Snow piling up early for nordic skiers

Published 5:45 am Friday, November 20, 2020

The pent-up demand for winter recreation is heightened this year due to the pandemic.

Luckily, Mother Nature has already delivered the goods for Central Oregon snow revelers, as area sno-parks have at least 2 to 3 feet of snow for nordic skiers, snowshoers and fatbikers.

“The first day it snowed, people were up at Dutchman Flat (Sno-park), skiing on 2 inches of snow,” said Larry Katz, the operations manager for Meissner Nordic, the nonprofit that grooms ski trails at Meissner Sno-park each winter. “But now, there is ample snow at Bachelor, Meissner and Swampy (Lakes) for people to start recreating — and they are, immediately. The demand is there, and people are coming out.”

Up to 3 feet of snow at Meissner, west of Bend off Century Drive, has allowed for skate and classic nordic skiers to hit the snow.

Meissner Nordic will not start officially grooming trails until Dec. 1, per its agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, but crews have compacted the snow while cleaning up downed trees, making some areas skiable for skate skiers. (Classic skiers have the ability to break through noncompacted snow.)

Outdoor recreation areas such as sno-parks remain open and accessible during the two-week statewide pause that runs through Dec. 2.

“It’s still November, so we’re still doing trail maintenance and there’s a whole lot of trees that came down in this last storm,” Katz said. “There was too much snow to get around in the snowmobile to do it. So for safety reasons we’re using the grooming machine and driving around to clean up what’s fallen on the trails. We’re out there compacting the snow, and people are skiing on it. But we’re not grooming (until Dec. 1).”

Katz said the snow accumulation was the most for mid-November that he could remember in his 24 years in Bend. The parking lot at Meissner was full this past Saturday and Sunday, he added.

Grooming will officially start the night of Nov. 30 for both classic and skate skiing, Katz said. The grooming schedule includes Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, as well as every day during winter break (last two weeks of December) and spring break.

The lodge near the Meissner parking lot will not open this year due to COVID-19, according to Katz.

“That door is going to remain locked,” he said. “We don’t want the responsibility of policing it or trying to manage how many people come inside or who’s wearing a mask and who’s not.”

The shelters out on the ski trails (Meissner, Swampy and Swede Ridge shelters) are accessible, but Katz said they have not cut any firewood for the Meissner shelter, so as not to encourage skiers and others to gather there.

“It’s a pretty small space, so if you get 10 people sitting on the benches, you’re certainly not social distancing.”

While conditions this week have brought periods of both rain and snow to Meissner, Katz is not worried about losing the snow base before Dec. 1. Only about 10 to 12 inches of compacted snow is needed for nordic skiing, and the sno-park currently has about three times that.

“It might rain, it might snow, but we have enough base to really hold us for quite a while,” Katz said. “Lucky blessing, good for us, and good for the community that they’re not waiting until the end of December to get their skis out.”

Youth nordic ski programs with the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation have also hit the trails at Meissner to get some early season on-snow training. Some 20 to 25 kids have been training there on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, Katz noted.

“They normally always go to Bachelor,” he said. “But this year there’s snow there three to four weeks ahead of Bachelor’s opening, so they’ve jumped on the bandwagon also. It’s going to be a busy place.”

Sno-park permits are required during the winter season and are $25 for an annual permit, available at local sporting goods stores.

Mt. Bachelor ski area is set to officially open for both nordic and alpine skiing on Dec. 7. The mountain, which reported a snow depth of 36 inches on Wednesday, is open for both uphill and classic ski touring until Nov. 30, when it will close for one week for final opening preparations.

“Trails have not been groomed and we do have some active machinery out, but the mountain is open for winter exploring,” said Leigh Capozzi, brand and marketing director for Bachelor. “Personal responsibility is critical for all adventurers as the resort is uncontrolled and unpatrolled.”

According to the Forest Service, nordic ski trails at Wanoga Sno-park off Century Drive are groomed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays by Central Oregon DogPAC. Dogs and fatbikers are allowed at Wanoga, but not at Meissner.

Beginning Dec. 1, volunteers with the Central Oregon Trail Alliance will groom fatbike trails at Wanoga on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings through the winter.