealing up of the cabin and is now finished with the inside.
As winter sets in the cabin is 80% finished still needing interior wall cleaning and varnishing, sink, cabinets, bunks, propane lights, and table and chairs. More roofing work is still required over the front porch and the outhouse is still to be finished. We don’t know if it will be open this winter yet, but will be proceeding with volunteer work as time and weather permit.
Ski hill conditions last winter were exceptional, with the huge base of snow we had. Last Christmas Kerry Boileau organized a fun day at the ski hill and it was a huge success, with over 100 people coming out for all kinds of sliding fun.
This fall a work party was led one day by Gord Gibbs to the ski hill to get the top tower placed on new footings. The firewood shed was topped up and if we get enough snow the ski hill should be ready to go by December 23.
The XC skiers led by Duane Pedersen and Lyle Enderud also had a long season last winter, they kept up the grooming well into April for the die-hard skiers. The annual race was a big success but for the first time in its history it was cancelled on the designated day because of too much snow!
This fall they have been making some trail improvements and trying out new exciting grooming machinery. Rick Ratcliff is donating time to modify the existing drag to cut the snow and lay down a good base for setting track. The Old Highway trail will be the only one tracked for the first part of year with other trails added when the lakes freeze and more snow falls. Sunday has traditionally been a day when many people have gone up skiing. We plan on grooming every Sunday morning and one other day during the week if required. They have had a track set already this winter on the old road since late October and early conditions this year are great, so try to get out and enjoy the trail.
Some major repairs were done on the Pisten Bully groomer in the fall of 2011 and it ran flawlessly all winter. It was a great help in hauling building materials into the cabin like the stove, roofing and windows. Stephen Shepard is the chief mechanic who looks after the mechanical issues and keeps the groomer in top shape. Mechams Sales amd Service continues to support us by moving the Pisten Bully groomer up and back from East Branch on their vehicle hauling truck each year.
Check on the Tweedsmuir Ski Club Home page under Cross Country Ski Conditions to get a report on when grooming was done. Please check out the “Tweeds Muir Ski” blog at http://tweedsmuirski.blogspot.com for photographs and comments on cross country skiing at East Branch. We are hoping for a good season. We are planning our AGM for Wednesday November 28 at SAMS at 7:00 PM. See you there! The TSC now has a website (www.tweedsmuirskiclub.com) and email tweedsmuirskiclub@gmail.com to keep members informed. Drop us an email if you would like to be on the contact list.
