The sun was shining, the trails were covered under 10 centimetres of new snow, and Lauri Karjaluoto was smiling.
He and his buddy Bob Dewhirst took advantage of a perfect day Friday to hit the slopes of Otway Nordic Centre, which officially opens for business this weekend.
For Karjaluoto, cross-country skiing and the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, then known as the Hickory Wing club, are the reasons he moved to Prince George with his wife Helena from Vancouver in 1972.
"Prince George is pretty hard to beat if you're interested in doing this kind of exercise -- this is a lifestyle that started early in life and I think I'm enjoying the benefits of that," said Karjaluoto, who turns 66 in two weeks.
"You control your weight and it enhances the quality of life when you exercise. I run enough but skiing has to be one of the best forms of exercise because you use your whole body, there's no impact, and you could never run the number of hours that you can ski. You get a whole body workout."
The new snow, combined with cool overnight temperatures, made for fast conditions Friday, and for the first time this season, the rocks and twigs on the trails are now buried.
"Conditions are excellent for this time of year," Karjaluoto said. "How many times do we get to ski in November, and today it's pretty fast snow. The guys do an awesome job on the trail system and just in the last 10 years you see how far the club has come. We used to have outhouses and just a log building. People don't realize how good we have it now. We used to have to ski the tracks in before the ski race and walk the trail with snowshoes.
"You just have to have the will to go out there, and it is a joy. Everybody is happy, all the time. You see very few negative faces."
All but the upper trails at Otway have now been groomed. There was enough snow that fell Thursday for trails supervisor Jim Weed to operate the large groomer, which in one single pass packs the snow for classic and skate skiing. The upper trails are steeper and will need one more big dump for the large groomer to pack those runs properly.
"I'm really pleased with this past week, we've got snow and it's hopping out here," said Caledonia office manager Carolyn Thorp. "We've had a zillion people in here picking up their passes. It's been a beautiful sunny day and they're pumped about the weather. That cold weather kept a few people away. We've got a few people phoning in for lessons already."
The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club has gone through phenomenal growth the past three years, ever since the Rotary Club day lodge was built. The lodge offers washroom facilities, a canteen, a rental shop for ski equipment and snowshoes, a heated waxing room, two separate meeting areas, a timing area for races, and office space for club activities. The club's purchase of rental equipment has for the past three years allowed the club to offer cross-country skiing school classes and that's helped stimulate interest in the sport from families.
Membership now stands at 1,275, with the club on target to exceed last year's record-high of nearly 1,600 season's pass purchasers, which made Caledonia the largest cross-country club in the province.
"We've been making record numbers the last three years, jumping by 200 every year," Thorp said. "The lodge is endearing to people and when we got the rentals people were able to come out and buy their day pass and they really liked it and they figured it was worth their while to buy a membership."
The cost of memberships, not including a mandatory $10 Cross-Country B.C. fee, is $145 (adults) and $80 (for students and youths 19 and younger). Dependent children of members pay $25 to a maximum of $315 per family. Cost of a day pass is $12 (adults), $6 (youths to 19 years) and free for six-and-under children.
Otway will be the site of several ski races on the CCBC calendar for 2010-11. A cadet race is set for Jan. 8-11, the B.C. Cup cross-country series comes to Otway Jan. 15-16, Iceman is on Feb. 13, and Feb. 26 is the date for the Caledonia Loppet. The club will offer free use of its trails and group lessons during Skifest on Jan. 9.
Dogs are allowed at Otway, but only on the Dog On It trail southeast of the lodge, not on the main trails.
Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day during the season, except Christmas Day.
