The Kamsack Ski Club, which for years has been fostering and supporting the alpine and Nordic aspects of skiing, is spreading its interest during the upcoming season to include snowshoeing.
A SaskLotteries grant of $750 helped the club purchase 10 pairs of snowshoes in small, medium and adult sizes, Shelley Filipchuk, the club’s secretary-treasurer, said last week.
More and more in recent seasons, the ski club has had requests for information or equipment for snowshoeing, Filipchuk said. “We’re finding that many winter outdoor enthusiasts are moving away from cross-country skiing in favour of snowshoeing.”
During the season, the ski club’s snowshoes will be kept at its club room at the Duck Mountain Ski Hill and will be available free of charge to members on a first-come basis, she said. Non-members can rent them for the cost of a membership, which is $20 a year for a single membership or $40 for a family of up to four persons, with $10 a person beyond that.
The ski club’s plan is to set a couple of snowshoe trails in the area of the ski hill, in particular along the old Tranquil Run, she said, adding that the club is purchasing new signage for the trails.
Many snowshoers have been following alongside the cross-country skiing trails.
The Kamsack Ski Club is probably best known for its annual Loppett, which this year will be held on February 27 and many of its participants keep on returning saying that it features some of the best trails in Western Canada.
Not only are the trails at Duck Mountain well groomed for the Loppett, but they are also located along beautiful, well-sheltered terrain, Filipchuk said. These are the trials that have been developed and are set and maintained by the Kamsack Ski Club members with the assistance of the staff of Duck Mountain Provincial Park.
“We’ll be adding another 0.6 kilometres to the trail in order to link the Sergeant Lake Trail to the Moose Lake Trail so that now skiers on both trials will have easy access to the shelters on both trails.”
Currently the club tends 11 trails totalling 30 kilometres, with each trail being from nearly a kilometre in length to being over 13 kilometres.
Club members not only look after the trails, they also look after the several shelters that are located along those trails, she said. A work party will be visiting those shelters after freeze-up to clean and equip them.
“We’re updating the ski hill shelter and in the process of insulating it,” she said, adding that each year the club applies for facilities grants which allow it to do this work. Each year a different shelter is selected for improvements.
The ski club, which in recent years has had a membership of over 100 skiers, works closely with the Duck Mountain staff and with the staff at the ski hill, she said. The club and the hill staff are both looking for instructors to teach skiing this season, and members of both are planning a Boxing Day dance at the park’s Rec Hall. Tickets will be available in late November and will be sold at the ski hill and at Sas-Kam Sportsman in Kamsack.
At the Kamsack Ski Club meeting held November 3, Allan Bear was elected president for a one year term, and Filipchuk, the secretary-treasurer. Sharon Rudy is the membership co-ordinator; Bruno Lemire, the Nordic chair, and Craig Brock, the manager at the ski hill, is the club’s Alpine chair.
Volunteers assembled at the ski hill on the weekend for a fall work bee when the facility was cleaned and generally prepared, ready for the snowfall and the beginning of the 2015-16 season.
