S K I T R A C K S
Newsletter of the Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club
Box 431 • Corvallis, Montana 59828
A P R I L 2 0 0 8
The Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club meeting on
Thursday, April 10
will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 1220 West
Main Street in Hamilton at 7:00 P. M. The program
will feature Mike McEachern presenting “Romanian
Caving Adventure in 3-D.” Funny colored glasses will
be provided.
/s/ Bob Schumaker
President’s Message
The major item to report is the successful purchase of
another Yamaha Viking to help in our grooming efforts.
As you may know, during this past ski season, our
grooming crew used two Skandic Snowmobiles and a 4-
cycle Yamaha Viking snowmobile to groom trails at the
Chief Joseph Ski Area. The Viking snowmobile proved
to be a great buy since it is quieter and more powerful
than our Skandic. In addition, as I have mentioned at
several Club meetings, the hidden NASCAR it unleashed
in our groomers has made them particularly eager to track
in even the deepest snows and bad weather.
Recently Mel Mooers was presented with a great
opportunity to purchase another 4-cycle Yamaha Viking
snowmobile at a huge discount by trading for cash and
one of our Skandics. This purchase was supported by the
Club at our last meeting. Earl Philips worked feverishly
in order to meet a deadline for submitting grants to the
RAPP Foundation to help us take advantage of Mel’s deal
making. The RAPP Foundation just announced we were
awarded $1,000 to help with the purchase. The end result
is that we now have a second new Viking with a net cost
to the Club of only $1,700 of Club funds and we will
continue to look for other resources to cover this amount.
The volunteer work of the Bitterroot Cross Country
Ski Club groomers easily exceeds a value of $9,000 each
year and provides a valuable service to our Club members
and the public who use the tracks at Chief Joseph.
Keeping our grooming equipment updated says thanks to
our groomers for their valuable contribution of time and
energy and allows them to serve us and the public better.
I also want to thank Mel for his wheeling and dealing
and Earl for his fast work and late night hours in doing
the entire work of drafting and submitting the grant
request. Finally, I would like to thank the RAPP
Foundation for its generous support of the Club’s
volunteer efforts. As many of you know, the RAPP
Foundation has been a constant and generous supporter of
the Club’s endeavors and this latest contribution is much
appreciated.
Finally, the snow has been great all month and the
forecast looks good through the last weekend of March
and perhaps beyond. Touring through all of March
allows you to feel the turn of the seasons as winter passes
into spring. Don’t miss it, the yard can wait, the snow
won’t.
See you on the trails.
/s/ George Corn
END OF A GREAT SEASON
By the time this rolls off the press, grooming will be
over for this season but spring skiing will be good for
some time as we have lots of snow for a change. It did
come in bunches like bananas and mid-February was
indeed a challenge.
As of March 21st we have groomed, or attempted to
groom 23 times. My thanks to Jim Arneson and Allan
Meyers, our regular crew, and Ed Hastings, Mel Holloway
and Joe Navarra who helped out but didn’t have nearly
enough fun.
The new Yamaha Viking is an impressive machine
and we are in the process of obtaining a second one. It is
nice to have quieter and less polluting equipment.
Summer work will start soon after the snow leaves as
we have many of the downed hazard trees to cut and
stack to prevent further deterioration. This will be a wood
supply for the Hut for a number of years, if we can salvage
it. The clearing of stumps and other debris from the trails
will continue.
We’ll be attempting to obtain permission from the
Forest Service to flag snow shoe trails this next season.
There is a lot of interest in snowshoeing and Dale and
Judy LaScala have volunteered to lead the effort. They
will need your help to identify routes away from the ski
trails that provide beauty and solitude.
Thanks for all your support this past season and have
a great summer.
/s/ Mel Mooers
CANCELLATIONS AT THE GORDON REESE SKI HUT
As many of you know, the opportunity to host the
Hut is extremely popular. The hosts are not charged
for their stay at the Hut and, in return, they agree to
accept some minimal responsibilities which benefit the
Bitterroot Cross Country Ski Club, the Forest Service
and the many cross-country skiers who visit the Hut.
It is ideal when the Hut is hosted every night of the
cross country ski season but changes in plans,
unexpected circumstances, illness, and sometimes
emergencies result in cancellations by people who have
signed up to host the Hut. Thus, the Bitterroot Cross
Country Ski Club developed a plan for filling these
cancellations.
Currently, we have over 90 families or individuals
signed up to fill cancellations once we are notified.
Sometimes we are given advanced notice of
cancellations and sometimes circumstances result in a
cancellation being posted the morning of the
cancellation. However, when the cancellation notice is
sent out by e-mail, we often get replies from 10 to 20
people. Thus, a lottery is used to fairly select someone
to fill the cancellation. I am beginning to think there is
a problem with the lottery since it has not selected my
name for a cancellation that I could fill.
We have filled 20 of the 23 cancellations that were
reported this past season for an 87% success rate. We
know that some cancellations were not reported and we
hope to improve the notification of cancellations in the
future. People who have filled these cancellations have
come from Hamilton, Corvallis, Darby, Missoula, and
Butte, Montana, in addition to Salmon and Coeur
d’Alene, Idaho.
I want to thank everyone who has helped me fill
these cancellations. This includes all those people who
waited for an appropriate cancellation, those who failed
to get selected for a cancellation, and those who hosted
the Hut. Numerous skiers have commented that they
wanted to sign up on the cancellation list after
experiencing the positive attitude of the people hosting
the Hut. I also appreciate the support of Dennis Havig,
Patti Johnston, and Walter Harper from the Wisdom
Ranger District who have provided us with the
necessary information to keep this program going. I
look forward to providing this program next year with
the goal of keeping the Hut filled throughout the crosscountry
ski season.
/s/ Earl Philips
MARCH MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
March 13, 2008 By Kay Fulton
President George Corn called the meeting to order at 7:12 p.m. There were approximately 35 in attendance.
Membership Report: Jack Losensky reported that our membership numbers are now at 357 (just one less than last
year). Nine are from Idaho.
Treasurer’s Report: Jeane Lippert reported: Income, $1,200.65; Expenses, $1,141.43; Checking, $5,057;
Savings, $3,236.
Upcoming Events and Items of Interest: The Annual May Potluck will be May 8th. We are looking for a
location. Please contact Kay if you have a suggestion. (Editor’s note: May Potluck will be at Judy & Allan Meyers,
712 Deer Ridge Road.)
Car-pooling next year: There was a request to re-institute a car-pooling system whereby we could publicize regular
meeting days and times. If anyone is interested in coordinating an e-mail list also, let Kay know. Otherwise, we will
probably just identify a parking lot and a time and then see if anyone shows up.
Trails Report: The groomers had groomed today and it snowed all day. The tracks were still in perfect shape. Mel
also reported that the Club has an opportunity to buy a slightly used Yamaha Viking, like the new one we just bought,
with 511 miles on it for $6,500, as opposed to the new price of $10,500. It would be a great acquisition since it is more
powerful than the Skandics, quieter, cleaner and uses less fuel. Scottt Grasser of Lost Trail Ski Area has made the offer
and is considering doing some kind of a trade for one of the Skandics. The Club will need to come up with about
$2,500 to $3,000 to do so. Earl Philips has just completed a Rapp Family grant application asking for $3,000. It spells
out the contributions the Club makes in terms of volunteer hours, gas, and supplies already. They will keep us posted.
Cancellation Program: Earl Philips reported he has been able to fill 89% of the cancellations —21 in all, so far, with
three (3) misses. People have been very excited about this service that Earl provides.
Old Business: Extravaganza report by Linda Stoudt: Pat Hastings, Mel Holloway and Bill Stoudt helped Linda with
the dinner. Randy Lovell from Valley Bike, the winner, and his family loved it.
Change in the By-laws allowing the Immediate Past President to sit on the Board: In the January 10th meeting
a motion was made, seconded and passed to allow the above change to the By-laws. It is necessary to announce this
motion at two meetings prior to voting on it. It was not announced at the February meeting but was announced in
March. It will be announced at the April meeting, as well as published here. Then we will vote on it in May.
New Business: George has had several people recommend that we do some early season Ski Lessons; such as an
indoor presentation at a November meeting and then maybe an additional lesson on the trails in December, plus the
January lessons. Mel Holloway has agreed to coordinate the January lessons and may help with the above suggestion.
Thanks, Mel!!!
Program: Scott Battion of Tufts University presented a program on Ice-coring by the WAIS Divide Outreach
Program in Antarctica. (Scott lives in the Bitterroot Valley.) His slide program showed pictures and graphs explaining
how ice coring provides vital information about 100,000 years of climate change. The National Science Foundation
provides funding, which includes workshops for teachers at glacier sites in Glacier National Park. Scott will be
deployed to WAIS in the fall and promised
a follow-up program when he returns next year.