The Good Spirit Cross Country Ski Club hosted a first of its kind in the province, a night loppet called the Lamplighter Loppet.
A loppet is not a race or competitive event at all but just a fun ski hosted by the club to bring skiers out to the trails. The idea of a night loppet originated because so many club members go skiing in the evenings. On any given night you can expect to meet someone on the trails or having supper and a ski at the shelter. On Feb. 19, with temperatures a crisp -30, the club had an enthusiastic 23 skiers come out for the loppet. Most skiied the distance from the park's recreation hall out to the shelter for a eight kms round trip.
Four skiers defied the cold and skied further doing a round trip of 15 kms. The shelter was all lit up with streams of lights and the return track to the recreation hall was also lit up. It was a welcome sight for our frosted up skiers. A hot meal and some warm refreshments and music rounded out the evening.
It was a wonderful turn out for our first time hosting an event such as this. The weather is always a challenge to planners but with no wind chill we decided that the event was a go. There were some cold fingers and toes but with cross country skiing, it does not take long to warm up. The club members are planning for next years loppet and hope to make this a annual event. The Lamplighter Loppet was the first of its kind in Saskatchewan. There are several day loppets, but no night loppets which adds a special challenge to skiers.
The trails at Good Spirit are ideal for this kind of event with its gently rolling hills and loops back to the shelter. There are no real scary hills that would cause injury to a newcomer to night skiing. We hope to see this loppet grow in popularity as this event becomes a regular scheduled event on the Saskatchewan Ski Association Calendar.
The Good Spirit ski club continues to grow in memberships and the visits to the trails have increased. The log in book at the shelter shows close to 700 recorded visits and the season is just at its peak. Depending on temperature and snow melt, we can see the trails continued to be skied well into the beginning of April.
