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Charlie Cornish has committed to a weekly beginner's tour on the groomed tracks at Meissner.  This past Tuesday, February 20, 8 CONC members joined him on Pine Drops and Ponderosa to work on building their ski legs.  Temperatures in the low 30's and a few sun breaks brought out the smiles.  But the relatively poor grooming (the groomer broke down) and slightly icy conditions on Pine Drops made some of the tracks a bit challenging.  However, the goal for some is to be able to ski the Common Corridor out to Todd Lake one day, so they all took the conditions "in stride".

The BIG smiles say it all!    There was fun to be had in McCall. Mo's Way AirBnB hosted 16 skiers and we were joined by an additional seven CONC skiers on our daily outings. A low snow pack in McCall had us concerned but we found plenty of trails that were in good condition.

McCall's varied Nordic ski areas brought a new destination each morning including Tamarack Resort, Bear Basin, and Ponderosa State Park.

After new snowfall on our last ski day, an adventurous group of five skiers successfully made their way up the steep climb to Big Creek Summit!

Lively evenings were spent dining in with plenty of good eats, a bit of dancing with Cliff and Barb, a birthday celebration, and nightly games. McCall was a wonderful new CONC winter destination with great skiing and friendly people!

Sue Sullivan and Eric Ness led 13 other CONC members up to Bare lake on Wednesday, February 21.  Forecast called for 6 inches of snow to fall during the day, but it did not happen.  We gathered at the Nordic Center and collected our Common Corridor passes, then flew down to the Todd Lake trail.  

That trail was well tracked out, but the snow was still fairly good as the temperature remained just below freezing.  One basket came off a ski pole on the descent, but John Fertig was prepared with a spare basket, so we quickly remedied the situation and arrived at Todd Lake shortly after.  The group split in two; three people decided not to climb but to stay along Todd Lake.  Fortunately, we had radios that allowed us to stay in touch.

Bare Lake sits about 250 feet above Todd on the west side.  John Fertig led us on a gentle climb, which did not require skins.  At the edge of Bare Lake, we ate lunch with most people standing.  Afterwards, we skied around Bare Lake, which is quite small; stopping on the opposite side to warm up with a few turns.  The snow was quite heavy, but telemark turns were possible!

The descent from Bare Lake to Todd was through nicely spaced Hemlocks.  Again, telemark turns were possible if you could find smooth snow void of tree bombs.  I'm pretty sure, however, that everyone took at least one fall!  We met up with the smaller group on Water Tower trail while returning to the Nordic Center.

Wild Apricot Tips and Tricks

Our new website is powered by software called Wild Apricot.  Here are some Tips and Tricks for getting more out of your CONC membership.

1. Get your profile up to date!  This is particularly important if you are interested in being notified for volunteer opportunities or want to get an email when a new ski or snowshoe event posts.  If you haven't looked at your profile yet, log in to the CONC website and check it out.  For more information on how to do this, check out this article. 

2. Are you not getting emails when new events post?  See #2 above and get your profile up to date.

3. Use the Search Bar!  At the very top of the webpage, there's a search bar. Search for whatever you are interested in.  For instance, if you want to see all the help articles, just type "FAQ" in the search bar.

4. There is an app for that!  You can find the app "Wild Apricot  for members" in the App Store or Google Play.  It's an easy way to keep track of Events and to keep your profile up to date.  Registering for an event, looking at the list of events and the list of which events you are registered for, and cancelling your registration if you can't make it are all much easier in the app.  However, one limitation is that you can't add yourself to the waitlist through the app; you have to go to the CONC website for that.

Here is more information about the app:
App for Android
App for iOS

Note: CONC does not have a member directory, so those features are not available. 

If you are a CONC admin or trip leader, you'll also find the "Wild Apricot for admins" app to be useful.

If you belong to more than one club that uses Wild Apricot, you can still use the app.  If you have different passwords for each club, you'll have to log out of one club then log in to the next.  However, if you use the same password for your different clubs, you can switch between them in the app without logging out.  It's a bit lower security but much easier.

Six skiers headed out to venture beyond the marked trails.  Most had never explored Wanoga beyond the groomed dog trails if indeed that far.  So this knockabout ski did open a small world for them.  Big views.  The best snow I have ever had there.  A little very sparkly powder on the firm base.  2+ hours later, the snow was softer, but still not breaking thru the crust.  We circled the perimeter of the area most people ski.  A little bit on the bike trail.  Again, very fine conditions.

This year, Jerry Sebestyen organized three beginner ski schools: two "Beginner-Beginner" sessions and one "Beginner-Backcountry" lesson.  All were a smashing success, and snow conditions turned out to be great for all three sessions. More than 50 CONC members benefitted from the beginner lessons. With more than a dozen CONC volunteers serving as lead instructors and co-instructors, students benefitting from low student-to-teacher ratios.

Much of the Beginner-Beginner courses were conducted on the groomed tracks that extend into Swampy Sno-Park and at the Meissner area.  Basic classic technique was presented and practiced.  In the Beginner-Backcountry class, more time was spent in the Swampy area.  Techniques covered were getting up from a fall in deep snow, going uphill off track, and how to slow down, stop, and turn going downhill.

For all classes, I've only heard great things.  Thank you to everybody who participated, everybody who instructed, and especially Jerry for organizing!

Jerry Sebestyen organized a social at BTBS primarily to welcome new CONC members on Tuesday, February 6.  The concept that evolved from Warren's head was to have three information stations: "Gear", "Go Here", and "Volunteer".  We also limited attendance through a signup on the Event announcement, and Eileen supplied the two colors of name tags; one for new members and one for "old" to help club integration.

We kept gear to the basics (no AT or Tele) but with some snowshoes and new stuff (Xplore bindings) thrown in.  Most new members had a lot of questions about gear, so this basic repertoire really served the purpose.  The "Go Here" station was complemented by several maps, from the "One Map" to a few large format SnoPark maps.  A lot of discussion on where to snowshoe and where to go for the easy trails ensued.  The "Volunteer" station (attended by me) had few signups, but a lot of introductions and meeting new members, which was really the point!

The limited attendance (Eileen calculated about 50) was perfect for BTBS.  There was no shouting required like back in November when we overloaded the place.  As a consequence, discoveries like Ed and Mark finding out that they grew up within a few blocks of each other in Ithaca, NY were enabled.  And I got to meet my Crater Lake carpooling buddies, so I felt that the social aspect of the evening was definitely accomplished!  I hope everyone else in attendance felt the same.

Although this was advertised as a beginner event, the four participants that showed up on February 9, 2024, were clearly in the novice level.  We met at the Grove and got to know each other a bit, then headed up the mountain into a sunny clear day!  The predicted high was 30 degrees, but in the sun it felt like 60!

As a consequence we had a some sticking/icing issues on a couple pairs of new skis.  Janie and I decided to do a wax test:  on the right ski she applied F4 liquid wax, and on the left ski I rubbed and corked in 50 year old polar glide wax.  Within a few hundred yards, the conclusion was obvious; the finely aged hard wax was clearly superior.  So we repeated the hard wax rub and cork on Steve's skis for a glide he clearly enjoyed!  Meanwhile Elie and Judy were gliding so well they were making good use of the one ski plow to slow down; a skill not used by either for many years!

Everyone enjoyed the Currant Way-Pine Drops-Tangent loop, which took just under 2 hours to complete.  It was an opportunity to work on weight transfer and glide with a bit of double poling thrown in to the mix.  A bit tiring, but fun!

I sent out a dire warning the week before the club ski trip to Mazama was scheduled for everyone to bring a rain jacket!  I failed to mention the terrible road conditions on Hwy 97!  The forecast did not look good.  But everyone arrived safely, and we did not have any rain the entire week!  Two mornings we awoke to 2-3" of fresh snow.  The last day at Sun Mountain was clear, crisp, and presented us with most excellent snow.

Only nine people signed up for the trip, leaving me to wonder if people are tired of "the same old destination" or if the food service was so bad last year that word got around and few wanted to risk it.  However, I had talked with Andy, the guest manager, and he vowed to step up the food presentation several notches.  And did he ever!

We had appetizers every night by the fire, and he even wore his chef's hat to present Michel with a "Birthday" cake (lemon curd!); because for Michel, everyday is a birthday!

But it was also the dinners and breakfasts that were quite amazing, with four or five courses each.  We were all impressed with the meals and swear we all gained a couple of pounds inspite of the good, daily skiing with the new groomed track right outside the Inn's back door!

Five CONC members refused to join the conga line of skiers heading up to Mt. Bachelor last Sunday.   We changed plans, skied from the Swampy Lakes snopark and were rewarded with a memorable tour in the forests.   It was a compilation of trails, including the Ridge, Shelter, Crosscut and a finish on the Swampy loop.   Trail breaking was part of the experience and we were joined by another club member whom caught up to us.  We experienced a variety of weather conditions; from snowfall, intermittent winds and even some icy crystals.  All enjoyed a great day on the snow.