On the bright side of a tumultuous snow year, longtime Dakota Ridge trail grooming volunteer Steve Sleep got to do his favourite job of the season twice.
Before the first ski can glide onto the loipe, Sleep takes out the PistenBully machine that packs down snow and carves the iconic twin tracks through the winter wonderland above Wilson Creek.
“It's quite time-consuming, but it is a lot of fun,” said the volunteer of 15 years.
The machine is designed for managing snow and building ski trails, Sleep said. “The best part is early in the season when the trails haven't been opened yet and they don't look anything to the skier like what they’ll see later once the machine’s been on it.”
This year, Sleep got to experience that pre-opening high a second time. The ridge closed just two and a half weeks into its already delayed season because the snow melted. Luckily, with the increased precipitation of late winter, the site reopened March 2.
So Sleep and the volunteers who make the Coast’s go-to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing recreation site feasible are back out on the trails.
Aidan Buckley, SCRD manager of communications and engagement, said that the park would not be able to function at the level that it does without the help of its dedicated volunteer team.
“They show up in all kinds of weather to groom the ski trails and ensure they are in top shape for visitors,” he said.
Some of the Dakota Ridge volunteers’ many responsibilities include: trail monitoring during the day, providing road, trail and weather updates, shovelling out access points to buildings, answering questions from visitors, selling day passes and keeping the fire going in the warming hut.
Buckley said that the ridge has been busy since it reopened on March 2, with many visitors coming to ski, snowshoe and use the sledding hill.
“Thankfully, we have seen enough snowfall to keep trails open and hope that this continues so visitors can enjoy what’s left of the season,” he said.
Snow issue
But where the ridge was lacking snow earlier in the season, it’s now suffering from abundance.
Sleep said the biggest challenge for volunteers right now is handling the constant snowfall that the ridge is receiving. “You'd think that people working at a ski area would be really happy to see all the fresh snow,” Sleep said. “But on cross-country trails, we're constantly having to manage that snow. When it gets windblown or if it's deep, we're basically rebuilding trails as we go.”
He said that the week of March 14, Dakota Ridge was receiving more than 30 cm of snow daily.
Sleep said that having around a week between significant snowfalls gives volunteers a comfortable amount of time to build and level the trails back, adding that when a foot and a half of fresh snow is on the trails, they need a “considerable amount of work” to get in condition for cross-country skiers to use.
Groomers do much more than manage trails, said Sleep. The day starts with clearing the snow around the entrances to the buildings in the park, followed by a pre-trip inspection of the various machines used daily, starting with the PistenBully so it can be used to clear entrances to other buildings.
Once snow maintenance is complete around the buildings, the next priority is to clear off the warming hut area, which is generally where visitors pass time, as well as the children's toboggan hill.
After clearing the closest trails, the trail groomers then clear what they call the “staging area,” where visitors practice and lessons are held, before setting off farther down the trails.
Visitors can use Nordic Pulse to see which trails have been cleared, as well as the location of the PistenBully for live updates on what area is being cleared.
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
