Long time CONC member Linda Frost has lived in Bend for 57 years, been a member of the club for 39 years, and served as club president for about 15 years. She attributes her good health at 80 years old to being an active member of CONC and regularly getting outdoors with like-minded folks.
Linda, how did you first become involved with CONC?
When I moved to Bend in 1967 I was a downhill skier. In the 80's I started cross-country ( wool knickers, 3 pin/ cable bindings) and in the early 90's I became more active in CONC (low-cut boots and print tights). There have been a lot of other changes over the years to cross-country skiing.
What was CONC like during that time?
Bill Martin was president before me, and we were meeting at the Sons of Norway Hall, once a month in the winter, starting in September. We met in September to prep for the Ski Swap in October. Meetings had a program, and there was always lots of complaining about the snowmobiles going everywhere. Meetings moved to The Environmental Center, and a Christmas Party was added.
The Swap entailed a huge amount of energy, and earned just over a thousand, so we quit that in favor of raising the $10 annual dues. Dues covered snacks at meetings, the cost of mailing the monthly newsletter and ONC dues.
Skiing was mostly a group of sturdy Scandinavians who got together in a parking lot to decide where to go. I’m softer stuff. We started meeting in a coffee shop every Sunday for short and long skiing . The Tumalo Langlauf group broke off from CONC to create a groomed track. Later they also broke off from ONC and became Meissner .
CONC started going on trips! We also started hiking, because why not? Snowshoers joined CONC and mapped out trails. These are the only mapped trails for snowshoers in the state.
Have you seen any other big changes happen with CONC?
Originally the Forest Service always cleared the trails and took care of the shelters. Then the Nordeen shelter burned down, and it became obvious that the Forest service wasn’t going to get around to it for years. But, as usual with CONC, someone stepped up to get the rebuild done. Jim and Joyce Baker got the $30,000 together in less than 4 months, and this was before the internet access that we have today! Lots of donation envelopes. Wood burning stoves needed to meet environmental standards in order to be sold. So the stove in Nordeen is a little lame. The Swampy stove was donated, and more recently 5 or 6 wood-burning stoves were donated and tucked away at the Forest Service storage.
CONC also stepped up to get the trails cleared, as more trees were falling, and the Forest Service was stepping back. Many thanks to people like Gary Kelley and Al Matson.
Thankfully, the internet has taken over communications. James Cagney and Gary Kelley stepped in as president to lead us into the computer age, because it’s not my strong skill.
Linda, do you have a favorite hike or ski?
My favorite hike is to No-Name Lake, which I inadvertently named. When we first started going up there, the trail hardly existed, and the lake had no name on the map. So I started referring to it as “the lake at the side of Broken Top with no name.” And then that got shortened to “the no-name lake.” Now it has a name on the map, and even Bill Sullivan calls it No-Name Lake. That's where he got engaged incidentally!
Linda, that is a great story. Thank you for all your time and dedication to the club over the years.
