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Nordic Tracks Newsletter.
First Meeting of the Panhandle Nordic Club will be Tuesday,
November 10. 7:00 PM Will be again at the Fernan Ranger
Station. Go around back through the employee gate. Then
downstairs.
The rest of the meetings will be on the First Tuesday of the
Month.
November President's Message
by Geoff Harvey
It is time to look back on the summer and early fall season and
forward to another winter of skiing and snowshoe trips. Many of
us have good memories of hikes and bikes to the Rock of Sharon,
On the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, Revett Lake, and Little Spar
Lakes and Maiden Rock on Lake Pend Oreille. There were
backpacking trips organized to the Seven Devils Wilderness and
Wanless Lake in the Cabinets. Some of our members plugged away
at their crossing of the 900 mile Centennial Trail across Idaho.
It is about time to tuck those hiking boots away in the back of
the closet and dig out your skiing boots and snowshoes.
As this is written, the local weather reporters are talking snow
down to pass level, which means the Fourth of July Area could
receive a dusting. It likely a bit early for the snow to stick
for any period of time, but a clear harbinger of the coming snow
pack.
More concrete dates are those of the imminent ski swaps. The
Spokane Mountain Ski Patrol sponsored swap is Halloween Day,
October 31st at the Spokane County Fairgrounds on Broadway in
Spokane. This is the largest ski swap in the region. Although
alpine gear predominates, the largest selection of new and used
cross country, touring and telemark and snowshoe gear can be
found.
A week later, the Lookout Mountain Ski Patrol sponsored ski swap
is held on November 6th at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. A
good selection of new and used gear is available.
That same morning, Fitness Fanatics, located on east Trent Avenue
in the Spokane Valley has its own sale. Over the years I have
found some of the best bargains in unused ski gear at this sale.
If you are looking to gear up for the season or replace a broken
or worn piece of ski or snowshoe gear, these are your best
opportunities to do it at a reasonable cost in these times of
tight budgets. If you are chasing alpine gear at the ski patrol
sales, it is necessary to get there early and elbow your way
through the crowds for the best selection, but the cross country
and snowshoe gear moves at a more leisurely pace. So you can
wait a few hours for much of the early crowd to pass and still
pick up some bargains. Good hunting.
A few changes have been made at the Fourth of July Area during
the summer:
An Eagle Scout completed a project that removed the misplaced,
old and snow-crushed kiosk from the parking area and installed a
new summer sign welcoming hikers, mountain runners, mountain
bikers and horsemen to the area. This sign will be replaced as
the ski season begins with a new Park N Ski Area sign.
The old sign has received its quota of bullets and has been
retired.
You will also see a new very large outer gate at the entrance to
the ski area. It seems the era of rampant metal (gate) thievery
has cooled with the economy, while loss of a legal action has
cooled the Forest Service on chain barriers. The result is the
new gate guarding entrance to the area during the spring, summer,
and fall. By the time we are grooming the area it will be swung
aside, but routes around it have been constructed for the early
birds.
We did not have a fall cleanup due to the donation of work hours
by the Idaho Department of Park & Recreation. This donation
allowed some of their staff to keep working rather than being
furloughed as a result of deep budget cuts in state government.
Parks & Recreation is one of our long time partners in operating
the ski area, so we were more than happy to help out with a load
of brushing and trail clearing usually reserved for the Nordic
Club members' attention.
The first meeting of the Panhandle Nordic Ski & Snowshoe Club is
a week later than usual and will be held on Tuesday, November
10th. It will start at the 7 PM in the downstairs meeting room
at the Forest Service Office (2502 E. Sherman Avenue, Fernan
Village). (Fernan Ranger Station)
Park N Ski and membership renewals will be available before the
meeting and during the break before the program. We will have a
short business meeting of officer and committee reports and a
decision on a final point of the bylaws not addressed last year.
After a brief break, the program will be a film on touring and
back country skiing. Hope to see you there.
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