Last Chance Nordic Ski Club
Helena, Montana
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Youth Skiers Program

Last Chance Nordic Ski Club parents provide free Nordic ski lessons for children, ages three to twelve years old. This is a chance for your kids to learn and improve their nordic (cross country) skiing skills. Classes are held on Saturdays in January and February.

2020 Youth Ski Leaders

Greetings young skiers! Pete Behrends, Dave Tuss, and Chapin Storrar will be leading LCNSC Youth Skiing program again this year.

Ski Rentals, Lesson Sign-up

Ski Rentals and sign up will take place from 10 am to noon on Saturday, November 9 at 1523 Knight Street, Helena. Thanks to Dave and Kathryn Tuss for hosting at their garage this year; Lewis & Clark Library’s meeting room was unavailable due to remodeling.

2020 Youth Ski Schedule

Ski lessons will be at 10 am, Saturday 1/4, 1/11, 1/25, 2/1, and 2/8. Lessons will be at either the Bill Roberts Golf Course or MacDonald Pass, depending on snow and weather conditions. A weekly update will be posted to the website and email on Fridays.

For More Information

Please contact Pete Behrends at petebehrends@yahoo.com or at 406-461-4974.

Here’s What You Need to Know

Required Forms

Parents of participating children must complete the following forms:

  • Skier’s waiver
  • Emergency contacts form
Kids are Grouped by Ability

Children three-to-six years of age will ski for approximately thirty minutes and ages seven and older will ski for about an hour.

  • Beginning skiers must be accompanied by a parent/designated adult who stays with the group and helps as needed. Classes will take place in Carl’s Play Area (see map), which is up the hill and slightly beyond the Patrol Cabin, about 0.4 kilometer from the Parking Lot (see map). Please leave the parking lot by 10:00 a.m. to be on time.
  • Intermediate and advanced skiers (both classic and skate) will meet at Carl’s Play Area at 10:00 a.m. This means that they need to leave the Parking Lot (see map) by 9:45 a.m. to start their lesson in the play area by 10:00 a.m. Lessons will start in the play area and then move out onto the nearby Access Ski Trail. Advanced skiers may participate with classic or with optional skate skiing equipment.
Required Clothing
  • Warm hat
  • Layers of coats
  • Warm socks
  • Neck gaiter
  • Warm gloves
  • Snow pants
  • Optional: goggles and hand warmers
Required Equipment
  • Classic Skis (waxless skis, soft to flex, and in length long enough to reach between your child’s nose and forehead) or Skate Skis
  • Boots that are comfortable and warm
  • Poles long enough to fit snugly from the snow to up under your child’s armpit
Food to Share

If possible, bring in a thermos of hot water and a snack to share for apres ski hot chocolate. You may leave your thermos at the Patrol Cabin, about 0.4 kilometer from the Parking Lot.

Canceling Class Due to Weather

If cold or wind forces us to cancel classes, a cancellation notice will be posted on this website (https://lcnsc.org/youth-program) by Saturday at 8:00 a.m. We usually cancel classes when temperatures are less than 15 degrees F., or when there’s a strong wind.

Volunteer Teachers

Are just that, volunteers, who love to ski and share their love of skiing with your children. Please help your child’s teachers any way you can; and we’re always looking for volunteer teachers. If you are interested in teaching, please contact Youth Skiers program coordinator Pete Behrends.

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Youth Photos

Hazel
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Youth News

Thursday, October 22, 2020 9:48 PM

LCNSC Youth Ski Rentals – November 7, 2020

Greetings youth skiers (and parents)!

Probably like many of you, this round of snow has me thinking about skiing this winter, so we are reaching out to let you know the plans for the youth program this year. Unfortunately, due to COVID we don’t feel that we can safely offer group lessons this winter. But, we will still rent skis to allow kids to get out and enjoy the snow this winter. For everyone’s safety, we will also be implementing some COVID specific protocols during the rental day that are described below.

The details for the rental day are:

  1. November 7, 2020, 10:00am-1:00pm
  2. 1523 Knight Street, Helena – Dave Tuss’s house (same location as last year)
  3. Masks required for everyone – kids included
  4. We are planning to do the rentals outside to minimize everyone’s exposure. In addition, we will be limiting the number of people who can be going through the process, so please either wait in your car, or line up on the sidewalk at the end of the driveway as necessary.
  5. Please practice social distancing while waiting or picking out equipment.
  6. Please avoid bringing "extra" people to the rental day to keep our numbers down. Preferably just the child/children needing equipment and an adult to help them.
  7. Cost is $50 for skis, boots, and poles. And we encourage everyone to become members of the club to continue to support the grooming and other efforts that. Please bring a check or cash, we may not have the option to accept credit cards this year.
  8. The rental agreement is attached. If possible, please print this out and fill out as much as you can in advance to help expedite the process that day.

We will reach out closer to the date if there are any changes, or if the weather does not look like it will cooperate. Thanks for your understanding with these challenging times we are all facing. We look forward to seeing you out on the trails – and let’s all hope for some good skiing at the golf course this year!

LCNSC rental agreement.pdf

Tuesday, March 24, 2020 8:43 PM

LastChanceNordicSkiClub Youth ski rental returns – delayed for now!

Hello youth skiers,

Rental returns are on hold due to Coronavirus. This will avoid extra congregation and handling of lots of equipment in this time of heightened caution.

I will post an update over Easter weekend and will plan to do returns sometime after that. Please hang on to your equipment and I hope to see you soon.

Thanks!
Pete Behrends
406-461-4974

Thursday, February 6, 2020 10:15 PM

Youth skiing – February 8, 10am at Mac Pass

Youth skiing will meet on Saturday, February 8, 10am at the Macdonald Pass ski trails. Plan to meet in the parking lot and we will split into groups depending on experience. Please bring a sled to help your youngest skiers get to and from the cabin area.

This is our last planned kids ski and it should be great conditions with new snow. Thanks everyone for a good group and keep skiing! We’ll do rental returns in early spring at a date TBD.

Bring a snack and thermos, we’ll provide some additional snacks and cocoa mix.

Thanks,
Pete Behrends
406-461-4974

Friday, January 31, 2020 10:03 AM

Youth Skiing – February 1, 10am at Mac Pass

Youth skiing will meet on Saturday, February, 10am at the MacDonald Pass ski Trails. Plan to meet in the parking lot and we will split into groups depending on age and experience. Please bring a sled to help your youngest skiers get to and from the cabin area.

Mac has good snow as of this morning, conditions will likely be warm and soft on Saturday.

Bring a snack and thermos, we’ll provide some additional snacks and cocoa mix.

Thanks,
Pete Behrends
406-461-4974

Thursday, January 23, 2020 9:34 PM

Youth Skiing January 25 – 10am at Mac Pass

Youth skiing will meet on Saturday, January 25, 10am at the MacDonald Pass ski Trails. Plan to meet in the parking lot and we will split into groups depending on age and experience. Please bring a sled to help your youngest skiers get to and from the cabin area.

Mac has decent conditions with good coverage and some new snow this week. Will likely be warm and soft on Saturday.

Bring a snack and thermos, we’ll provide some additional snacks and cocoa mix.

Thanks,
Pete Behrends
406-461-4974

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