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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
David Dyck THE MERRITT HERALD
It might be warm and damp here in town, but up in the Kane Lake area south of town, the Nicola Nordic Ski Club’s ski trails have already been open for two weeks. It’s the earliest opening in recent memory, said grooming co-ordinator Mike Hassel. “It’s pretty good up there
right now,” he told the Herald last Thursday. “Today I think we got just about an inch.” Opening the trails involves going over the 50-plus kilometres with a groomer attached to the club’s snowmobile, to pack the snow. “Then we also have to have a track setter on the groomer,” he explained. “You can set two tracks in there so you can really step out.”
The Kane Valley Trails lie on a piece of Crown land near Corbett Lake, about 18 kilometres south east of Merritt, just off Highway 5A. They are at a higher elevation than Merritt, and the location is generally five to eight degrees cooler. Merritt is foggy and overcast, it might be sunny and bright up there. “You could say it’s the lost jewel of the valley,” said Hassel. “A lot of
people when they come up there, they go, ‘Wow, there’s this much snow up here?’ . . . And there’s a little snow belt up there. We get lots of good snow. It’s really nice.” The club sustains itself on memberships, and a modest $500 grant that they get from the Rotary Club. But director Kate Anderson said they just usually break even. The biggest expense they have is the snowmobile and the groomer, and
paying the guy who operates it. “There’s a lot of hours in trail maintenance,” added Hassel. Anderson said earlier openings have become the norm in recent years. “As in everywhere in B.C., the snow is the best early, so we’re encouraging people to get out early and get their memberships early,” she said. “It’s cheaper than a gym membership, and way more fun,” said Hassel.
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