Meetings

Membership Meetings

General Membership Meetings will be on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm.  The 2024-25 dates are Nov 12, Dec 10, Jan 14, Feb 11, and Mar 11. All will be held in the community room at the ReStore, 2309 Meridian St.

Tuesday, March 11 – 7:00 PM. Potluck Dinner & Winter Season Wrap Up. Our last general meeting of the season will be on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00 pm at the RE Store. We will enjoy a potluck dinner, share pictures of adventures, our Nordic and discuss future club activities. Please bring a dish to share with the group – we are going full luck here; we will enjoy whatever you decide to bring. Please bring the necessary serving utensil. You can bring your best 5 pictures to share on a memory stick or email them to Pete at ski@tryonhayes.com.
But before eating, we will have a short business meeting.

The RE Store is at Bellingham (2309 Meridian St). There is parking behind the store and the meeting room is on the second floor (sorry, stairs only). Don’t go into the main store but look for a sign and the stairs are visible from the parking area.

Tuesday, February 11 – 7:00 PM. Frostbite and Hypothermia. Held at American Alpine Institute. Jason Martin, Executive Director of the American Alpine Institute will discuss two conditions we would like to avoid – frostbite and hypothermia. How to recognize them. How to treat them. What not to do. And, most importantly, being prepared to prevent them. Best treatment practices change over time. You want to stay current. We all enjoyed Jason’s excellent presentation on outdoor electronics in December and look forward to another great talk.

NOTE MEETING LOCATION: The American Alpine Institute is located at 4041 Home Rd. Home Rd. is off the west side of Northwest Blvd just north of the Northwest Blvd. exit off of I-5 and just south of where it crosses Bakerview Rd.

Our last general meeting of the season will be on Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00 pm at the Restore Store. We will enjoy a potluck dinner, share pictures of our Nordic adventures, and discuss future club activities.

Tuesday, January 14th – 7:00 PM Avalanche Awareness Class. Held at the ReStore Meeting Room.

Doug Brown of the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC) will discuss the basics of avalanche awareness and safety. Where do you get avalanche forecasts, assessing possible risks, and staying safe? While most XC skiers will not be on terrain that will slide itself, you may be below it. Moreover, there are “micro-avalanche” risks from trees and rocks.

The meeting is at the RE Store in Bellingham (2309 Meridian St). There is parking in back of the store and the meeting room is on the second floor (sorry, stairs only). Don’t go into the main store, but look for a sign and the stairs are visible from the parking area.

Tuesday, December 10th – 7:00 PM. Effective Use of Outdoor Electronics. Held at American Alpine Institute

Jason Martin, Executive Director of the Institute and rock and alpine guide will discuss electronics for outdoor use. This will include your cell phone, cell phone apps, as well as specialized devices e.g. Garmin, etc. that can be used to plan, track, navigate, communicate, locate, and call for help. NOTE MEETING LOCATION: The American Alpine Institute is located at 4041 Home Rd. Home Home Rd. is off the west side of Northwest Blvd just north of the Northwest Blvd. exit off of I-5 and just south of where it crosses Bakerview Rd.

Tuesday, November 12 – 7:00 pm ReStore Meeting Room – Live!

Get Ready to Ski!

We are trying a new, knowledge-sharing format to kick-off the season. After a welcome, introductions, and a brief overview of the club, we will have stations to discuss – preparing your skis for the season, where to ski, equipment, and waxing. Come ready to ask questions and share your knowledge with others. Whether you are new to Nordic skiing or a veteran we hope to help everyone have more fun on the snow and identify expertise and common interests.

Refreshments will be served!

RE Store in Bellingham (2309 Meridian St) . There is parking around in back of the store and the meeting room is on the second floor (sorry, stairs only). Don’t go into the main store, but look for a sign and the stairs, visible from the parking area.

Last Year’s Meetings:

Tuesday, March 12 – 7:00 pm ReStore Meeting Room – Live!
Are you ready for the greatest NNSC general meeting ever? Well, even if not, we hope you will come.
First, show and tell – bring a thumb drive with pictures of a memorable ski adventure from this, or a past season, or even entice us with photos of a great place you’d like to ski.
Second, bring a dozen cookies to share and lubricate our conversation. Bags will be available to take some home.
Third, bring an XC ski item to swap or give away. Perhaps you can turn that sticky, half-empty, tube of red klister into a strap to hold your skis together or for a Toko baseball cap. The cap is too small for me, so someone should wear it.
Finally, learn about our off-season work projects which keep our local trails in good shape.
See you there! – Mark, Program Chair.
Oh, and there will also be a brief annual meeting with a report on the club’s financial health and election of board members.

Tuesday, February 13, 2024: 7:00 PM – In person, AGAIN!
We enjoyed seeing so many people in January at our first, in person, general meeting since Covid, that we are going to do it, again. We will be back at the meeting room of the ReStore Store at 2309 Meridian Ave. – the entrance is at the back the building, via the alley and on the 2nd floor.

We will start with introductions. We left the last meeting feeling that we should let people introduce themselves and provide the opportunity for people to socialize. We also need to eat more cookies!

This month we will focus on improving your technique. We will provide an overview of some of the materials available online, via YouTube and other sites that provide drills and instruction that will help you become a better skier. When you ski better, you use less energy, and have more fun. We want this discussion to be interactive and give everyone the opportunity to ask questions. We will be posting videos to the club website so that you easily find them after the meeting.

In addition, we want to give you a short tour of the club website. There’s a lot of great information there that many of us forget. We will give you (and me) a brief reminder. We welcome suggestions for improvements.

We will end with Q & A around 8:00 pm to give people time to meet and, with luck, identify mutual interests in Nordic skiing. See you there! – Mark

The meeting will take place at the RE Store in Bellingham (2309 Meridian St). There is parking around in back of the store and the meeting room is on the second floor (sorry, stairs only). Don’t go into the main store, but look for a sign and the stairs, visible from the parking area.

We will attempt to broadcast by Zoom for those who cannot attend in person. No promises as to quality – the technology should work, but we don’t know how well… We’ll open Zoom at 6:45 to give you a chance to get connected and check your settings before 7:00. To receive a link for the Zoom meeting, email the club at zoom@nooksacknordicskiclub.org and we’ll send you one (or check your newsletter).

Tuesday, January 9, 2024: 7:00 PM – In Person! We will take advantage of our first in-person meeting since Covid to discuss a topic which is harder to do over Zoom – waxing!

While some view waxing as the evil necessary to go XC skiing, others enjoy it as an integral part of the sport, enjoy learning about it and discussing it with others. So, please join us to learn how to slide better, go faster, and have more fun. We will cover the three major types of waxing – kick waxing for classic skiing, hot waxing for skate skis, and the new (easy but fast) liquid glide waxes that can be used on both skis to improve your glide. We will also cover maintaining the skins on skin skis. We will have all the tools – a waxing bench, iron, brushes, scrapers, etc. for you to examine and try. Those of you with fishscale or skins – your skis need wax too!

Waxing is an art, as well as a science – so questions, suggestions, different approaches are welcome! We would all like to put a little less effort into moving forward and more into gliding gracefully through the woods.

The meeting will take place at the RE Store in Bellingham (2309 Meridian St). There is parking around in back of the store and the meeting room is on the second floor (sorry, stairs only). Don’t go into the main store, but look for a sign and the stairs, visible from the parking area.

We will attempt to broadcast by Zoom for those who cannot attend in person. No promises as to quality – the technology should work, but I don’t know how well… We’ll open Zoom at 6:45 to give you a chance to get connected and check your settings before 7:00. To receive a link for the Zoom meeting, email the club at zoom@nooksacknordicskiclub.org and we’ll send you one (or check your newsletter).

Tuesday, December 12, 2023: 7:00 PM – Think you might be interested in X-C ski racing? How to get started? Will Whiton and other club members will be covering this and more at our next club zoom meeting, December 12th.

We will discuss the different local races and that might help you decide what sort of race might work best for you to start with. The closest races are Ski to Sea and the Tuesday Night Races (TNR). The TNR races are north of Vancouver BC and up into the mountains. Just a little further afield are 3 races each year at Cabin Creek near Snoqualmie Pass.

If you feel ready to race, you might want to sign-up for one of the local races.

If you’d like to watch a race first, observing a Vancouver TNR would allow you to watch a race and decide if it looks like fun. NNSC will put on a clinic each Wednesday morning following a TNR, turning the race-watching into an overnight trip.

There will also be a clinic the morning preceding two of the Cabin Creek races.

The club puts on clinics in the weeks preceding the Ski to Sea to help both experienced X-C ski racers and beginners navigate both the course and the logistics involved.

Zoom-in with us and get the details by joining in on Tuesday, Dec 12. We’ll open Zoom at 6:45 to give you a chance to get connected, check your settings, and maybe chat a little before 7:00. To receive a link for the Zoom meeting, email the club at zoom@nooksacknordicskiclub.org and we’ll send you one (or check your newsletter).

Tuesday, November 14, 2023: 7:00 PM – Our first general membership meeting of the year is a Zoom meeting, sitting in front of your very own computer! Meet other members of the club and hear mini-presentations about club activities this winter. Hear about our increased funding for grooming! Feel free to ask questions. (Predictions call for an El Niño winter – we can speculate on what that means for our skiing this winter.) Visitors interested in Nordic skiing in Whatcom County and the club’s activities are welcome!

The meeting is by Zoom – we’ll open Zoom at 6:45 to give you a chance to get connected, check your settings, and maybe chat a little before 7:00. To receive a link for the Zoom meeting, email the club at zoom@nooksacknordicskiclub.org and we’ll send you one (or check your newsletter).

Last year’s meetings:

Tuesday, March 14, 2023: 7:00 PM – Two-part meeting:

Back by popular demand!

  1. Our Annual Meeting, with the election of board members. It’s not too late to throw your name in the hat. If covid ever settles down, you can even join us for tea and cookies once a month during the winter to talk skiing!
  2. Cross-country skiing during the (third) Winter of Covid. A participatory slideshow! Cue up on your computer two of your favorite pictures of skiing this winter – either where you did ski – or where you wished you could have gone skiing. Be ready to share your screen as you describe your pictures. Sharing a screen with Zoom is easy – assistance will be available (and if you’d like to read about it beforehand, click NNSC Zoom Sharing for some hints).

The meeting is by Zoom – we’ll open Zoom at 6:45 to give you a chance to get connected, check your settings, and maybe chat a little before 7:00. To receive a link for the Zoom meeting, email the club at zoom@nooksacknordicskiclub.org and we’ll send you one (or check your newsletter).

Tuesday, February 14, 2023: 7:00 PM. Three part meeting – join a panel of club members to discuss:

1) What we have just learned about the new liquid glide waxes. Performance similar to traditional glide wax, but without the ironing and scraping. Could this be the way to wax our skis in a hotel room?

2) A *brief* discussion of the different types of cross-country skis, where you can shop for them, why you might want one type over another and what to look for as you shop. (a carry-over from last month)

3) A look at the non-groomed trails of our local sno-park and how and why you might access them.

After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions, chat, and to find out a bit more about our club. Everyone is welcome (except for rude trolls)!

Tuesday, January 10, 2023: 7:00 PM. Two part meeting – join a panel of club members to discuss:

1) Status of Salmon Ridge Sno-park Trails. Hear an update on the conditions of our local sno-park trails. What will you find when you drive out the Mt. Baker Highway? Grooming? Snow conditions? We’ll also do a quick tour of the website, reminding you where to find current information – maps and conditions.

2) Time for a new pair of skis? What should you be considering? A discussion of the different types of cross-country skis, where you can shop for them, why you might want one type over another and what to look for as you shop.

After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions, chat, and to find out a bit more about our club. Everyone is welcome!

Web pages mentioned in the meeting:

Tuesday, December 13, 2022: 7:00 PM. Nordic skiing, other than Salmon Ridge. Whether it’s a long day of driving for a day trip to a new location or a multi-day adventure, club members have a number of favorite places to ski that are beyond our local snopark. Where do people go on such trips? Where do they stay? What do they find?  At this Zoom meeting, hear about favorite ski trips from a panel of club members. Our aim is to provide enough information that you might want to arrange your own DIY ski trip this winter. The information will also be posted on our website, so you shouldn’t have to take notes 🙂 After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions, chat, and to find out a bit more about our club. Everyone is welcome! Links to the information will remain posted here for the foreseeable future. Hope to see you on the 13th! (And remember, we’re working at better ‘in-club communication’ – https://www.nooksacknordicskiclub.org/membership/email-list-server/)

Tuesday, November 8, 2022: 7:00 PM – Our first general membership meeting of the year is a Zoom meeting, sitting in front of your very own computer! Meet other members of the club and hear mini-presentations about club activities this winter. Feel free to ask questions. (Predictions call for a good snow year on our local trails!) Visitors interested in Nordic skiing in Whatcom County and the club’s activities are welcome!