Newsletter- 12.14.24

Ski Day-Recap 12.14.24

Season’s Greetings Everyone!

Our second Saturday session is behind us on the trail and a terrific gathering of the Hares it was. We had something over 60 skiers on the trail and 33 joined us for a bite and beverage at the Black Pine after the ski.

The Classic tracks were wonderful. The Skate track had a couple inches fresh snow so a bit slower than last week but still pretty darn good. The bit of extra effort just meant go easy and not worry so much about how fast you could go. Good to remember it takes 4 times the effort / energy to go twice as fast

, plus the additional calories burned made for a good excuse to enjoy some very special hot chocolate afterwards at the Black Pine.

Here a little reminder that the best sometimes go down, guest leader and elite skier/coach Mike Mandli does an unscheduled snow survey, thank you Amanda for the pic

A shout out to our leader group of the day, well done. A little reminder to you all, please do not put our leaders in an awkward position by requesting a ski lesson during our session in the context of Silver Hares. We do not teach skiing, we do give safety tips and that is all. I saw a great example of leader Rob give a very appropriate safety tip by showing one of the skiers how to safely control speed coming down the S turns from the Mtn top. We do not compete with the SilverStar ski school by giving anything other than safety tips. By teaching a lesson we jeopardize the entire existence of the Hares.

25 for 25!!

Our first extracurricular activity is coming up in about 2 weeks , Euna Kang Silver Hares leader and founder of this cool event will explain a bit in her description below, here’s Euna:

I would like to welcome 2025 by skiing 25km on January 1st, 2025. The tradition of skiing on January 1st, the distance of the year, started in 2020 in Edmonton by myself and few friends. It was a fun way to remind myself in the fall that winter is coming and get myself in shape! Since 2023, in the lovely community of Silverstar/Soverign Lake, it was even more challenging and fun!

2025 will be our third year of this tradition in Silverstar. This year, we would like to add (with a help of Pat and Trevor) two more optional routes. Detail routes will be explored in coming weeks before January 1st. Here’s what we have come up with:

Start: SilverStar in front of Bugaboo cafe 10:00 am

Finish and lunch with cookie medal: Blackpine 1pm-3pmish

Routes

Route1: Ski up Paradise Ski up trails and down back to Silverstar lower trails

Route2: Gondola up and ski to Sovereign Lake and coming back to Silverstar via Gold Mountain

Route3: Same as last year with additional 1k (Gondola up and ski to Alderpoint and down to lower trail)

Routes can be modified according to the trail conditions of the day.

Last year’s route:

https://strava.app.link/jlVPJtd0kP

Wednesday Silver Hares

It was tried again due to show of hands ( maybe 40 or so ) at the meeting and Google poll results ( about 20 yes ) . There were 6 skiers showed up and myself, 2 of the skiers first time Hares. We had a very nice ski splitting into 3 teams of 2 and myself joining one of those. Conditions were sweet and companionship excellent.

Now going forward the plan is that if you want to ski Wednesdays with Silver hares well just show up at 10am in front of the Red Antler. If I am there I’ll help kickstart the session and if not just organize yourselves. This will help you all to connect with other skiers which is the point of being a Silver Hare in the first place!

Adventures Beyond Skiing for Silver Hares

Based on the results we will be planning some fun stuff outside Nordic Skiing for the Silver Hares. We will have to limit signups for some of the activities due to space, equipment or instructor limitations.

. Chocolate Making with John: 6 yes , 5 maybe , 13 no (Bugaboos, class limit 10 participants, last season we needed to offer 2 classes to meet demand, small cost for ingredients, equipment , facility I think last year was $25?)

Ice Skating 8 yes, 5 maybe, 11 no ( new this year and will be led by Gary and Nancy Goplen at the SilverStar pond mid January likely)

Wine tasting dinner 14 yes, 5 maybe, 11 no 9 (We sold out last year with 60 dinners , will be led by Silver Hare Sommelier Barb Brousseau )

Dance Lesson 10 yes, 8 maybe, 6 no. (Led by Silver Hares Alex and Elaine Klein taught by Jens and Heather from dance studio City Dance, there were close to 30 of us last year cost last year I think around $30?)

Bingo Night 7 yes, 7 maybe, 10 no (this will be new and should be a blast, the woman who does puts these evenings on has great reviews, will be at Black Pine January time frame, there were 2 options 1 without prizes $5 per person or with very nice prizes $20 per person so in talking with some of you we are going with the $20 and prizes)

Historic SilverStar Ski. 13 yes , 10 maybe, 1 no, This will be led by our own Norm Crerar and his bride Nancy no fee.

Vintage dress up ski. 5 yes 6 maybe, 13 no No one leading this in particular and we will schedule near season end , was fun for those of us participating last season

Next Ski: Saturday December 21

We meet as usual a little before 10am next to Red Antler.

See you soon!

As always if you would like to removed from these looooong Silver Hares emails just let Pat know, cheers!

Contact Silver Hares: xcskierpat@yahoo.com

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