In anticipation of the Little Rock canine trail addition (planned for 2022/23), we are grooming Expresso up to the highway and opening the trail to dogs for winter 2021/22.
Hi there,
We are currently recruiting recreational trail runners and cross-country skiers to participate in a research project entitled, Enhancing Perceived Restorativeness and Nature Relatedness Among Green Exercisers: The Interactive Roles of Motivation and Mindfulness. The purpose of this letter is to describe this study and to ask if you would be willing to collaborate with us in the identification of potential participants.
What is this Project?
The purpose of this project is to investigate how motivation and awareness during trail running and cross-country skiing interact to predict mental health-related benefits of these activities. Kennedy Hamilton is a student in the Honours Bachelor of Kinesiology program at Lakehead University. This project represents the thesis that is required by that program.
What Does Taking Part in this Project Involve?
Participation in this project involves the completion of an online survey comprised of five questionnaires. The questionnaires ask participants about their background in trail running or cross-country skiing, experiences during these activities, motivation to do these activities, and their connection with nature. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey. Here’s a link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XYY9ZL7
Who Are We Looking For?
We are looking to recruit individuals who are over the age of 16 years and who currently participate in recreational trail running or cross-country skiing.
How can you help?
We would greatly appreciate it if you could help us recruit recreational trail runners and cross-country skiers to take part in our study. This would involve distributing a promotional poster and sharing the online survey link. Both could be done through various formats (e.g., email, videoconferencing, or in-person). To facilitate the process, we’ve developed a script for you to use when promoting the study. This text could be easily copied into an email or read out loud.
Take note, we will not be able to tell you if any specific individual decided to participate in the study or provide you with results based on data from any specific individual. However, we would gladly provide you with a summary of the general results of the study and discuss those results with you.
The study has been approved by the School of Kinesiology’s Research Ethics Committee. If you have any questions related to the ethics of this research and would like to speak to someone outside of the research team, please contact the Chair of that committee: Dr. Paolo Sanzo (807-343-8647; paolo.sanzo@lakeheadu.ca).
Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to hearing back from you.
The Research Team
Kennedy Hamilton
Student Researcher
807 632-3626
Dr. John Gotwals
Faculty Supervisor
807 346-7952
A recent visitor at Black Jack, John O'Keefe, produced a video about his experience skiing the trails. Check it out by following the link below.
Hello Black Jack members,
I would like to introduce myself; my name is Dave Gibson and this is my first year as club president. We have many new exciting things happening at the club this year! We have new board members, coaches, a masters program, social programs, grooming standards, and new grooming equipment. We also will be implementing a 5 year strategic plan to provide goals and direction for the club.
First off, I would like to thank the countless volunteers that work hard to bring you the best skiing experience that Black Jack can provide, without them, none of this would be possible. We have some members who have been volunteering for 30 plus years. Absolutely incredible dedication, my hat is off to you.
We are currently looking to add a person to the board as the coordinator of volunteers and communications. We are looking for an energetic person to fill this role and help our club provide the best communication that we can. When you are out and about skiing, or in town and see a volunteer, please thank them for the role that they play in creating and supporting Black Jack.
We are currently grooming at biathlon and we have seen outstanding early season conditions. We have started on our lower trails as well, but there isn't full coverage as of yet. The GPS tracking for the large groomers is currently non-operational and we are working hard to get the grooming information out to our members. If you don't follow us at Black Jack Cross Country Ski Club on Facebook, then please give us a follow as we will be using this platform to get daily grooming information out as part of our communication strategy this season. Look for our updated 2020-2021 grooming standard on the main page of our website that will be released soon. Please click the following link to find our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BlackJackCrossCountry and our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raceblackjack/?hl=en . You can also find the grooming report by clicking the button on the main page of our website: Grooming Report.
Our Kiosk and rentals will be opening on December 1, 2020 and we look forward to having an official opening to the season. To help our wonderful kiosk staff, please wear your trail pass in a visible location. We really encourage this as it will help us quickly recognize the people who need help with purchasing passes and reduce our contact as we can visibly recognize our members.
The COVID-19 protocols that have been outlined from CCBC will bring some changes to our ski season but I feel that with a little work and cooperation, we will have a successful winter of cross country skiing! Face coverings will be expected in both access points at Biathlon as well as the main trailhead. Please be patient in the parking lots when they are busy to give people the space they need to feel safe under the current guidelines. To ensure a safe and long ski season, we need every member to comply with the social distancing guidelines outlined by the Public Health Officer. Our parking lots are small and this area is of utmost importance to maintain our social distance guidelines. I urge you to do everything in your power to keep us up and running all winter. All cabins will be closed and will be emergency use only. Our December race has now been canceled due to the latest information released from the province. You can read Black Jack's comprehensive COVID-19 Safety plan HERE.
Please be respectful of others on the trails and remember your trail etiquette. Please do not ski in a group full width of the tracks, as it puts the people passing you in an uncomfortable position of being too close to your family or "safe two" members. Please ski on the right side of the trails and allow people to pass on the left. We have had collisions in the past so let's all work together to stay safe and keep our trails open all winter long!
We are proud to announce the Headlamp Heroes series. It will be a fun social race series, totalling 6 nights. The format will be set up to allow for fun relays, team events and individual events. Our goal is to include as many of our club members in our series regardless of how fast or slow you ski. We want to have fun and be inclusive to all our members. Our first event in the Headlamp Heroes series will be on December 2nd and given our current restrictions, will be done on an individual basis with Strava. Details will come soon on this.
This year we have many new coaches; Greg Kilroy is our new head coach joined by Bella Howden who will be our rabbits coordinator/coach and Wes Savil who will run our masters program. Our new coaches will be a valued addition to our excellent coaches Dave Wood and Fred Bushell. We are very lucky to have this kind or expertise available in our club. We are striving for excellence from our littlest of rabbits, our national team members and this year, our masters. Look for details of the masters program to be sent out very soon!
The board has taken on a very large task of a five year strategic plan. I would like to thank Chris Legler for leading this task as well as all of the board members who have put a lot of time into this endeavour. With Chris's expertise, we will have a very clear picture where the club is heading and how to get there! We are excited to be sharing our plan with you very soon.
The club is also in the process of fundraising for a new snowmobile that will allow us to use the Ginzu for cost effective grooming and it will also reduce our environmental impact. If you are able, please consider donating to the cause. Please click the following link: https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/Cross-CountrySkidefondCanada/club-donation.html. Every donation helps in supporting our club.
I am very excited to be in the new position of president, I am looking forward to working with the board members, our new coaches and our wonderful Black Jack Ski Club members. I can be reached at dave.gibson@century21.ca and I look forward to your constructive feedback.
Happy skiing,
Dave
We have started a fundraiser to purchase a (second) new snowmobile. For donors that require a tax receipt, here is the link to the Nordiq Canada website https://nordiqcanada.ca/donate/
The total cost for a new ski-doo is $18,400. A generous private donor has committed $10,000. We have applied for a grant from the Nelson Credit Union as well.
Why do we need a (second) new snowmobile at this time? Last year we logged a total of about 4,000 km on all snowmobiles combined. This is about twice the amount we logged a few years ago. Over the last three years we have added regular grooming on a number of single track trails: the Reservoir trail, Tall Timbers and the Adventure Trail. We also started grooming Aqueduct earlier (enabled by Howard’s improvement). In addition we did a lot of ginzu grooming on the main trails because of the warm early winter and the extended season in May (to provide xc skiing during the pandemic). The club is working on developing additional single track trails in the future so we anticipate that 4000 km will become more typical. The useful life of a ski doo (pulling a ginzu) is about 16,000 km so we need to buy a new machine every four year from now on. (In comparison: Castlegar Nordic purchases a new machine every two years).
As you know most ginzu grooming is done by volunteers. Grooming with a snowmobile is a serious commitment: it takes now about 4 hours to cover all single track after a significant snowfall. Since the acquisition of a new ski-doo last season, the volunteers have come to appreciate its advantages: reliability, comfort (better suspension), no odour, better traction (less chance to get stuck) etc … The old “Biathlon” ski-doo is at the end of its useful life and should be replaced soon.
So we make an appeal to members that can help out and donate money towards this project.
Black Jack is hosting a NCCP COMMUNITY COACHING WORKSHOP on Nov 28-29, 2020. This course is free for those interested in coaching Jackrabbits/Bunnies this season!
The “CC” Workshop is the second step in the NCCP coach education program. It provides essential training for coaches delivering an effective skill development program to children six to nine years of age This program is designed to train coaches to teach children technical skills, select games that reinforce the technical skills being taught, design and lead on-snow sessions, select and prepare equipment for young children and make learning FUN. Successful completion of the online ICC Workshops, enthusiasm and a minimum age of 14 years are the only prerequisites. 16 hrs / workshop.
The 5 hour Intro to Community Coaching (ICC) online workshop is required prior to taking this course.
https://nordiqcanada.ca/coaches-and-wax-techs/coaches/coaching-development/
Thank you for volunteering your time to coach our youth! It is appreciated. Have fun!
For questions contact bellahowden@yahoo.ca
Register HERE.
Come and ski with us this winter! Learning the basics of cross country skiing will open the door to a lifetime of fun and fitness!
Sessions begin mid-December and will go until mid-March.
Bunnies (3 - 5) ski Sunday afternoons at 1pm, learning key skills in a fun group environment with our wonderful coaches!
Jack Rabbits (6 - 9) sessions run Tuesday evenings at 5:30pm and Sunday afternoons at 1pm
For those who have participated before there are, as expected, a few changes this year:
Firstly an adult must stay at Black Jack for the duration of the session in case of cold, fatigue, injury etc. as we cannot use the cabin as a warm place to wait this year.
Also the Bunnies program for ages 4&5 in addition to the 3 year olds, will be a joint adult-child session until bunnies are able to stand up consistently on their own to prevent instructor/participant contact. This adult does not need to be on skis if they are not comfortable.
Full details with the complete guidelines will be available on the registration page as well as there will be a CCBC COVID acknowledgement that must be signed to participate.
And most importantly… there will be hot chocolate again! However it will be served differently this year… Stay tuned!
For questions contact bellahowden@yahoo.ca
Registration will be available soon here.
Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019
All trails have been closed because of rain and soft conditions. Trail use and grooming in these conditions causes damage that is difficult to repair when temperatures drop. Please respect the closure.
Closure will likely last over Sunday. Please consult grooming report for updates.
Kiosk will be closed on Saturday & Sunday as well.
Happy Winter Solstice. Think snow!
Details
April 25th
6 pm - potluck - bring your favourite dish to share
7 pm - meeting
There will be election of board members at the meeting. Most are returning but anyone can run for any position despite that.
We do not have anyone for the following positions:
Director of the Skier Development program
Director of fundraising
Treasurer
Please consider coming forward.
Check out this video of some of the action: https://youtu.be/QXhsic962N0
Thank you to all the participants and all the volunteers who came out today to ski and be a part of the 2019 Black Jack Loppet. A note about the results, we have 2 different files for participants depending when you registered. All those who pre-registered when you bought your BJ membership last fall will be in one file, and all those that signed up in the last month or so, will be in another. If you can’t find your name, check the other file!
A few notes:
The distances may not be accurate as typed since some people chose to do a different distance than what they registered for.
For all those who did a 1km, 3km or 6km distance, remember that your start time was delayed by 2 minutes so subtract 2:00 from the posted time.
If your finish time was less than 23 minutes and 59 seconds, the computer treated this as an hour of the day so you see minutes and seconds for your finish time
If your finish time was between 23 minutes: 59 seconds and 59 minutes:59 seconds, the computer added a space for one hundredths of a second, we were not that accurate!! That is why your time will have a :00 at the end of it, ignore this part.
If your finish time was greater than 60 minutes, your time will be shown as hours: minutes: seconds
Again, thanks for coming out and we hope to see you again next year!
We are excited to host you at our Nelson Kootenay cup this weekend. You are invited to our Nelson Nordic Burger and Beverage fundraiser with your kids on Saturday Feb 23rd from 6-8pm. We have arranged to have the Sprints and Skiathlon World championship races on the big screen during that time to watch world class athletes cross country ski race.
The event is at Finley’s Bar and Grill – 705 Vernon St.
Tickets are only $15 and our club receives half the proceeds. We’ll do a 50/50 draw too.
We hope you will come and support our club. Tickets are available at our Apex kiosk during race day or at the door.
Thanks,
Louise Poole
President
Consider attending Midwinter Music, an upcoming fundraiser in support of Black Jack's senior racer, Julien Locke, skiing at the national level. Entry is by donation. Come enjoy an evening of wine and appy's at this piano concert by Carolyn Cameron at the home of Kathy Moore and Dave Cornelius. See the details in the poster here. Feel free to let others know about this event! Attendance is limited to 40 .
Black Jack's junior and senior racers will host the popular Tour de Soup day at the trails this coming Saturday, Feb 2nd. Soup will be available at all three cabins from noon to 2 pm. Trail passes are free, but we ask that you sign a waiver and consider a donation to the racers at the trailhead or one of the cabins. There will be bake tables at the cabins if you want a little something else.
Thanks to Fuel, Idgie's, the Steam Shovel, Alpine Grind, Ronnie's Chinese restaurant and Mook Thai for their kind donations of soup.
In the interest of reducing waste, please bring a mug and spoon and come out and enjoy our beautiful trails and meet members of the team.
Bon appetit!
Read Cross Country B.C.’s summary article.
The club is holding a Ski Skills Day for adults on January 19. Three fantastic coaches: Lesley Beatson, Cheryl Ewings and Linda Allis. Food by Cahoots Kitchen. Information on pricing and registration coming soon. Limited to 20 participants.
Black Jack proudly hosts the Kootenay Cup on Saturday and Sunday, December 15th and 16th.
The event will see Jeldness, Tims Trail, Fishers and Golden Loops closed to general use from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday and 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Gibbards will remain open on both days for access to other trails, and as always, Biathlon with beautiful Tall Timbers is a great alternative.
From the grooming report:
Nov. 24, 2018 - Trail packing and initial early-season grooming is going on at the Biathlon venue.
WELCOME to the 2018-2019 Ski Season! The planned opening of the Kiosk is Saturday, Dec. 1st, 2018.
Hours will be 9am - 2pm.
Trail fees still apply outside of kiosk hours.
Always check the grooming report for the most accurate and latest conditions and updates!
The results of our 2nd and last Early Bird Prize Draw are below. Congrats to our winners and thank you again to our amazing sponsors that supported our first and second draw!
Black Jack 2019/20 Seasons Pass- Kathy Moore
Red Mtn Resort 3 Day Local-Only pass- Brian Whiting
Mountain Nugget Chocolate Gift Certificate- Katharine Saether Pigott
Ski Lesson by Andy Morel- Robyn Laytham
Rossland Beer Company Growler & Glass- Reegan Leyland
See you at the Ski Swap Nov 3rd!