MACDONALD PASS — On Saturday at MacDonald Pass Ski Trails, the Last Chance Nordic Ski Club welcomed a new addition, to keep their group growing.
"It took some time, it took a lot of fundraising, it took 100% the support of our community," said Laura Cunningham, President of the Last Chance Nordic Ski Club.
That new addition is their new barn, and to celebrate, the club hosted a barn warming party with hot drinks, soup, and chili for members and skiers to warm up with from the trails.
Cunningham says the process to get the barn fully put together was lengthy and difficult for the club to finalize.
"So the barn has been a long time coming, but it's very much appreciated. And today, everybody is just kind of celebrating that we got that we got it done, and now we have a place to gather up here," said Cunningham.
The club uses equipment like groomers and snowmobiles, equipment that is heavy and expensive to move and maintain. The barn's main purpose will be to store that equipment and tools for repairs, so they can be safely stored, and easily accessed for the club, saving time and money.
"The weather can get really cold, and it's not great for that kind of machinery to sit out in the elements all year round," said Cunningham.
The club is fully run by volunteers, so that corduroy-like groom on the trails, is mostly because of Laura or her husband Michael making sure the trail was ready for skiers.
"It's a really good feeling to finish up grooming and look around and say, all right, now everybody can come ski and, you know, enjoy the trails and that feels good," said Cunningham.
It's time-consuming work with nearly 15 miles of trails to maintain on MacDonald Pass, and its work that is not a walk in the park.
"We started doing this as volunteers about three or four years ago, and we were amateurs, and one thing I learned about an 800-pound snowmobile, if you go off the trail, it's really tricky to get it back on the trail. So it was probably a real growing period for our marriage because we had to communicate, and sometimes we were a little frustrated with each other. But now that we've been up here doing it, we have we kind of know more tricks of how to get around the tight corners and, you know, places not to take the machine during certain conditions," said Cunningham.
It's work that doesn't go unnoticed by skiers, such as long-time member of the Last Chance Nordic Ski Club Fran Penner-Ray.
"The Last Chance Nordic Ski Club has done an extraordinary job keeping the trails stable with our weather that is so up and down," said Penner-Ray.
It's a sport Cunningham is passionate about, she says it's in her blood and has been cross-country skiing for as long as she could remember, but says it's an accepting sports community that always looking for new members and fits like a glove for anyone.
"You don't have to be a competitive skier and know exactly what you're doing to be part of this community, said Cunningham, because it's open to everybody."
