Foothills Cross-country Skiing Committee
What is Cross-Country Skiing?
Cross-country skiing (also known as Nordic skiing) is human powered skiing on primarily groomed trails or roads. Both classic (striding in parallel groomed tracks) and skate (freestyle with side-to-side motion similar to ice skating on groomed trails) skiing are popular on our Pacific Northwest ski trails.
Want to know more about cross-country ski etiquette? Take a look at this document.
What does the Foothills Cross-Country Committee Offer?
Foothills cross-country ski leaders offer a variety of fun and safe cross-country ski outings for members and guests that help them enjoy the best of our northwest winter. The committee also offers new leader training and support for aspiring leaders to find mentors and meet new leader certification requirements.
Become a leader
Why become a leader? Join our dedicated group of leaders to share your love of skiing with others; create trips that work for your preferred location, time and pace; build group management and teamwork skills and expand your role in The Mountaineers community to “pay it forward”. Leaders also receive Mountaineers liability protection and other leader benefits.
There are several club-wide defined qualifications to become a cross-country ski leader.
After you have participated on at least two Mountaineers cross-country ski trips, attended the cross-country new trip leader seminar (generally offered twice yearly), completed first aid certification (typically WFA or MOFA, doesn’t need to be current), an avalanche awareness course, please fill out the Application and send it to the committee leadership chair or committee chair. The Mountaineers Foundation of Leadership course is also recommended for new leaders. Feel free to reach out to us to clarify any questions about the requirements (this document also summarizes the process).
After you have completed the initial application with approval from the leadership and committee chairs, your next step is to do a mentored ski trip. You are responsible for finding your own mentor to assist in leading a mentored ski trip but please reach out if you would like assistance in finding a mentor. Any Mountaineers cross-country ski leader (from any Branch) can mentor you and assist with trip posting and trip management. As part of that trip, they will assist you with getting that trip posted and help you run it. Mentors will fill out an evaluation form and send it to the the leadership chair.
Finally, we welcome leaders from a range of ski backgrounds and recognize that many excellent cross-country skiers won’t have a Basic Cross-Country Ski badge or equivalency. Please know that as part of completing your mentored ski trip, the mentor will confirm you are an adequate skier and the chair will grant you equivalency (and you will receive the badge).
Ready to become a cross-country ski leader?