Last Chance Nordic Ski Club
Helena, Montana
  • Home
  • MacDonald Pass
  • Golf Course
  • Master
  • Youth
  • XC Links
  • About
  • Contact

About the Club

What We Do | Email List | Organization & Governance | Partners & Supporters | Contact

Logo for LCNSCThe Last Chance Nordic Ski Club is Helena’s hometown cross country ski club. Membership is open to cross-country skiers of all abilities, and we encourage all skiers to enjoy the Club’s grooming on the MacDonald Pass and Bill Roberts trails. Named for Helena’s famous gold-bearing Last Chance Gulch, LCNSC began in the 1980s as an informal group of local Nordic skiers, whose duties included overseeing the MacDonald Pass Nordic ski trails. In 1996 we incorporated under the laws of the State of Montana as a public benefit corporation for the purpose of encouraging and supporting cross country skiing in Helena, MT.

What We Do

We groom about fourteen kilometers of trails on MacDonald Pass; these trails unfold just east of the Continental Divide, about fifteen miles west of Helena. When we’re able to do so, we also groom about four kilometers of track on the in-town Bill Roberts Golf Course. We groom Mac Pass and the Golf Course, when snow-depth permits, for both classic and skate skiing. Skiers of all abilities are welcome on either trail, and skiing is free. To defray grooming and other expenses the Club welcomes skiers to become a Last Chance Nordic Ski Club member or make donations. There’s a lot of work done year-around, behind the scenes, to make the MacDonald Pass trails and the Golf Course tracks skiable. Besides grooming four to six days a week, there are snow-machines, rollers, and ginzu’s that need to be purchased and maintained; trails to be kept free of trees, branches, stones, and grass; signs to be erected; maps to be updated; this website to be maintained; restrooms to be maintained and cleaned; grants to be sought and procured; parking lots to be plowed out; and many other large and small but vital tasks. About half the grooming is paid, all other work is done by club members volunteering. Four or so Saturdays a year, our Youth Skiers program provides kids, ages three to twelve, with a couple hours of fun on the snow alongside volunteer instructors and parents while they improve their cross country skiing skills. A weekly Master Skiers program, open to all skiers of all abilities, brings continuing cross country ski education to the eighteen-plus years-old set.

Email List

To help members communicate about regional races, exchange trail condition reports, share rides, sell XC ski gear, and so forth, LCNSC moderates a Yahoo email list. Club members are automatically signed up when they join or renew their membership. At the bottom of each email list message are directions, giving members instructions for opting out.

Organization and Governance

The Last Chance Nordic Ski Club is a Montana non-profit corporation and a federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. The Club’s Taxpayer Identification Number is 80-0022948.

All the Club’s efforts are funded by membership contributions, grants, and donations. LCNSC has a volunteer board of directors and volunteer program coordinators, and others giving of their time and talents. We’re governed by several documents, including Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. All club meetings are open, subject to Montana law. The Club has no paid officers or year-around employees, but does pay part-time groomers to groom generally four days a week.

Board Officers and Members

Board meetings are open to all. Meeting times, agendas, and minutes are posted on this website.

  • President – Stan Bradshaw
  • Vice President – Bruce Newell
  • Secretary – Robert Ray
  • Treasurer – Cliff Sheets
  • Member of the Board – Peter Brumm
  • Member of the Board – DeeAnn Cooney
  • Member of the Board – Larry Dolan

Coordinators

  • Communications – Bruce Newell
  • Equipment Maintenance – Emmett Purcell & Don Harris
  • Forest Service Agreements – Stan Bradshaw
  • Fund Raising – Vacant
  • Golf Course – Dave Dalthorp
  • Grants – Cliff Sheets
  • Grooming – Emmett Purcell
  • MacDonald Pass Trails – Peter Brumm
  • Master Skiers Program – Scott Gerken
  • Special Events – Vacant
  • Youth Skiers Program – Pete Behrends

Partners and Supporters

"Sweet-smelling" toilet being swung onto vault

“Sweet-smelling toilet” being swung onto vault.

  • The Helena National Forest provides invaluable support and guidance, as well as a conditional use permit for grooming and maintaining the Mac Pass trails.
  • We work closely with the City of Helena Parks Department so, when there’s sufficient snow in town, we can groom classic and skate ski tracks on Bill Roberts Golf Course.
  • The Club is grateful to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks for their support. For example, the new “sweet-smelling toilet” planted in 2013, was made possible with the support of both the Helena National Forest and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
  • We’re grateful for The Base Camp’s long-time cooperation, providing affordable skis, boots, and poles to kids.
  • The Club is appreciative of its many local businesses and private donors for their assistance in purchasing grooming machines and apparatus.
  • Last but not least, we thank our extraordinarily good neighbor, Jeff Battershell, for his unflagging efforts plowing out the Mac Pass parking lot.

Contact

We welcome your comments and suggestions. We also want to hear from you if you’d like to volunteer or donate to help support cross country skiing near Helena.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Get Involved

Join/Renew | Donate | Volunteer

Club News

Thursday, January 10, 2019 8:43 AM

Final Annual Meeting Minutes, December 3, 2018

pastedGraphic.png

DRAFT

2018 Annual General Membership Meeting

Monday, December 3, 2018

7:00 – 8:30 PM

Lewis & Clark Library Big Meeting Room 

Meeting Minutes

  • Welcome and Introductions – Board and members
  • Board and Committees
    • Youth Program – Pete Behrends
    • Master’s Program – Scott Gerkin
    • Volunteer groomers
    • Trail crew
  • Overview of 2017-2018 Season (and off-season)
    • Extraordinary snow year
    • Made setting classic tracks more difficult at the Pass – constantly working to keep trails open
    • Fewer Pass skiers, particularly during the week, due to golf course being so good 
    • Dealt with several issues with the Microwave Road being tracked up by NWE and others
      • Club is trying to coordinate with those users to try to limit/mitigate impacts
    • New Skandic snow machine for golf course grooming – working on tuning to improve performance
    • Scott Gerkin ran Master’s classes as well as introductory skate classes at the golf course
    • Off-season maintenance:
      • Wooden snow fence materials provided by USFS and installed this fall
    • Still hoping to figure out how to improve entrance trail – USFS is exploring possible options – did not submit grant application last year, but will continue
  • Plans for 2018-2019 Season
    • New Bearcat snow machine recently purchased and delivered for additional grooming capacity at the Pass
    • Kids program
      • 5 Saturdays planned for lessons 
      • 32 sets of skis/boots rented so far
      • Both classic and skate
      • Just moved storage units to another donated unit from Tim Davis that is closer to the Pass
    • Plan for paid groomer 4 days a week
    • Skier counter is installed at the Pass
  • Summary of finances – Cliff Sheets (see summary handout)
    • For fiscal year ended 9/30/18
      • Net decrease in savings of $3,568
      • ~$2,000 smaller decrease than anticipated due to better than expected revenues
      • Claimed all of existing Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) grant through USFS
      • Some higher expenses due to wages and fuel at the Pass from long season
    • Fiscal year 10/1/18 – 9/30/19
      • Recreational Trails Program (RTP) – through Fish, Wildlife, and Parks – grant will pay for new Bearcat machine (~$13,000)
      • Another RTP grant received last year for grooming expenses
      • Current estimate is net increase of $650 to savings
      • Current bank balance $15,988 – before reimbursement (~$13k) for Bearcat from RTP grant
    • Are grants going to disappear?
      • RTP accepting applications currently and Cliff plans to write another grant for grooming expenses to RTP – good for 2 years
      • Some discussion from USFS about setting up another RAC and accepting grant applications
      • Letters of support are very important to strengthen the grant applications and Cliff will request
    • Brewery Nights:
      • Blackfoot Brewery
        • $443 in beer money from Blackfoot
        • $1,225 memberships
        • $1,125 donations
      • Tenmile Brewery
        • $900 in memberships
        • $412 donations
        • “Beer money” forthcoming
    • Membership checks are beginning to come in via mail as well
    • Golf course donation box – Continuing to work with golf course management to get one installed
  • Approval of Future Purchases
    • Any purchase over $1,000 requires vote from general membership
    • Club is suggesting purchase of a medium sized Ginzu groomer to help improve grooming
      • Used the golf course medium Ginzu end of last season and showed it worked very well
      • Cost for new Ginzu is $4,000
    • Asking for authorization from club to spend up to $6,000 for purchase of Ginzu groomer and any other ancillary equipment that we may not anticipate at this point
    • Motion:
      • Larry Dolan moves to approve $6,000 for the purchase of the Ginzu and other small purchases
      • Tom Ring – Seconds
      • Question – Are the expenses included in the budget plan
      • Motion passes
  • Invitation to Volunteer
    • 884 hours of volunteer hours last season
      • Includes grooming, trail maintenance, board hours, all other volunteer work
    • Grooming hours were large majority
      • 194 hours paid grooming at Pass
      • 270 hours volunteer grooming at Pass
      • 150 hours volunteer grooming at golf course
    • Club is always looking for volunteers!
    • 2 open board positions
    • Many opportunities for volunteers available – events, fund raising, grant writing, others…
    • Will need volunteer groomers for weekends
  • Other Business
    • Volunteer hour tracking is very important 
    • Recent trespassing on Frontier Town property by skiers – need to ensure that we emphasize to skiers to not trespass
      • Will buy and install some new signs
  • Board Elections:
    • Chapin nominates Robert Ray for Secretary of the Board
      • Second (Dave)
      • Motion Passes
    • Fran nominates Cliff Sheets as Treasurer of the Board
      • Second (Dee Ann)
      • Motion Passes
    • Dee Ann nominates Bruce Newell as Vice President of the Board
      • Second (Larry Dolan)
      • Motion Passes
  • Member input:
    • Bruce appreciates the grooming efforts
    • Carpooling suggestions through listserv
    • Possibility of 7 days a week of paid grooming?
      • Can be difficult to find another paid person 
      • Generally within the budget if we can find another person
      • If anyone knows a possible candidate, please let club know
    • Any possibility of the City doing grooming at the golf course?
    • Should consider installing a counter at the golf course

Adjourned

Monday, January 7, 2019 8:37 AM

Board Meeting Tonight, January 7, 2019

The public is welcome at LCNSC board meetings. Note, at the end of this agenda, we will close the public portion of the meeting and move to executive session. bn

AGENDA

7:00 pm, January 7, 2019 LCNSC Board Meeting

9 Placer Street Conference Room

Introductions. 

Instructional discussion-Scott Gerken, Stan, Bruce, etc. 

Financial Report – Cliff

  • Budget update
  • RAC and RTP grant updates
  • Authorization to submit grant application 
  • Fall fundraiser update

Trail Maintenance, Grooming. 

  • Medium ginzu –delivery, payment, etc. 
  • Grooming issues 
  • Equipment maintenance update—any eqptmnt replacement issues, etc. 
  • Status of order for medium ginzu

Other business

  • Set next meeting date 
  • Website issues and status of stripe account to receive internet based payments, etc. 
  • Volunteer recruitment, etc. 

Executive session

Saturday, December 22, 2018 2:14 PM

Year-around Skiing Discovered on Mars

December 22, 2018/Paris, Noordwijk, Frascati, Darmstadt, Villanueva de la Cañada, and Harwell

The European Space Agency, almost certainly in close league with the Fédération Internationale de Ski, reports that there is indeed year around skiing on Mars. The 80-plus kilometer-wide crater appears to offer both nordic and alpine skiing opportunities. For area photos, please see this linked NPR article.

The take-home for Helena-area skiers is obvious: During low-snow years, or during years of excessive-hyphenation, we have the option of packing up our skis and hitching a ride on one of the increasingly-frequent (if highly irregular) Mars exploratory flights, and make tracks in a remarkably untracked venue.

Happy holidays, and see you on the (Korolev) slopes.

Bruce

 

Tuesday, November 20, 2018 8:34 AM

Final Board Meeting Minutes, March 21, 2018

Minutes

7:00 pm, March 21, 2018 LCNSC Board Meeting

9 Placer Street Conference Room

Attendees: Chapin Storrar, Dee Ann Cooney, Cliff Sheets, Stan Bradshaw, Bruce Newell, Peter Brumm, Robert Ray, Emmet Purcell

Approval of meeting minutes 

  • Robert moves to approve December and February minutes
  • Cliff seconds
  • Cliff has provided minor edits to February minutes which will be incorporated
  • Motion passes unanimous

Financial Report (Cliff)

  • Continue to receive additional membership and donation money
  • $98 collected from the Pass on 3/21/18
  • $1,606 was received as reimbursement from the RAC grant money for Q4
  • Had to update our SAMS registration – with help from USFS
  • Generally in pretty good shape financially this year – approximate net decrease in savings expected at $5k-$6k by end of fiscal year
  • Grant covers expenses through April 15 – have 90 days to submit, so will be able to get the final expenses sorted out during that time
  • Current bank balance $20,393.73

Trail Maintenance, Grooming, Equipment  

  • Emmet dug out the snow fence material 
  • Emmet and Cliff spent time moving about 1/6 of the material
    • Have about 30 or 31 sections of fence that are about 8’ long
    • Need to ask Roy if there is hardware (bolts, screws) for the wood fence
  • Emmet expects we will be in pretty good shape with the amount of material we have available for the various locations
  • Peter and Emmet will bring the medium ginzu up to the Pass from the golf course
  • Trails are looking really good right now
  • Plan to groom still regularly until April 15, or so – maybe 3 or 4 days a week total
    • Need to ensure we have good snow to get the equipment out of there
  • Polaris – Emmet is feeling that it is really running well this year after we have made some repairs
    • Emmet has discussed possible improvements/maintenance with a snow mobile mechanic
    • May get an evaluation of how much life we have left in the machine too
  • Polaris replacement options?
    • Need to do some future planning on how we eventually replace it 

RTP/RAC Grant issues (Cliff/Bruce)

  • Received Buy-America approval/waiver for anticipated new Arctic Cat machine!!!
  • Cliff sent out solicitations to 4 dealers on March 13 for new Bearcat snowmachine
    • Will get them back by March 28
    • Will order a new machine by April 3
  • Purchased a Bearcat cover to get activity on the grant but then received BA waiver on 3/21/18
  • Expect a reimbursement request from RAC of about $6000 or $6500 for Q1 2018.
  • Expect we will use the entire $8300 RAC grant this year
  • Won’t know on 2018 RTP grand application until June
    • Cliff reached out to USFS re: a new RAC – if the new omnibus budget bill passes at end of March, the grant funding may be restored
  • Bruce received email about Greater Helena Gives campaign – costs $50 to join the campaign 
    • Bruce/DeeAnn/Stan will work to understand what’s required and get things setup
  • Emmet has also been seeing options for other grants – Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes
    • Ski club seems to fit really well into the criteria for the grant
    • Might be a few thousand dollars 
    • Need to explore further
  • Cliff will be working to sort out the Dun and Bradstreet registration

Website (Bruce)

  • Website folks are still working to be able to collect memberships/donations online
  • Looking at options for utilizing 3rd party (for a fee) to help facilitate the donations and track the memberships
  • Bruce will do some due diligence and come back and report to the club

Other business    

  • Board vacancies—solicitation of candidates
    • Sub-committee (Cliff, Peter, Stan) has not yet met but will soon to brainstorm some people to reach out to
    • As a Board, we need to think about possibilities for other new board members 
  • NWE and the Microwave Road
    • In the off-season, Stan and Roy are going to be working with Roy at USFS about some options for minimizing the traffic on Microwave Road.
  • Off-Season strategy on golf-course cash box
    • Roy has offered cash-tube to be installed if possible
    • Check out possibility of putting a tube in the ground this spring, while the ground is soft
  • Chapin moves to give the paid groomer a bonus for end of season
    • Robert seconds
    • Motion passes

Set next meeting date 4/25/18

Sunday, November 18, 2018 3:40 PM

LCNSC General Membership Meeting, December 3, Lewis & Clark Library

Draft Agenda —

2018 Annual General Membership Meeting

7:00 – 8:30 PM, Monday, December 3, 2018

Lewis & Clark Library Big Meeting Room 

Agenda

  • Welcome and Introductions
  • Amendments to the agenda
  • Board and Committees
  • Overview of 2017-2018 Season (and off-season)
  • Plans for 2018-2019 Season
  • Summary of finances
  • Approval of Future Purchases
  • Invitation to Volunteer
  • Other Business

Adjourn

← Older posts
Last Chance Nordic Ski Club Copyright © 2019
Home | Join | Donate/Volunteer | Contact
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.