OCTOBER, 2005
Welcome to our third newsletter of the year. Do you need new equipment, or are you looking
for a training program to get you over the hump to ski in the loppet? Read on for information about these topics. This year, we are going to have a category in
the loppet for skiers who have never participated before, so don’t let the fact
that you are inexperienced stop you from
skiing in our races. Mark this web site in
your favourites: www.skiblackjack.ca
Refer to this website for up to date snow conditions or phone the snow phone at
362-7163. If you have anything you want
to add to this newsletter, you can email Susan at svanasselt@telus.net
CROSS-COUNTRY SKI TRAINING
GROUP
Join this program, modeled after marathon training groups,
and ski your way into great fitness, improve your technique and skate through
the Black Jack Loppet on Feb. 5th,
2006. Meet every Saturday
starting on Oct. 29th and/or every Tuesday evening at 7:00 starting Dec. 13th. Each workout will be graduated to accommodate
all levels of physical and technical abilities.
Sessions well be full of technical and practical tips, motivation and
FUN. Cost to join is $175 for Black Jack
Ski Club members, $78 for Tuesdays only.
Included in this package are:
pre-season sport specific hill bounding and pole striding, training
schedule for between sessions, deep-water training for poor weather days,
discounted childcare available in the warming hut, rental equipment available
at a special deal, free wax clinic and 10% off wax and accessories at Gericks’,
free information session on fueling for sport and discounted nutritional
supplements. For information and to
join, call Lesley
Beatson at
362-5220.
RABBITS
Passed unanimously, we have decided to lower the cost of
joining Rabbits. The cost this year will
be only $25 per skier. This cost will
cover the CCBC fee we have to pay ($8.00) as well as the insurance fee ($10.54)
and the grooming costs for each skier, and so allows us to break even with this
program.
JUNIOR RACERS
Junior Racers is having a great season this year and if you
have not yet joined but would like to, please phone Fred at 362-7134. Junior Racers are meeting on Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday each week.
BIATHLON UPDATE
The major earth moving at the biathlon site has been
completed. People are now working to
create the trails at the biathlon site.
Once again, thanks to the major players of this huge endeavor. The biathlon site was visited by the members
of the BC Winter Games officials and they were duly impressed with the site and
getting excited about the upcoming Winter Games.
BC WINTER GAMES
We are still looking for volunteers for the BC Winter
Games. Please make sure you register at www.trailgames2006.com This exciting
event will be happening on Feb 23, 24, and 25.
In order to volunteer with the cross-county ski portion of the Winter Games,
you can volunteer at Black Jack for the skating and classic events, or at the
biathlon site for biathlon. If you want
more information about what you would do at these events, you can contact Kathy
Moore at km@2cats.net . We are in great need of more volunteers to
help with timing, and to set up and take down all the equipment. We
also need people to volunteer with the making of ski racks for the skis during
the event.
CHILDREN’S SKI
TOURNAMENT
Black Jack would like to sponsor a Children’s Ski Tournament
this year. We are looking for anyone
interested in helping to organize this event.
You may remember the one that was held two years ago. It had a large turnout and the kids really
enjoyed it. There’s lots of prior experience
you can tap into as well as support from CCBC.
If you’re interested, you can contact Fred Bushell at 362-7134 or kootenayfred@hotmail.com
FEES
Once again, we have included in this newsletter, the new fee
structure for Black Jack this year. This
is for anyone who might not have read it in the last newsletter. You can register at the upcoming ski swap, or
online by going to our website and filling out the registration form
there. Completed registration forms can
be mailed to Box 1754 Rossland
V0G 1Y0. After careful examination of the costs per
member that are incurred by Black Jack, we have come up with what it costs per
person per year to ski at Black Jack.
This cost is $104 per member per year.
This amount is the same for adults or children. Items that are part of this cost include
grooming costs ($10.96 per member), equipment maintenance ($24.31 per member),
kiosk operation ($12.14 per member), fuel ($11.80 per member), money we have to
send to CCBC ($8.00 per member), insurance ($10.54 per member) and many other
items. This amount does not include any
capital costs. It is for this reason we
have decided to raise the fees a small amount for this year. This raise reflects the fact that we have
been charging less than what it costs per skier at Black Jack. The new fee schedule is as follows:
Before
Dec 1 After Dec 1
Family (with children under 19) $199 $210
Single parent family (with children under 19) $109 $115
Adult (19+ years)
$89
$100
Junior (6-18 yrs, or full time student) $39 $45
Senior (75 and over
FREE FREE
Child (under 6)
FREE FREE
As you can see, what you will be paying this year is still
less than what it costs for each member to be skiing out at Black Jack for the
year. Tell all of your friends about the
great deal for cross country skiing… If
we all sign up one new member, the cost per member per year will decrease which
can only help make a great skiing place even better!!
Don’t forget our lifetime
memberships as well. Join Black Jack
for life-this is just $5,000 for a family or $2,500 for an individual.
We also offer the opportunity to donate money to our
building and trail improvement programs.
Donors will be commemorated on a plaque in the cabin:
Gold level support:
$500
Silver level support:
$250
Bronze level support:
$100
Day pass rates have stayed the same this year. That means that it still costs $9.00 for a
single to ski for the day, $20.00 for the family, $5.00 for a junior and
seniors and children under 6 are free.
SKI SWAP
Don’t miss the ski swap this year. The event will take place on November 6, 2005 at 11 AM at the Miner’s Hall. Bring your equipment to be priced to sell at 9 AM. If
you can’t make it on the day, but have some equipment to sell, you can contact Leigh
Harrison at lharrison@telus.net
and he will arrange to store it until the ski swap. This is also a great place to buy your
membership for the year, as well as sign up for the new program with Lesley
Beatson, the Rabbits program, or with Junior Racers. See you all there!
FALL TRAIL
MAINTENANCE
Darrin Markvardsen is still looking for volunteers to do
some fall trail maintenance. He can be
reached at 362-7779 if you are able to help with this important task.
GROOMING UPDATE
Check the website, or the snow phone, or the kiosk to find
out what trails have been groomed on the day you go out to ski. We will be grooming daily and want to let
everyone know that if conditions permit (i.e., here are not too many hazards
due to the building of the dam), we will be grooming the whole length of
Gibbards this year. Once again, the
grooming of Ophir will depend on what construction is being done at the dam.
BLACK JACK UNIFORMS
Have you seen the old Black Jack uniforms that are floating
around on the ski trails? Monica
Markvardsen has agreed to coordinate another order of these great
uniforms. She is sending the order in on
October 25, so if you are interested, phone her as quickly as possible to order
your race suit ($145), warm up jacket ($120), or warm up pants ($90). She can be reached at 362-7779. Thanks, Monica for organizing this!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Black Jack would like to acknowledge all of our
volunteers. Without all of you, the Club
would not run as smoothly and efficiently as it does, nor would we have so many
great programs running or such great trails to ski on.
