Elliot Lake XC Ski & Bike Club – exciting new events and trails

Successes and challenges of 2024 and plans for 2025, discussed at club’s annual general meeting

New back country XC ski trails, a summer mountain bike racing event with camping and live music, moonlight XC skiing, and improvement of Elliot Lake’s multi-use trail system, were some of the topics discussed at the Elliot Lake XC Ski & Bike Club’s annual general meeting.

That exciting stuff, along with the business of an Ontario not-for-profit, public benefit corporation – which the club’s officers explained clearly in an open discussion, taking questions.

The meeting was held Tuesday evening, January 14, at the Mt. Dufour Ski Area chalet. It was open to the public and announced in advance on social media.

2024 in review

The club participated in Winterfest in February; hosted a Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day in June featuring new MTB Hopper ramps.

The Hopper ramps were featured again in September at Take Your Family Mountain Biking Day, an event that included guided rides and free hot dogs.

Community challenge events saw four group rides hosted in June – a Strava Challenge with cash prizes from the two local shops.

And weekly Thursday night rides throughout the summer and fall months.

Trishaw outings popular with local long-term care residents

During 2024, the club successfully fundraised for a trishaw – a robust, three-wheeled bicycle that can carry two passengers and a driver, called a “pilot.”

Trishaw readied and pilots trained, it launched in June. “We did 41 rides, so I’d say 81 people, but a lot of people got double rides,” club president, Jack Peterson said, smiling.

The endeavour is a significant volunteer commitment. And, members learned, it costs the club, $2,500 for insurance annually to be able to take the seniors out.

Trails generally, and Spruce Beach to Spine Beach Trail specifically

“We signed a new MOU with the city and BHP in July 2024 for Mt. Dufour and Fire Tower Trails,” Peterson said, adding, “We received funding for a beach-to-beach project at the end of July.”

“Club volunteers put in over 120 hours of prep work for the contractor to use machinery in there.”

“The volunteer contractor began work at the end of September but had to halt due to emergencies and unforeseen circumstances. Wet weather conditions caused further delays,” Peterson said.

The contractor was replacing some formerly bridged areas, with culvert and gravel, and rerouting some sections of the trail, as planned. A photo taken October 15, is included in the gallery with this story.

Social media dust-up

Local residents using the trail were distressed when the trail work stopped for a number of weeks and they didn’t know why.

In mid-October, a long-time resident reached out to ElliotLakeToday heartbroken at what they saw. A few weeks later, on November 17, a different resident using a pseudonym, posted pictures of the incomplete work on a local Facebook page. The writer assumed the width of the construction meant it was going to become an ATV trail.

A social media dust-up of more than 100 comments quickly ensued.

Tuesday evening after the AGM, ElliotLakeToday asked the club president and vice president what they would like Elliot Lakers to know about the controversial situation.

“People saw, obviously, the machinery going in. It’s going to be wide at first, but as vegetation grows in on the sides of it, it will be a natural-looking trail when it’s all set,” club vice-president Paul Eldon said.

Referring to the social media pictures, Peterson noted the work was not finished. It was in the process of being done by volunteers hampered by wet weather and the volunteer equipment operator’s own unexpected scheduling conflicts.

Eldon said, “It’s going to take time. Like we said, we’re all volunteers doing this work,” And he said the club is applying for a grant for six students to help this summer.

Earlier in the meeting, the club’s treasurer and secretary reported the club had prepared for hiring the students by registering with the government as an employer. And the members were informed, that $9,000 of the $15,000 grant continues to be held in reserve for this project.

“I think our club wanted to … work towards everybody’s needs, not just the cyclists’ needs, not just the downhill bikers, Not just the cross-country skiers, right? We’re working – it’s a good trail – it’s an all-use, multi-use trail,” Peterson said.

“The trail is completely usable. Anything that couldn’t be removed has been hidden off to the side,” Peterson added.

ElliotLakeToday hiked the trail on November 25. Photos taken that day are in the gallery with this story. They show staged materials – boardwalk for removal via the frozen lake and boards staged with nails down, also ready for removal. On that day, we also spoke to a volunteer working on the trail, a person quite discouraged and frustrated by the social media comments.

At Tuesday’s AGM, the club heard an update – that the slippery lake and frozen-in-place deck sections made a recent attempt impossible to remove the decking. The club plans to resume work again after the winter and when the ground is sufficiently dry to minimize the impact of the equipment work. It is planned, the staged materials will be removed then.

Plans for 2025

The club plans:

• to extend some XC backcountry trails in the vicinity of the Mt. Dufour Ski Area. The work done to ensure that trails are open for this activity can continue to be a benefit for mountain biking in the summer and vice versa.
• work with the Trans-Canada Trail Association. “A lot of people aren’t even aware that the Trans-Canada Trail comes up through Elliot Lake.” This collaboration could help with signage and potentially, grant monies.
• working with other clubs in Elliot Lake, “things like trailheads, for example.”
• the club submitted a “Canadian Summer Jobs Grant application, which will offer us financial assistance to hire six students for eight weeks for our trail network.” If successful, “what that means is we will have six people for eight weeks to clean trails. That’s going to be huge.”
• to work with the Ontario Trails Council to develop a master trail plan. Two meetings have been set up for January 21st and January 30th, and members of the club’s board and other boards from other clubs will be attending.
• host a downhill single-track mountain bike race this summer with a weekend of camping; and a music festival with live band on a Saturday night.

‘Praying for all the snow to stay and be good’

“And moonlight skiing!” I’d love to do a moonlight ski, with headlamps and stuff, but I’m praying for all the snow to stay and be good. So, yeah, that would be nice, to do a moonlight ski, so hopefully coming soon,” one member commented.

How to help

Elliot Lakers interested in joining, volunteering, or just finding out more can visit the club’s website here.

By Stephen Calverley, ElliotLakeToday