Well, those of you who havent heard, the club is going through a bit of a difficult time this winter. The spirits were low, the equipment took another dive, same people were getting overworked, community support/trail respect was low and the board has even considered a grooming strike trying to get the community to take notice and help us out. All that got turned around with a very fiery response from the board. After all, we all want to ski! And we have trails so close! And we've worked so hard to get here! After a few meetings we have discussed the immediate steps for a PR push to get community support and possibly start getting important things pushed through like acquisition of rental fleet in town or at the trails (will take a while, dont get too excited :) and more. We have really high hopes that this big push will pay off. And so far, things are happening like you wouldnt believe!!! First of all, meet Pablo! http://picasaweb.google.com/SWNSKIboard/NewSnowMoPABLO# That's right, thanks to some brainstorming by the board, foot work with the bank, co-signing and paperwork from our club treasurer Paul, we are now proud owners of a brand new fancy-a$$ snowmo!! And, yes, his name is Pablo... :)) I dont know the specs, if one of the groomer guys wants to chime in on that topic, please do. I'm sure the rest of the club techies will want to check it out. Anyway, it will alleviate a whole lot of work on our groomers with a warranty and service contract in SF and shorter grooming time. Meanwhile, look for articles on our work and club in the Monitor as well as in SF and Albqq publications (we are still working on which). We will be starting a fundraising drive (our 501c3 status is pending!!!) shortly to help us pay for the snow mo as well as get more in the bank to allow for more breathing room and so time for putting on more events on our trails and generally more fun for all :). What you can do to help right now, is to watch for the fundraising request/info emails and blog posts and tell EVERYONE about our trails. Bring friends up here, refer people to our site, encourage them to try nordic skiing etc. We are working with USFS on multiple improvements including installing equipment to do a more sophisticated trail use count (we've had vanloads of people from SF and Albqq on a weekly basis!) and that may qualify us for some grants. We are looking for help everywhere! If you are interested in helping out more actively like leading an effort to mark a new snowshoe trail (very helpful! even the short piece Paul, Tom, Dave and Donna added this winter got us quite a few thank yous and donations!!), interested in grooming, good at working with grant applications, marketing ideas/connections, community education ideas etc. please email SWNSKIboard@gmail.com Stay tuned to the site and blog for changes and updates! Yay for all the snow! Dina |
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