2024/2025 Presidents Report by Mike Horn

The 2024/25 ski season was a rebound year after a very poor 2023/24 season. Here are a few highlights from the previous year:

Our membership improved to 405 members, which was up from the 208 members we had in the 2023/24 season. So, it was great to get back to a more normal season.

Alex Crawley ran a very successful Jackrabbit program again . This summer the club purchased a new storage shed for the Jackrabbits to store all their equipment in. The new shed is located beside the Cosmo Lodge. This will make it much easier for them to access and set up for their lessons. A huge thank you to Alex and all his volunteers that make that program happen. We held numerous successful ski events over the course of season.
Our winter solstice ski, our Loppet which had close to 100 skiers and our Poker Rally which was a huge success. The Poker Rally raised $1500 which was donated to PA Ski Club member Callum Olver to assist he and his family as they adjusted to Cals new life after his terrible mountain bike accident. It truly as a great day of smiles and community!

Once again Bill Jeffery rolled up his sleeves and got to work improving our trail system this summer. Despite the health challenges Bill has faced over the past number of months he continues to show his passion and love for our sport, our Club, the community and our trails. Bill also organized a work bee in the fall and got the west skate trails ready for the season! I’d like to extend a warm heartfelt thank you to Bill for his countless hours of dedication towards our Club. Thank you Bill!

Moving into the new ski season! The year started off with a fairly mild November. We seen a few decent snowfalls, but warm temperatures mixed with a bit of rain melted that away. But thankfully the snow gods have worked in our favour and we’ve received enough snow for the trails to open! And they are in great shape! Huge thank you to our trail crew for the hard work grooming and getting the trails ready to be skied on.

We are working on a new club brochure what that will feature club information and maps of the Little Red and the Golf Course. The hope is to help educate our community about the club the trails and grow our membership!

There have been some new developments with crossing the train tracks. As you know we cross the train tracks in a few places: on the way to Janzen Junction, access to the West Skate Trails and 2 times on the Jackrabbit loop. We will need to apply to have these crossings with the Carlton Trail Railway (Omnitraxx). We are currently working on this and will keep our members updated. In the meantime we are looking at alternate crossings and we may look at closing the Jackrabbit briefly.

The discussion surrounding fire breaks and clear cutting at Little Red has also started up again. Bart has been in communication with Peter Sigurdson and we are still gathering more information. We are excited for another ski season and hope the snow continues to fall and we can avoid drastic warming trends that negatively affect our trails! Thank you for attending our Annual General Meeting, have a great ski season everyone!

Mike Horn PA Nordic Ski Club President







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2023/2024 Presidents Report by Mike Horn

​12 months ago we were praying for snow, but today we are celebrating it! The 2024/25 cross country ski season is off to a great start and we’re excited to get back on the trails!
As you all know, last season was one of if not the most challenging ski seasons in history. The lack of snow was unprecedented and the trails at Little Red didn’t get groomed until a late end of season snowfall that gave us some great skiing for a handful of days! Our membership numbers were deeply affected by the lack of snow. We had 208 members last season, compared to 484 at the end of the 2023 season.

Despite the lack of snow the PA Nordic Ski Club still worked hard to provide skiing opportunities in our community and were able to groom the Cooke Municipal Golf Course and at Kristi Lake. Alternate plans were made for the Kistapinahnik Classic Loppet which was held at the Golf Course and had 44 skiers attend. James Keyes ran adult ski lessons which had 6 participants. Alex Crawley organized the Jack Rabbits program which had 36 participants and 7 coaches. A huge thank you to our trail crew and those that organized and worked hard to host these activities.
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The 2024/25 skis season will have a full calendar of events! Our first event will be the Full Cold Moon Ski on December 15, then our Winter Solstice Night Ski on December 21st. We will plan another full moon ski on January 13 th during the Wolf Full Moon. On February 2nd we will host the Kistapinahnik Classic Loppet, followed by the Snow Full Moon ski on February 12th . The Bearcat Hills Memorial Loppet will be held on March 9th . And lastly the Worm Full moon ski on March 14th. We are also planning our popular Poker Rally at sometime during this season as well!

We have also discussed organizing a bus trip to the Saskaloppet in La Ronge. We will be in touch with the membership to get feedback. I think this would be a super fun Club event. La Ronge has great trails and hosts a very good event.

Our club is gearing up for another season of great programs. Alex is working hard to organize the Jack Rabbits and is looking for a few more instructors to help. James Keyes is once again on board to teach lessons, so stay tuned for those details.

We are aware of a few issues with the East side of the park and access to the parking lot at the East Poplar Trail as well as the ongoing challenge with the roadway through the core area. We are working with the city once again to try and come to some sort of arrangement so we can access and use our trails in these areas safely.  

Thank you for attending our AGM. I look forward to seeing you out on the trails! Happy skiing.

Mike Horn PA Nordic Ski Club President