History

History of North Bay Nordic Ski Club

NORTH BAY NORDIC THROUGH THE YEARS

BY DAVE MINDEN, 2017

The North Bay Nordic Ski Club did not appear instantly 40 years ago, and did not evolve from one major influence. Rather, it was the result of a coming together of several distinct groups and personalities that forged, in the mid-1970s, a strong organization that continues today. There were three distinct influences.

The first was a group led by Shirley Bass and Jackie Goulet from the original Laurentian Ski Club. The Laurentian Touring Club, as it was known, was an offshoot of the main downhill club. The split between downhill (Alpine) skiing and cross-country (Nordic) skiing was widening, and cross-country touring skiers continued to seek out remote winter trails for skiing. This involved a great deal of organization: scouting out a destination, arranging transportation by car to the site, and frequently snowshoeing the trails in advance of several dozen skiers. It became the dream of the Laurentian cross-country skiers (who numbered about 70 skiers by 1975) to find a home of their own and to ski on trails that would be packed by snowmobile on a regular basis.

The second influence was Tex Mitchell, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and new commander of CFB North Bay in 1974. Tex was also an elite national level paddler and quickly found himself alongside long-time friend Terry Evans coaching at the North Bay Canoe Club and looking over young prospects in kayaks and canoes. It was here that Barb Olmsted was discovered, and eventually, she and her sister Nancy would become national team kayakers and Olympians in 1984 and 1988, with Barb winning Bronze in the K4 500 in 1984. But what was the connection to skiing? Tex Mitchell was of the opinion (influenced by European paddlers) that cross-country skiing was the best cross-training activity for paddlers, and Tex began a search for a location where his paddlers could ski in the off-season. This led Tex to Camp Conewango on Talon Lake where the owner, Bill Kiedyk, was in the process of starting a cross-country ski trail facility. It was there that Tex Mitchell started the first version of the “Nordic Ski Club”. At the same time, Tex heard through both the paddling and skiing communities that a group of cross-country skiers from the Laurentian Touring Club were looking for a permanent home. 

It did not take long before the two groups met in the late winter of 1974-75 and officially merged and formed the North Bay Nordic Cross-Country Ski Club, which with the assistance of lawyer Dick Tafel, legally incorporated in April of 1975 as a not-for-profit business. The paddlers from the North Bay Canoe Club teamed up with Shirley Bass’s touring group and got busy developing and cutting trails. For three winters (1975-76 to 1977-78), Camp Conewango was the home of Nordic skiing in North Bay. A Bombardier double track snowmobile was the grooming machine and a hand-made track setter was used to carve the parallel ski tracks into the packed snow surface. The inaugural 1975-76 season had the following on the Board of Directors: Tex Mitchell (President), Chuck Nowak (VP), George Hendrickson (Treasurer), Bob Krashe (Secretary) with Directors Shirley Bass, Jackie Goulet, Bob Horner, Jim Parks, and Matt Robillard.

The lodge at Camp Conewango was the home of the North Bay Nordic Ski Club from 1975 to 1978

There were two factors, however, that proved to be the downfall of the Conewango experience. The first was the time and distance from North Bay, and the second was the hilly terrain on the Songis Road that made the driving experience prohibitive at times during the winter. A search began for a site closer to North Bay, and so enter the third influence in North Bay Nordic`s early years: Dave Rees. 

Dave Rees

Dave, from North Bay, was a Canadian champion skier, member of the national team and Olympian in 1968. In 1970, he began a career teaching at Nipissing University in the Department of Geography, and a few years later Dave and Gail were busy building a house on Northshore Road which lies under the escarpment. Dave was very familiar with the old logging roads and trails in the area, and it did not take long before Hans Frenssen (President 1977-79) from the fledgling North Bay Nordic Club visited Dave Rees in 1977, and Dave sketched out on a topo map what were to become the North Bay Nordic ski trails that sweep through the rugged High Lake area.

Charlie Olmsted, father of Barb and Nancy and a construction engineer in North Bay, was instrumental in the next chapter in North Bay Nordic`s history. Arrangements were made with the Ministry of Natural Resources to establish a clubhouse facility on Northshore Road at the edge of an old hay field (which became the parking lot), and a used portable classroom building was hauled into the site in the fall of 1978 for the first season at its new location. Charlie served as the Club President from 1979-1982 and in many other capacities, notably race organization.

The official opening of the Northshore Road site of the North Bay Nordic Ski Club on Jan. 21, 1979. Left to right: Hans Frenssen; J.J. Blais, MP; Bruce Goulet, Mayor of North Bay; Mike Bolan, MLA; Tex Mitchell

Charlie Olmsted at the Start Line of the Nordic Invitational in 1982

Many details of NBN`s development are sketched out in Kick and Glide – History of the NBNSC (Dave Minden, 2002), but it is important to highlight two major developments in the ski world that impacted North Bay Nordic. 

The first occurred in 1982 when an American skier, Bill Koch, influenced by other international ski racers, won the overall World Cup using the “skating technique” instead of the straight-ahead kick and glide in set tracks. This revolutionized skiing. In 1987, North Bay Nordic hosted its first skate technique race, and the next season we started the first widening of trails to accommodate the new technique. Many recreational and race-oriented skiers started to learn the skill. 

The first Bombardier double-track snowmobile 

The “Raidtrack” in 1981 pulling a wooden sled track setter

The second development was the growing use of large snow grooming machines, very similar to those used on alpine ski hills but specifically modified for grooming cross-country ski trails. North Bay Nordic’s grooming equipment evolved slowly starting with Bombardier double-track Alpine snowmobiles. The club still maintains a fleet of three of these workhorses. There were two unsuccessful and short-lived experiments with small tracked vehicles: the “Raidtrack” in the 1970s and the infamous “blue machine” in the 1980s. Finally, after many years of planning, fundraising, and trail widening, North Bay Nordic purchased in 1995 a used 10-year old Pisten Bulley snow groomer from Kamview Nordic Ski Club in Thunder Bay for $35,000. We had entered the modern age of cross-country skiing. North Bay Nordic was then able to provide well-groomed trails for both classic and skate technique on a consistent and reliable basis. Ten years later, in late 2004, we purchased (with no government grants or outside assistance other than a bank Line of

Credit) our own spanking brand new Pisten Bulley-100 at a cost of close to $200,000. What does this machine do that a snowmobile and towed groomer cannot? First, a hydraulically operated plow levels the trail; second, a rapidly rotating spiked tiller at the back end churns hard-packed crusty and icy snow into skiable “machine-groomed granular” snow; and lastly, hydraulic pressure on the track setter forms and compresses the tracks so firmly that they literally can last for days. The overall result is a vastly superior skiing experience with hardly ever a lost day of skiing on the Nordic trails.

NEW PISTEN BULLEY-100 ARIVAL IN 2004. Left to right: Jack Aiton (in cab), Tom Cook, Dave Minden, Dale Brouse

The tiller rotates and churns hard crusty snow into ‘machine-groomed granular’ resulting in a smooth trail surface.

Under hydraulic pressure, the track setter molds perfect tracks beside the skate zone. 

On the Blue trail, the Pisten Bulley tackles a major snowfall

And it’s the trail system that is the drawing card to North Bay Nordic. Whether it’s climbing and descending the ridges of the escarpment, or winding along waterways and wetlands, each trail is a unique experience with its own distinct vista and landscape. This is not the case with many other ski areas where the scenery is consistent throughout. 

 

The inner trails at Nordic (1.3 km Yellow, 2 km Gold, and 3 km Purple are the easier trails with gentler climbs and descents. The Yellow and Gold feature a mixed woods lowland forest, while the Purple—our most popular trail—is defined by High Lake Creek which the trail crosses and follows. The outer trails climb the escarpment and present their own unique challenges and vistas. The 4 km Brown trail offers scenic oak and maple ridges and a view of “the cliffs” a kilometre to the south on another trail. The 5 km Red trail presents the challenge of “the hill”, but in early and late winter especially, fast-flowing High Lake Creek falls immediately beside the trail, and during the winter one can see spectacular ice formations. The 8 km Blue trail features views of High Lake and “the cliffs”, a towering rock face on the south side of High Lake. The “Blue Ex” adds a bit of climb and descent to make a 9 km distance. Rounding things off is the 18 km Green trail, one of the best wilderness trails anywhere. The outer 9 km loop meanders through a hardwood forest of towering Hemlock, Yellow Birch, Maple, and Beech. Many of the Beech trees are scarred by bear claws, and “bear nests” can be seen in the higher limbs where bears have pulled in branches to feed on beech nuts in the fall.  It is out on the Green where higher elevations bring deeper snow and the most spectacular winter scenery, and evidence of moose and wolf are frequent. One of our most veteran skiers, Bert Marsden, has taken many photos and written numerous poems about the Green Trail, and these are featured in the clubhouse.

Map of the North Bay Nordic Ski Trails. In 2012, a grant through Discovery Routes funded new maps of the trail system. A similar map is at every trail intersection.

In the 1990s, veteran club members and skiers Don Wheeler and Dave Chamberlain initiated the plan for and cut the first snowshoe trails that extend out from the clubhouse and parking lot. The snowshoe trail network has grown considerably and offers an alternative slower paced winter experience.  The ice-falls near the 5 km Red ski trail is a popular destination.

Rentals of both snowshoes and skis cater to a wide variety of visitors that include hundreds of students whose schools take part in the school membership programme.  One successful programme that started in 2009 involves 2nd year Phys. Ed. students in Nipissing University’s Phys. Ed Department (Chair - Barb Olmsted).  Part of a practicum course, students learn the basics of classic style Nordic skiing in a multi-week programme taught by North Bay Nordic instructors. The sessions include written and practical tests and a fun competition. 

Nipissing University Phys. Ed. students learn the finer arts of Nordic skiing

Despite all of its successes, North Bay Nordic is challenged on several fronts.

Since the late 1990s, changes in land use designation have impacted the club more than anticipated. The provincial government’s initiative: Lands For Life – Ontario’s Living Legacy came into play in 1999 and Mattawa Provincial Park officially expanded in the early 2000s, thus taking over management of the Crown Land where the trails lie. When the club first moved to Northshore Road in 1978, the land that the trails crossed was primarily Crown Land within the City of North Bay. In fact, for the first few years, MNR provided grant money to ski clubs to groom trails, and skiing was free to the general public. In 1983, MNR changed its policy and began to issue Land Use Permits (LUPs) to many different kinds of groups such as snowmobile and ski clubs. Purchasing an LUP from MNR essentially gave the club tenure on the trails from October to April. In 1985, the club purchased the small acreage where the clubhouse and parking lot are now located, and we were then able to require non-members to pay to ski. The trails we ski on are now within “The Park”, and a much more stringent planning process is required for trail development and maintenance.

The success of North Bay Nordic continues to be based on its volunteers, and the current challenge is to find new volunteers to take charge as older volunteers retire from the scene. This is a problem being experienced in many other not-for-profit volunteer driven clubs. Over the years, hundreds of members have volunteered their time and energy in a variety of club endeavours. Without them, the club would simply not exist. While occasional Wintario grants have been extremely helpful, various projects have required hundreds of hours of volunteer labour to assist in the construction of the garage, refurbishments to the clubhouse, putting lights on the inner trails for night skiing, trail widening and bridge construction, not to mention annual trail brushing. An adopt-a-kilometre system credits those who lead teams onto the trails every fall.  

The clubhouse was raised to create the basement area in 1998. Claude Jolin (right, building “foreman”) supervises Tom Cook (centre with broom) and helper. 

While the membership includes primarily recreational skiers, there is a small component engaged in ski racing, though many more organize and volunteer at races. We have hosted many large and small events including many high school NDA and NOSSA championships and the OFSAA Nordic Championships in 1996, 1997, 2007, and 2008; several Canadian and Ontario Masters Championships; our own Club level races and loppets; and several Divisional and Ontario Cup races. Several of our young racers have achieved Provincial and National Team status, notably Eric Potter (Junior National Team, 1997) and Dave Nighbor (National Team, 2001-09). At the university level, North Bay Nordic has hosted several OUA championships. In 1998, Nancy Olmsted and the Nipissing University women’s team (coached by Dave Rees) won the OUA Championship. In 2015, when North Bay hosted the Special Olympics Ontario Winter Games, North Bay Nordic was the venue for the cross-country ski events. Chief of Competition Tom Cook pulled together a team of over 50 volunteers and the event was a huge success.

Competitive ski racing at various levels attracts a small but enthusiastic following.

The vast majority of skiers at North Bay Nordic are recreational skiers who ski for fun and fitness and to enjoy the spectacular winter scenery.

North Bay Nordic has carved out a unique position in North Bay’s winter sport scene. Despite the challenges and the vagaries of the weather and climate, North Bay Nordic continues to be a haven for those who seek the quiet stillness of the winter landscape and to experience the rewards of Nordic skiing.

 

For more reading, click the link below to download "Kick and Glide - A History of the North Bay Nordic Ski Club 1975-2002", written in 2002 by Dave Minden 

Link for: KICK AND GLIDE - A History of the North Bay Nordic Ski Club 1975-2002, Dave Minden.pdf

 

The above article is from FLASHBACKS – THEY WERE OUR HEROES VOLUME II – “A publication of the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame; written by Peter Handley and edited by Brent Pigott, September, 2017. In 2002, Dave Minden wrote “Kick and Glide – A History of the North Bay Nordic Ski Club 1975-2002” and he was kind enough to encapsulate and bring the story up to date for Flashbacks here in 2017.” (Note that photos and captions are placed slightly differently in this version.)