Moose Jaw’s cross-country ski trails haven’t been officially maintained in more than a decade, but a group of volunteers has come together to change that, with the help of other partners.
The Moose Jaw XC Ski Club formed last November and worked with the Cross Country Sask and Nordic Canada to become incorporated. Once that was achieved, the volunteer board approached city hall and Wakamow Valley Authority about properly grooming the trails, explained board member Kyle Lichtenwald.
The partners struck an agreement in late January, which allowed the club to start grooming trails by Feb. 1. The parks and rec department provided some equipment and vehicles, allowing volunteers to maintain kilometres of tracks in the valley on the south side of the Moose Jaw River.
The city has also provided new signs showing the trails and rules that skiers — and walkers — must follow.
The club opened online registrations on Feb. 1 and 31 people signed up in two days, Lichtenwald said. He thought this was decent, considering many people still haven’t taken out a membership yet. Membership fees help the club with maintenance costs.
The cost to join is $25. Cross-country ski enthusiasts can visit https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=28093&lan=1&cartlevel=1 to register.
Lichtenwald began cross-country skiing as a teenager and has participated regularly as an adult. He began a Facebook group in February 2021 that brought together other cross-country ski fans in Moose Jaw and helped create an online community.
Some people then began the process of forming a club by speaking with the Regina club and acquiring advice.
“(I’m) tremendously excited. Everything seems to be going so well,” said Lichtenwald. “… I was skiing in pretty much isolation for a long time and not knowing other skiers, and you’d just be following somebody else’s tracks, or you knew somebody was out there somewhere.”
The Facebook group has more than 200 members, many of whom also like to cross-country ski at Buffalo Pound, he said. One reason grooming is possible is that there is more snow this year than in the past. The additional precipitation has excited people and given them the energy to venture outside.
The club wants to share the trails with walkers who use the valley but asks them to stay off the groomed paths to ensure they aren’t damaged.
Lichtenwald could not find much history about the first cross-country ski club, although based on available information, residents developed the trails in 1977 for the 1978 Saskatchewan Winter Games. Volunteers made the paths, cleared the trails and removed any dead trees.
The Moose Jaw Public Library provided him with a newspaper clipping and map that looked at the formation of the trails. The clipping indicated that the city and province provided $3,000 to create the trails while volunteers maintained them.
Volunteers chose the south side of the river — Wellesley Park, Connor’s Park, River Park, the campground — for trails because of the location, said Lichtenwald. There were no train tracks or roads that skiers had to cross, which provided more safety.
While there have been subsequent Winter Games, no one has maintained the trails for the last 12 years since there hasn’t been funding, he continued.
“I’m excited that the club has been able to work on this and actually make it happen … ,” Lichtenwald added. “Looking back to 1977 when the trails were first developed, it makes me happy to continue that legacy.”
