FEATURE
Winding around nine holes of greens and fairways, and
sticking to the rough as much as possible, the ski trails are
roped off throughout the ski season and the designated route
is marked by different colored flags. A team of (mostly) volun-teer
Foothills Nordic Ski Club members maintains the trails
with a cabbed, side-by-side UTV that pulls a grooming drag
specifically designed to groom ski trails. Foothills Nordic also
uses a smaller grooming drag that is pulled by a snowmobile.
Since the Club’s former location at Canada Olympic Park
came with its own snowmaking equipment and snow crews,
Foothills Nordic Ski Club is only now becoming more experi-enced
at making snow in Confederation Park. However, this
has not yet been an issue for the club as Calgary has experi-enced
decent snowfall accumulation over the last number of
years, minimizing the need for snowmaking.
“Making snow can be a challenge for us because we really
need to have a large number of water sources situated around
the course to do it efficiently,” said Grant. “And right now we
only have access to a single hydrant. So we tend to do a lot
of snow harvesting and snow farming, moving it around the
trail with a snow blower and dump trailer when we need it.”
Like Foothills Nordic Ski Club, the Halifax Nordic Ski Club
based in Halifax, N.S., has also been partnering with golf
courses since 2016; both at its home base at the Links at
Brunello and – more recently – with Oakfield Golf & Country
Club. While the ski club receives the majority of the benefits
under this partnership, such as access to land and trails for
skiing, as well as use of the clubhouse and parking areas, the
Links at Brunello is able to add cross-country skiing to the
many lifestyle activities associated with the housing develop-ment
that surrounds the golf course.
Since partnering with the Links at Brunello, Halifax Nordic
Ski Club has seen its membership grow significantly; primar-ily
because of the proximity of the golf course to the urban
core of Halifax, and its easy accessibility to and from the city.
“Another big reason for the growth of our membership
is because of our partnership on the snowmaking with the
Links at Brunello and Nova Scotia’s Department of Commu-nity,
Culture and Heritage,” said Lorenzo Caterini, president
of Halifax Nordic Ski Club. “This arrangement allows us to
hold all of our lessons and programming on snow each and
every season which – for the province of Nova Scotia – is no
small feat.”
When making snow, the Links at Brunello staff use HDK
snow guns mounted on a wheel carriage, with sidekick units
to jack the water pressure (sourced from the municipality) to
200 pounds per square inch (psi) and air compressors set at
400 psi to help disperse the powder. Halifax Nordic Ski Club
volunteers are responsible for approximately 40 percent of
the ski trail grooming.
“The snowmaking process can be quite an elaborate en-deavor,”
said Caterini. “We usually make snow during two
five-day 24 hours a day windows during the season and
then, once the man-made base is established, we’re all set for
the winter.”
One of the challenges in using golf courses year-round is
protecting the links beneath the snow. Should cross-country
skiers stray outside of the specifically designated skiing
areas, they could potentially do significant damage to the
frozen turf, which is only revealed once spring arrives and
the snow melts. Therefore, all trail grooming activities are
prohibited on areas like fairways and greens, with ski trails
placed either on the rough adjacent to cart paths or on the
cart paths themselves.
“On the Brunello course we only ski on the paved cart
paths and the driving range areas because their fairways are
sensitive to damage from ice build-up,” said Caterini. “But
at our second golf venue, Oakfield Golf and Country Club,
we are able to ski on some of the fairways since they are not
bent grass.”
Like the majority of Canada’s golf courses, the Links at
Brunello and Oakfield Golf & Country Club are designed to
be walker-friendly and boast a limited elevation. As such,
these locations have proven to be ideal for cross-country ski-ing
thanks to the routing of the course and natural grass base
that provide a nice and easy ski for all ages.
“Add in the natural wildlife, fantastic views and little-to-no
commercial or residential activity, a golf course like ours re-ally
does make the perfect place to ski,” said Eric Tobin, gen-eral
manager at Oakfield Golf & Country Club. “For us, this
relationship with Halifax Nordic is a stepping-stone to overall
membership growth and enjoyment, generating new experi-ences
and initiating partnerships which have a positive, long-lasting
impact on our club.”
“A golf course like ours really
does make the perfect
place to ski.”
– Eric Tobin, Oakfield Golf & Country Club
A Ginzugroomer is used at Confederation Park Golf
Course to groom and trackset the trails
18 September 2020 | snowopsmag.com
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