If you’ve ever skied to a shelter at Swampy Lakes or Nordeen or Swede Ridge or AC/DC and enjoyed the warm fire and the log-free trails to get there, thank the Central Oregon Nordic Club. For those who’ve yet to learn the joys of Nordic skiing, the club is here for you, too.
Founded 60 years ago by a group of people who loved the outdoors — even in the dead of winter — the club now boasts roughly 600 members, said Linda Frost, a former president of the club and a current board member. As the snow begins to fall, some of the trails known to cyclists as tried-and-true mountain bike trails become a network for those on skis, as well as those on snowshoes. Members of CONC stock firewood at the Swampy, Nordeen, Sweded and AC-DC shelters and clear downed trees from miles and miles of trail. Club members are also responsible for clearing fallen trees from the 10 Mile Sno-Park to Paulina Lake in the Newberry Crater.
On top of its work clearing downed trees, stocking firewood at ski shelters and teaching new skiers the ropes, the Central Oregon Nordic Club also maintains 30 miles of mapped snowshoe trails – the only mapped snowshoe trails in Oregon, Frost pointed out. New this year for snowshoers is the completion of the AC/DC Shelter Snowshoe Trail, which offers an out-and-back snowshoe route to the shelter, offering views of Mt. Bachelor.
New Nordic trail connections
Among the new features cross-country skiers can expect this year: more connections for some of the popular trails along Century Drive in the Deschutes National Forest. The new Crosscut Trail, named in honor of the preferred tool for one of the club’s hardworking tree-removal volunteers, Al Matson, now connects the Flagline Trail to the Ridge Trail, Frost told the Source Weekly. It means a shorter ski from Flagline to Swampy Shelter by way of the new Ridge Trail extension, bypassing the drop down to the Lake and up again to reach the shelter, Frost said.
This year, the club is also in the planning phases of rebuilding the shelter at Edison Butte, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service. The USFS closed that shelter, located about 1 mile from the Edison Sno-Park, for the 2023-24 season due to safety concerns with the structure.
Club members have in the past been responsible for replacing the shelters at both Swampy Lakes and Nordeen, which burned to the ground in 2007.
What the Central Oregon Nordic Club doesn’t do, however, is groom trails. The groomed trails available in Central Oregon include those at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park, maintained by Meissner Nordic.
Gatherings for Nordic skiers
In addition to the hard work of maintaining trails, there’s plenty of fun to be had. Group members meet on the weekends to ski – sometimes in organized groups; other times with groups of established friends.
“We meet in the coffee shop every Sunday and somebody leads a group somewhere – and we warn people what skill level is required,” Frost told the Source Weekly. “The nice thing with having this group is there is always somebody to go with.”
At the beginning of the season, Frost, who’s now 80 years old, recommends a short ski of a mile or so to warm up some of the muscles that have gone dormant in the warmer months. Then, move up to adding more miles as desired.
“There are a couple mystery muscles in your hips that will protest at first!” she said. The group also organizes trips to places outside of Central Oregon, including Washington’s Methow Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Anthony Lakes, Oregon and other locales.
For beginners, CONC also offers lessons, taught from a complement of roughly 10 to 12 club members. To sign up, interested skiers can email Jerry Sebestyen at jsebestyen@eoni.com.
This article appears in Source Weekly November 2, 2023.
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