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We all woke up to deep snow at home.  9 of us could make it to the sno-park, which had only about 3 inches of new snow.  Once at the northernmost part of the Swampy Loop, we skied north a couple hundred yards to what I now call Crescent Pond.  It is a clearing that has water in early summer and is maybe a tributary of South Fork of Tumalo Creek.  Back up our tracks to Swampy Loop, up Flagline, the new Crosscut and Swampy Shelter Tie trails, and return to the trailhead on Ridge Loop.  A great outing in new snow and some new terrain for all.

Mother nature came out in full force with winds and snow on Leap Year Day. While some decided not to venture into hazardous drives conditions, a few hardy souls decided to brave the weather. Charlie proposed an alternative plan to skiing at Meissner and invited those interested to ski around the back field on his property east of Bend. The back field, grass covered and sheep grazed in the fall, offered a smooth surface covered by almost 2” of snow. As temperatures rose and the snow became gloppy, skis started sticking after one trip around the field. Dirty skis are sticky skis, so Charlie invited Char and Nancy into his shop where he demonstrated how to clean and wax skis. While the skis were cooling after hot waxing prior to scraping, the three took a coffee break, where Nancy was introduced to the merits of AeroPress for coffee making and Char sampled a baking experiment in gluten-free Chocolate Hummus Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip brownies. A ceremonial Leap Year Day ski was enjoyed by all. Until another four years, think snow.

Charlie Cornish led another Beginner tour at Meissner Feb. 27.  They had nicely groomed tracks and stuck to the green trails of Ponderosa and Tangent to avoid hills.  A lot of excellent basic knowledge was learned as the result of snow sticking to skis (clean ski base to remove dirt and apply liquid glide wax), ice build up in the NNN bindings (remove with a narrow tool like a plastic knife and try spraying boot bar and binding with silicone), and blocking the track when stopping as a group (step out of the track when stopped!).  But more importantly, several skiers were out for their first ski of the season or first ski in years!  Charlie's approach to leading left everyone with smiles, so he expects several "returns" in future skis!

Seven club members joined me to experience one of my favorite routes at Edison SnoPark.  It's an 8 mile loop best done the day after a good, cold snowfall.  Tuesday, February 27 looked to be that day so we headed up the trail at 9:00 am.

The 12" of fresh powder initially was so fluffy we didn't think it would slow us down much.  But we were feeling it by the time we stopped at the AC/DC shelter; 3 miles into the tour.  Though AC, Supercharger, and High Voltage are "net" downhill, breaking trail negated the usual glide, and the snow got heavier as the day went on.  The sun peaked out for a bit, which warmed the snow eno

ugh that my skis started sticking.  About that time, two more members joined us from the back of the pack; clearly timing their departure to take advantage of the broken trail!  (And to give their dog free roam).  But they felt bad, and jumped to the front of the line to do their part breaking trail.  After the ski, they insisted on treating everyone to a beer; I instantly accepted as did only one other participant.  Anyway, inspire of the trail breaking, everyone said they had a good time, but that they expected to sleep hard that night!

9  voyagers launched into 6 inches of new medium density snow to explore.  The snow was easy to manuever through.  We traded off trail breaking and the breaker decided where to go.  We encountered trails several times and found it interesting how when you encounter a trail from the side, you're not sure of where you are.  We used Avenza frequently and never got (too) lost.  The photo shows our crackerjack group deciding which way to go!  We all had fun exploring and feel more secure about getting off trail in the future.

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.