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Showing posts from November, 2021

Let's Talk About Snow-Park Permits

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  A full discussion of the Snow-Park permit fees, from Rune Harkestad, Kongsberger Ski Club president: What happened to all the revenue from last ski season? Annual revenue for the Snow Park Program (sales of season, daily and special groomed permits) would typically be approximately $1.1m.  Well, we all remember the unprecedented crowds at the Snow Parks last season and, to no one's surprise, revenue approximately doubled, to $2,257,075.  With limited grooming at the John Wayne trail due to staffing shortages and huge crowds at Cabin Creek, we were very hopeful that the Program would approve additional funding for Cabin Creek/Erling Stordahl to maintain a consistent six days a week grooming schedule throughout the season.  More than 300 people sent emails to voice their support for the application, and a copy of every single email was submitted with the application.   Cabin Creek/Erling Stordahl is groomed by a private contractor who gets paid by the hour groomed.  The private gro

The Odyssey of Ozzie

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If you've been active in the cross country and downhill skiing/racing/jumping world for, oh, the last 60 years or so, you know Ozzie Nordheim: jumper, skier, racer, instructor, and legendary teller of stories.  Turns out, his former business partner wrote a book of those stories, and Jeff Eustis has reviewed it for us.  Thanks, Jeff (and thanks, Joan, for the fun photos)! A book review of The Odyssey of Asbjorn O. Nordheim  by William Blades I first met Ozzie in 1964. He was my ski coach at Crystal Mountain, downhill, of course. I was 16; he would have been 28, but to my eyes seemed much older. Ozzie was the real deal. He skied the Norwegian technique and he spoke with a Norwegian accent. Our paths did not cross again for another 23 years, when I joined the Kongsbergers. I had often wondered, sometimes while being passed on the Viking: What happened in between? That question, and many more, are answered in this 2017 biography by William Blades, a former partner of Ozzie’s in the cr