Due to a high-pressure cell hanging over the Southern Interior, we have not received any additional snowfall this past week to allow for opening. Roughly 15km of trails have been packed but lack sufficient snow depth for our opening trails to the public. Many areas are very shallow with stubble from fall brushing. The gate will remain closed until opening next week. Do a snow dance for us!
If you have been delaying in picking up your season pass you best get on it! Early bird rates close on October 31st which means that our in-season rates go up by $20 per person. Register on our Zone4 Registration page HERE. See you on the trails soon.
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Have you ever wanted to give the sport of Biathlon a try? Well now is your chance! Our coaching team and athletes are opening up the range to anyone in the club with an interest in trying out this fun and dynamic sport.
Spring has sprung on the trails of Sovereign Lake with day time temperatures climbing above 10 degrees daily. With these changing conditions, we adjust our grooming plan to spend more time preparing trails in the late evening than in the early morning hours.
This groomer scheduling change makes it significantly easier on our grooming equipment, allowing us to groom softer snow instead of hard ice. This results in icy conditions first thing in the morning so we recommend that you delay skiing until 10am to avoid ice. Please use caution in the shaded areas as ice can persist later in the day.
Cooler temperatures are on the way that should allow us to get back to regular grooming schedules soon.
Snowshoe and Backcountry Trails are all open.
Don’t forget the sunscreen. It is glorious out there!!
SLNC is excited to announce that we have been awarded a $230,000 Capital Projects Gaming Grants to be used towards the purchase of our new PB400 snowcat. This application was submitted last July and was recently attained after the second round of grants were awarded to 2018 grant applications.
These funds are allocated to the purchase of our new snowcat of which the club has already raised over $80,ooo in the last month and a half. This puts the club in a much better position to finance the remainder follow the addition of year-end profits to the purchasing fund.
There is still time to contribute to the purchase of this new machine. Follow THIS LINK to our donations page.
Sovereign Lake Nordic Nordic Club proudly acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia via the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch.
The Masters High-Performance Group from SLNC has been preparing to race at the Masters World Cup 2019 in Norway over the last 2 seasons. With the expert guidance from our Program Director, Eric de Nys, and the disciplined approached by our skiers we’ve exceeded all expectations.
23 Sovereign skiers joined forces with 31 other BC skiers and 50 more from other parts of Canada to make up the largest Canadian contingent on record to attend these games. The Canadian group represents an age spread of 40 years and many more years of ski racing experience.
The trip began with 8 of our skiers spending a week at altitude in Italy. We stayed at Seiser Alm – a ski resort known by National team skiers as the place for acclimatizing before big race series. We had such a relaxing ski experience that it
was actually hard to leave. Good skiing, beautiful scenery and very warm temperatures.
Our larger group of skiers met up on March 4th in Oslo and then boarded buses and travelled to Beitostolen where the Master’s is being held. This quintessential Norwegian community is situated at the base of a huge plateau with mountain ranges in the background. Skiing goes on forever – the touring is so inviting that it’s hard to remain focused on the race course when so many unexplored kilometres lay outside the doorstep of the hotel. Many of our group has expressed the desire to return and enjoy what this area has to offer.
The racing hasn’t disappointed. The Sovereign group travelled with a wax team – Mike Bell and Joel Knoff. These two guys have worked early mornings and late evenings to ensure the ski group had fast skis when it was their turn to fly around the course. Our skiers commented on the fact that these were the fastest skis they’d ever been on. There’s nothing quite like tucking down a hill and passing other competitors on the glide.
The goal of competing, as a Master’s athlete, is “personal improvement” – to ski faster today than you would have without all the training, coaching and support. Everyone met that goal – and everyone feels like they’ve earned a personal victory. It’s truly motivating to ski against your own age group from Nordic countries around the world and share in the competitive spirit.
The MWC has 2 races left in their schedule as I write this note. Both 30km classic and 30 km skate will happen in the final 2 days of our stay in Beitostolen and then a smaller group is off to participate in the famous Norwegian Birkiebeiner. The Canadian Team has also received top honours from the Organizing Committee here in Beitostolen for Team Spirit, our new Race Suits, as well as great performances.
To stay up to date with our Masters across the pond in the temple of Cross Country Skiing by visiting their Masters World Cup 2019 Facebook Page.
-Article submitted by Pat Pearce
Avast ye scurvy landlubbers!!!
With all the hubbub surrounding the Vernon Winter Carnival Pirate Theme this year, we figured that we best step up to the bowsprit and host our very own Pirate themed event for our members and the public. With a reduced amount of volunteers available to help run the Tips Up Cup it was decided to axe the event before Christmas.
Some programs parents, however, hopped right in to ensure that we could host a fun club event that day and with about 10 volunteers, they held a fantastic little ski race for the kids that will be attending the Teck BC Midget Championships next weekend. It was open to all programs kids and the turnout was fantastic!
Program parents hosted a great BBQ that raised over $700 for Skill Development Programs. There was no fee for the race in the morning and many of the kids stuck around for the Jess4Kids Team Challenge afterwards, keeping the fun rolling for another hour and a half.
The Jess4Kids Team Challenge is always a great addition to the events of the day and the Winter Carnival as a whole. Dedicated the memory of Jessica Eaman, a wonderful former coach and club member, it is an opportunity for friends of Jessica’s, as well members of the public to help promote the cause and donate to the Jessica Eaman Ski Scholarship Fund.
This initiative was created by a dedicated group of friends that would make skiing available to any child, regardless of their socio-economic status to enjoy Sovereign Lake and the great outdoors. Each year the Jess4Kids Fund provides skiing and snowshoeing opportunities to over 300 kids who otherwise could not afford it. This is an integral component of our S’Cool Ski Program. We raised over $3000 during the event. Thank you so much to all who donated to the event!
The Team Challenge consisted of relay teams of four that each took turns racing around two courses. The ski course was located on Wylies Loop, and the snowshoe course went through our recently reopened Animal Trail adjacent the stadium. Thanks so much to everyone who came out and participated!!
When one thinks of Sovereign Lake you rarely think Brew Pub but on February 6th we transformed the downstairs of the lodge, the old day lodge and the race office into three micro-breweries showcasing boutique brews from Iron Road (Kamloops), Taylight Brewing (Port Coquitlam) and Whitetooth Brewery (Golden).
Iron Road Brewery showcasing some beauties. Their IPA is the bomb!
As the clock struck 7 pm hoards of skiers and beer lovers launched into the lodge in anticipation of trying 3oz samplers of 12 unique frothy beverages. From Lagers to Porters event goers were treated to some exceptional tasting bevvies.
Taylight Brewery showing off their delicious Root Beer Porter.
This is the second running of the BeerCanBeiner event, an homage to the Norwegian Birkenbeiner Ski Race which is hosted annually with an excess of 10,000 skiers. While we were a few shy of 10,000, we did have almost 80 hearty cold-loving skiers from throughout the community join us. With temperatures dipping to -20 by event time were worried that we should have postponed but only 3 people did not show up out of 82.
Jenn Hyde reps Whitetooth Brewery for the evening. The LaunchPad Rye Ale was a standout that evening.
We are so pumped with the great response to the event this year that we are already chatting about next years event. If you are a beer fan and didn’t attend, we will most definitely run the BeerCanBeiner again in 2020. Huge thanks go out to our volunteers, staff, beer vendors and guests for making this event such a good one. For the three weather wimps…you sure missed out.
To check out the full selection of beers that were being poured go check out the event page HERE. If you want to see more of these events happen then get ahold of us and bring your idea to fruition. We are always looking at ways to bring more fun to the club and no one will argue that this was a super fun night under the lights of Sovereign.
Congrats to SLNC athletes Danica Ariano and Ethan Algra who will be representing Team BC in the upcoming 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer from Feb 15-23rd. Biathlon BC sends a team of eight (8) comprised of 4 males and 4 female athletes ages 16-20 years old. Ethan is the youngest on the team at 16 years old.
