Rule #1: Be nice to other skiers.
Faster skiers and skiers on the downhill have the right of way. If that’s you, it’s good to politely call out “track,” “hup,” or my favorite method “on your left,” or “on your right” to warn those ahead that you’re coming. One of the cool things about skiing is that beginners and Olympians often share the same trails. With that comes different skill levels and speeds and the need for increased communication.
Rule #2: Be nice to the trails.
It’s hard work maintaining and grooming ski trails. In a lot of communities this task falls on volunteers making it important to keep the trails nice.
Please leave that dog at home if your ski area doesn’t allow them or if the tracks are soft. If you do ski with a dog try to keep it under control. You wouldn’t want the dog chasing other skiers or knocking them over. And please, if the pooch makes a mess on the trail do your best to clean it up.
We all fall, if you fall and leave a few massive dents on the trails be sure to fill them in and try to ‘cover your butt’…marks with snow.
Pack out any garbage.
Try not to walk or snowshoe on groomed trails, especially in classic tracks. If you do have to walk or snowshoe, walk as far to the side of the trail as possible. If you’re skating, try to avoid the classic tracks, don’t be that person who skates in them.
Rule #3: Go the right way on designated one-way trails.
Sometimes we get tired of skiing the same trails over and over again and it’s tempting to ski a one-way trail the opposite way for a change of scenery. But, there’s a reason the trail is one-way so try to ski the trail the right direction. In most cases trails are set up like this to avoid collisions with other skiers on a gnarly downhill or other obstacles.
Rule #4: Stop in safe places.
Cross-country skiing is hard work and we all need to stop sometimes to sip some water or apply more kick wax. If you do stop along the trail, get as far off to the side as possible to allow others to ski past. Try pushing it up and over a hill and stopping once you’re done gliding on the downhill side to avoid annoying Saturday morning top-of-the hill gridlock.
Many ski areas have their own rules, and we’ve just covered the basics here. One of the coolest things about cross-country skiing is the diversity in ages, techniques and skill level on the trails and as a result it’s important to respect others on the trails and respect the trails.
As I reflect on the year gone by, by far the biggest story of the year has
been the Covid 19 virus. The affect that the virus has had on outdoor
recreation has increased the importance of our ORA Trails mission to provide
great new trails.
I hope you have had the opportunity to hike or bike the recently opened
Gateway Trails atop Grandad Bluff< <https://www.oratrails.org/gateway/>
https://www.oratrails.org/gateway/> made possible by ORA Trails and La
Crosse Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department. ORA Trails helped design,
build, and then raise $400,000 in private donations to hire the very best
contractors to build the Grandad Bluff Trails. We supplemented our
fundraising efforts with 2,000 hours of volunteer time from 317 enthusiastic
volunteers. Our new trail system is the ultimate community effort converting
160 acres of mostly unused park land in the heart of our city, into an
incredible outdoor recreation area that provides families and their children
a place to play safely together, stay active, and have fun hiking and biking
in the woods.
We are very excited about the year to come:
* We are working closely with La Crosse Parks, Recreation, and
Forestry and surrounding communities to add to the trail systems in the
greater La Crosse area. We are talking with Shelby and Onalaska about
extending the trails outward from Grandad Bluff to points north and south.
* We have a new Executive Director- Jed Olson, a person likely
known to most of you. We were very fortunate to have Jed take on this role.
Expect awesome things to come! We have also hired Jillian Olson as our
Operations Coordinator. They both join Liz Reardon, our Administrative
Coordinator to form our ORA management team. A great day for ORA!
* A hugely successful Giving Tuesday fundraising event yielded
over $130,000 in funding for ORA Trails and Operations. With this funding we
will be able to pursue the development of many of the trail concepts
envisioned by our team.
We thank you for your support of ORA Trails. It is the wonderful community
backing we receive that allows us to grow, that allows us to follow our
mission of creating more trails. From vision, design, gaining approvals,
implementation to ‘ WOW, what a great trail!’ it is you who make it
possible.
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