EXECUTIVE CORNER
Your CORE executive continues to work on projects to improve the club experience and promote safety.
Event Planning: Thanks to some of our key event coordinators, we have a pretty full slate of events planned for the winter season. The CORE 2016-2017 Winter Events Schedule summary is now available on the CORE website, and members can access details on the CORE calendar.
As a volunteer club, we depend on you the members to come out, suggest outings that you would like go on, and potentially start coordinating or co-coordinating hikes, snowshoe trips, etc. So, this year at the Christmas Party in November, we’re going to seek your input on future activities and events, as well as trails you’d like to explore (on foot, on snowshoes or on skis). Please bring your ideas, and seek out our Executive Trip coordinator David V, if you would like to learn more about trip coordinating. We’ll also have on hand some examples of snowshoe and cross-country ski equipment. If you are new to these sports and wondering what to look for when acquiring x-c skis or snowshoes, some of our event leaders will be available to share their wisdom with you.
CORE Tweets: Did you know that @corehike has 170 followers at last count? Four of them are CORE club members, the rest are other individuals and organizations interested in CORE. The CORE executive uses Twitter to announce events and activities that may be of interest to the outdoor community, but not necessarily sponsored by CORE. And the CORE Tweets appear on the CORE webpage. So, if you are an avid Twitter user, please add @corehike to your list of accounts you follow.
CORE Facebook Group: CORE also has a Facebook Group where events of interest are posted. So if you are a Facebook user, you can find us there as well.
And now, on with the show……
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2016 ACTIVITY SCOREBOARD
Despite a cold snap in the middle of October, from October 1 to mid-November there were 12 outings posted on the calendar, from mountain hikes to urban walks and social dining, and a very successful Halloween party at the community centre.
A few highlights:
Oct 2 – Hunchback Hills
Oct 16 – Rainy Summit
Oct 23 – Mustang Hills
Oct 28 – CORE Haloween Party
Oct 30 – Missing Link Mountain
Nov 5 – Glenbow Ranch – Corralled
Nov 13 Brown Lowery Park – A forest walk
October 2016 Club Meeting
The October members meeting was moved to Friday the 28th, and featured a very successful Halloween Party, with pumpkin decorating, music, dancing, treats and general schmoozing. A good time had by all.
November 2016 Club Meeting
The Annual CORE Christmas Party will be held at the Scarboro Community Centre TUESDAY. 29 November, 2016, 7:00 pm. As we don’t have a December meeting, this is the time to come out and socialize with other members of the club, share stories from our summer adventures, and enjoy some food and refreshments (provided).
We are also hoping to get in some planning ideas for the winter, so if you have some suggestions please be prepared to share them along with some tentative dates. We’d also like to engage some more members interested in leading activities. The best way to get started is to volunteer as a co-coordinator on one of the outings we have planned. Ask one of the executive members if you would like to get started as an activity leader.
We’ll also be having a display of different kinds of equipment: Snowshoes, Nordic (X-C) skis and AT Back country skis. If you have some questions about what to look for when buying equipment, some of our more experienced club members will be happy to give you some advice.
January 2017 Club Meeting
Since there is no club meeting in December, the next one will be in January. Our presentations executive committee has some great speakers lined up for 2017, so stay tuned and watch the CORE calendar and our Twitter feed for upcoming feature events.
Some Technical Stuff
Nordic bindings – getting them straight
If you are going shopping for Nordic skis, and are a bit uncertain about types of binding and shape and base of ski to choose from, here are a couple of websites to peruse. Eb’s Adventure Blog explains the differences between SNS and NNN binding systems, while MEC.ca has an excellent article on Choosing the Right Cross-Country (Nordic) Skis.
.
How to Choose the Right Snowshoes
For those of you who are considering taking up snowshoeing this winter and are new to the sport, we’ve collected a few tips on what to look for when you go out to your local outdoor equipment store, and posted them on the CORE Blog page How to Choose the Right Snowshoes. Check it out.
.
News from Other Organizations
Nordic Skiing in the City of Calgary
There are various groomed cross-country ski areas within the City of Calgary maintained by various ski clubs. Visit this City of Calgary link for details. The locations are summarized below.
- Shaganappi Point Golf Course – 27 hole course maintained by Calgary Ski Club volunteers.
- Confederation Golf Course – 9 hole course maintained by Foothills Nordic Ski Club volunteers. Foothills Nordic Ski Club, in partnership with The City, is exploring the opportunity to add more ski trails by farming snow and producing man-made snow at the Confederation Golf Course.
- Canmore Park (NEW in northwest of Calgary is often referred to as North Capitol Hill Park) – Foothills Nordic Ski Club, in partnership with The City is exploring the opportunity to provide cross country skiing.
- Maple Ridge Golf Course – 18 hole course maintained by Foothills Nordic Ski Club volunteers.
- South Glenmore Park (New) – Calgary Parks
- Bowness Park – Calgary Parks
Trails Centre Is Open in West Bragg Creek
The Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association happily announces the opening of a trails centre located on the north side of the West Bragg parking lot. The new trails centre will serve as a gathering point and as a warming hut for the many users who access the West Bragg trails.
Random Stuff
Contacting your CORE Executive
Members are welcome to contact your Executive via email. Our email addresses are available on the Executive Contact Info page on the CORE website. Use your Member password to access.
A Random Poem
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!”
.
.
.
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!”
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he:
“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!”
.
.
.
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!”
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong.
CORE adventurers on the Missing Link Mountain Trail encounter a skeleton in a tree
See you on the the trails…
ANnIE
