The Flin Flon Ski Club, just weeks before preparations begin for their winter season, is asking the public to stop damaging its trails.
The club operates a network of 28 kilometres of trails, centred around its chalet south of Centoba Park and running through the woods and muskeg from the ball diamonds down to Schist Lake. This fall, the club’s prep work has been disrupted by two main issues - people driving quads and vehicles on the trails and unauthorized logging around the trails themselves.
The vehicle use has left deep tire track ruts in some portions of the trail network, which not only pose a danger to skiers but also to anyone driving trail grooming equipment, as well as gathering standing water that can affect how well the ground freezes come winter. The trails are marked as ski trails even during the summer.
“Certain individuals have been using quads and side by sides on the ski trails to go from place to place,” said Dean Grove, a long-time ski club volunteer.
“The problem is that quads create large ruts in the trails, which lead to water damage. They also create more work, since these ruts have to be filled in with extra snow to prevent unsuspecting skiers or trail groomer skis from falling into the ruts. We ask quadders to stay off of the marked ski trails.“
The second issue is removing trees near the trails, which cannot be done without provincial permits. Part of the club’s trails are located in Manitoba and part are in Saskatchewan - but neither province issues logging permits in areas near the trails.
That hasn’t stopped people from taking down timber for themselves though, with several trees cut down along the Valley loop, the 2.2-kilometre stretch near the chalet that is lit at night for skiers come winter time.
“Saskatchewan Conservation advises that a cutting permit is required to cut wood and they will not issue permits for these areas. Last spring, 23 standing trees were cut along the Valley trail,” said Grove.
“These trees help to retain snow along the trails and add to the visual beauty of the trails. People should not be cutting wood on or along the ski trails.”
The group is still preparing for a full winter season this year, including the Val and Ivor Hedman Centaloppet and potential Sask Cup provincial-level events - but most of the people using the trails each year are doing so on their own time, away from events or competition.
“Our volunteers put in hundreds of hours of work annually to maintain these trails for enjoyment of the general public,” said Grove.
