The Pembina Nordic Ski Club is holding its annual Eagle Point Loppet Race on Jan. 24, which will also celebrate 50 years of activity for the club.
The loppet features classic and freestyle events for 5, 10, 15, 30 and 45 km races, as well as one- and two-kilometre fun races for the kids.
Pembina Nordic Ski Club Director and Loppet Coordinator Rob Macintosh says the event is open to all skill levels. The 5 and 10 km route is quite level and suitable for beginner to intermediate skiers, he says. The 15-45 km routes are “reasonably accessible for a recreational skier,” he notes, but do include more challenging uphill and downhill sections.
Registration fees include a chili lunch with a drink, and participants are asked to register online by Friday, Jan. 23.
The community is also invited to observe the competition at no cost. Macintosh says the races will pass the viewing areas multiple times along their routes.
Attendees are also welcome to bring their own skis, snowshoes and winter bicycles as the trails will be open to the public for free after 3 p.m., once the Eagle Point Loppet is finished.
Snow conditions for the event are looking promising so far, Macintosh says, but ultimately depend on a few factors.
To celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary, the day will wrap up with the Pembina Nordic 50th Birthday Bash.
From 6 p.m. to midnight, attendees can enjoy a catered dinner, stories and highlights from the club’s first 50 years, a silent auction fundraiser, the Eagle Point Loppet awards presentation, as well as a dance and social.
“We welcome members of the community to come out and mix and mingle with the skiers and the members and the folks that are active in the Pembina Nordic Ski Club,” Macintosh says.
Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis online and at the door. They are $45 for adults and $30 for youth.
While the club is known for its winter activities, the Pembina Nordic Centre also facilitates a variety of summer activities, including mountain biking, trail hiking, bird watching, disc golf and more.
In its early days in 1976, Macintosh says the club leaders would take their skis out to the local golf course and set trail by foot for the other members. Operations eventually moved to the base of the downhill ski club, at which point the Pembina group had also acquired some old snow machines and a handmade track setter. From there, the club explored a deer trail leading to a ridge looking over the North Saskatchewan River.
“A group of volunteers thrashed in a trail there that was about two meters wide, and that was the beginning of setting up our formal trails and tracks,” he says.
In 1984, the group incorporated as a formal club and in 1987, constructed a timber frame chalet.
“Here we are today, almost 50 years later, with a brand new outdoor education center, close to a million dollar facility [that’s] 100 per cent paid for and offered back to the community for a whole host of education programs and recreational programs; it’s available for rental for all sorts of clubs and volunteer groups, as well as corporations and government agencies that want retreats and workshops,” says Macintosh.
What started as a handful of people breaking trail is now a 250-300 person club, plus non-member users, who utilize the Pembina Nordic Ski Club trails for much more than skiing.
“We have trail systems through seven or eight quarter sections of some of the most spectacular semi-wilderness river valley land on the entire North Saskatchewan River,” Macintosh states. “And it’s only eight kilometres from Drayton Valley.”
The progress hasn’t come without its challenges, however; in recent years, increasing fluctuations in temperature and precipitation have made for testing conditions, but Macintosh says they’ve been overcoming that with better grooming equipment and preparation.
While the club doesn’t have a huge demand for volunteers, he says help with grooming has also been occasionally hard to come by, and is something the club can always use help with.
Macintosh also notes, while a club membership does come with perks, it isn’t necessary to utilize the trails. Donations are accepted as well, which support maintenance and trail grooming.
Anyone interested in the activities offered at the Pembina Nordic Ski Club is welcome to attend the annual Eagle Point Loppet on Saturday, Jan. 24, or check out the trails on Sunday.
You can also keep an eye out for the club’s brewski event on March 13, where attendees can enjoy night skiing and refreshments from Nodding Donkey Brewing.
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