December 2025 happenings... |
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CONC December 2025 Newsletter
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President's Corner
Successful December Meeting and Holiday Gathering
The new catered format for the December Annual Meeting was a resounding success, despite a few wrinkles that can be ironed out in the future. With over 100 members in attendance, spirits ran high with plenty of opportunities to connect with other members of the club. The most important order of business was to recognize the contributions of our many volunteers. Among others, we acknowledged the contributions of our Officers and Board members; trail maintenance, social committee, and in-town volunteers; hike, XC ski, and snowshoe trip leaders; XC ski clinic instructors; and overnight ski trip leaders. One important volunteer who I neglected to mention at the meeting is Donna Carrillo, who serves as editor of this newsletter! I am grateful for the selfless contributions of all our volunteers.
The other order of business was elections. Given that the Elections Committee (Linda Frost and Eileen Woodward) reported only one nominee for each office, members in attendance were able to approve the slate of nominees by acclimation. Your officers for 2026 are: Warren Preston, President; Sue Sullivan, Vice President; Char Newman, Treasurer; and Gary Elnan, Secretary. Congratulations and welcome back to another term!
Finally, a big thank you to the talented Matt Cleman, Ann Padgett, and Ron Padgett for providing musical entertainment!
Stay in Touch!
I hope to see fellow members soon on the eagerly awaited snow! In the meantime, remember to check your email and the Events Calendar for all our upcoming activities both indoors and outside.
Do you have questions for other members of the club, gear to swap, or want to find a buddy for a hike, ski, or snowshoe outing? Then check out our new members-only Forum! Note that the Forum is only available on the CONC website, and you must be logged in as a member to access it.
I always welcome any questions, comments, or suggestions you have about the club. You can contact me directly at: wppreston@yahoo.com
Happy Trails!
Warren Preston
President |
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Equipment Drive to Replace Ski Gear
Last summer the McKenzie River RD had a warehouse fire at their headquarters. Among other losses, all the ski gear their staff used to patrol and maintain winter trails was destroyed. The Willamette Chapter is sponsoring an equipment drive to get the rec crew back on the snow this winter. We need 2-3 pairs of skis, boots in women’s size 9.5-10 (8-8.5 in men's) and men’s sizes 10.5-12 and, of course, ski poles. We would appreciate it very much if you would ask your members if they have excess gear (skis, bindings, boots, poles) they might sell or donate to this project. Please contact Bob Young mailto:arch.byoung@gmail.com or Jim Todd mailto:toddwac18@gmail.com with details of any gear that is available.
Thank you very much for your help,
Jim Todd, Day Tour Chair
Willamette Chapter - Oregon Nordic Club
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Update on Ski Clinics
The December Beginner Clinics were cancelled due to lack of snow. Assuming conditions allow, clinics will be offered as follows:
Sunday, Jan 11, noon - 3 pm -- XC 101 and XC 102
Tuesday, Jan 13, 9am - noon -- XC 101 and XC 102
Sunday, Jan 25, noon - 3 pm -- XC 102 and XC 103
Tuesday, Jan 27, 9am - noon -- XC 102 and XC 103
If conditions don't allow those dates, we'll reschedule. Sign-ups for these dates will open once we know there is snow. Descriptions of the clinics are here.
If you want to get an email when registration opens for the clinics, be sure that you have indicated in your profile that you are interested in getting notified about Ski Events. You can easily do that through the app or on the website. |
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Reflections on 13 Seasons of Snowshoe Trail Maintenance by Bob Timmer Pre-season and in-season maintenance of the snowshoe trails along Century Drive has changed over the years towards less clearing of beetle-killed lodgepole blowdown and more clearing of saplings. The delayed snowfall on the trails this year provided an opportunity to reflect on these changes over 13 seasons.
Upon moving to Bend, I became an avid snowshoer and gained awareness of the dedicated snowshoe trails via Bend Parks & Recreation’s Yetis Snowshoe trips led by Leslie Olson. In 2013, Jim Davis, AKA Dr. Snowshoe, was looking to pass the torch on support of the snowshoe trails; fellow snowshoers raised my hand. Snowshoe trails were then a bit of a step-child; skiers were just so happy to not have snowshoers stomping on their tracks. It was also a time with active Forest Service support of trail maintenance. CONC would issue a request for CONC members to show up at a particular sno-park on a given Saturday to help clear trails or stock the shelters with firewood. Chris Sabo, Recreation Team Lead with the Forest Service, and others from the Forest Service would arrive in a Forest Service pickup. They would distribute hand saws from the back of the truck and direct folks down different trails. One soon learned that those accompanying Chris would not likely get back to the sno-park until dusk, if they were lucky!
There were more miles of winter trail than the coordinated effort could handle. Small group work sessions were encouraged. On December 16, 2013, long-time volunteer Dennis DeLapp and I headed to Meissner Sno-Park on our first “small group” work session. We cut 45 trees on the snowshoe trail. Now, you might say “You remember that?”. No, but the Forest Service asked that we report our trail work: the number of hours, volunteer names, number of trees cut and number of signs installed. Being a bit of a data nerd, I also recorded the stats in a spreadsheet...
To read the full blog post and view accompanying charts, click here. |
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Gear Fix Donations Now that you are looking over your winter gear, remember that CONC is making good use of your usable cast offs. We collected over $600 from winter sales as a result of your donations to our account at Gear Fix. We reserve these funds in our trails improvement and maintenance program. Many thanks to all who have donated over the years. |
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"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"
— J.B. Priestley
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