Happy New Year! Hope everyone is still in good health.

We finally got snow and a lot of it. If you haven’t ventured out yet due to the cold temperatures, you’re missing a winter wonderland up at 4th of July. Granted its cold but dressing up to beat it is worth the effort. It may be some of the best conditions there could be for skiing and snowshoeing. Deep fine powder, and it’s possible to stay pretty dry. The only draw back at the moment is the snow is so powdery the conditions are not very good for grooming. But as of this week the inner loop ski trails were packed down with the snow machines, so when temps warm up, they will be ready for grooming. Goeff will be leading the charge to catch up with packing and grooming as conditions prevail.

The groomer gang has also been busy clearing down trees off the trails. The weight of the snow has knocked down quite a few and blocked the trails. There is still a lot of work to do, but the gang got the inner loop ski trails open this week and will be working on the others in the near future. FYI – in case you want to ski it, Loose Moose didn’t have any down trees but does have a lot of smaller trees bent down over it. Hopefully when the snow melts some of them will pop up again. The gang will be going through with saws soon, for those that don’t pop back up.
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If you hadn’t put it on your calendar yet the BEST HAND FUN SKI and SNOWSHOE event is scheduled for the January 8th, or one week from New Year’s Day. For those that may not be familiar with the event, the purpose is the clubs annual fund raiser to help cover the cost of maintaining the facilities at 4th of July and keeping the trails groomed and cleared of down trees. More information about this event is posted on the WEB site, so encourage your friends to check it out and join us. As a reminder if you would like to help out with registration of handing out cards and didn’t sign up at the last club meeting, see Nancy Lewis at this week’s club meeting. Also, if you have anything you would like to donate for a prize bring it with you on the 8th and we gather them up at the registration tent.

Finally, we will be meeting this month at the same location as last month (Community United Methodist Church). The meeting is Tuesday, January 4th and will start at 7:00 PM. Hope you all can make it! PS – please bring your masks and please wear them properly (i.e., cover your nose and mouth) while in the building. The Church is allowing us to use the facility at no charge, but they do require all of us to adhere to their mask rules. We’re afraid that if they see our members not complying, we will be asked to stop using the building.

Based on members responses from the October Newsletter inquiry, the board decided that club meetings will begin again in December! Regardless of whether or not you responded we hope that folks will consider attending.
The meeting will be held at a new location this season. Thanks to the efforts of Greg and Nancy Lewis they discovered that the church they attend would be happy to host our meetings. It is the “Community United Methodist Church” which is located at the intersection of Hanley and Ramsey in Coeur d’Alene (Address: 1470 W Hanley). The church will not charge the club anything for use, but the board agreed we should make a one-time donation to show our gratitude. As in past years, meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of the month. For December that is 12/7/21, meeting will start at 7:00 PM. Goeff and Skip have agreed to put on their presentation for being prepared, “Who’s Got the Best Kit” challeenge.
Due to the fact that COVID is still with us, and unfortunately probably will continue to be, the board did agree that it will be necessary to still take precautions. The church is large enough to allow people to maintain social distancing, and the church does require folks to wear masks. So please bring your masks with you.
The board hasn’t seen any responses to the October inquiry regarding ideas for generating a list of club skiing or snowshoe activities for the season. The subject will be brought up again at the first meeting, so if you have ideas be prepared to bring them up. As of now the board agreed that the club should put on the Poker Run and Rock Soup, so there may be a list at the meeting for volunteers to help out with passing out cards, etc.
A couple of other items that the board was reminded of that take place annually include: ski/snowshoe swapping and cookies for the Idaho Transportation Dept (IDT) plow truck drivers. If you have any old equipment that you want to get rid of, bring it to any of the future meetings. Perhaps someone else is looking for equipment and will take it off your hands. Every year, to thank them for keeping the parking lot open the club gives a basket of cookies or treats to the guys from IDT. We try to deliver the basket in December as a reminder about the parking lot. So, if you like to bake cookies bring some to next week’s meeting so we can get the basket ready to go! Thanks in advance for contributing.
If you’ve already decided to stick with the club and have signed in to the WEB site and renewed your membership the board wants to thank you. If you haven’t got around to it yet, we would encourage you to do so as soon as you can! The sooner your renewals are taken care of, the earlier a membership list for the year can be completed. Trying to renew at club meetings is not a good option. Please renew and pay dues via the WEB site. Using the WEB site is much more efficient and it makes it a lot easier to enter information into the membership list.
Last but not least, winter will get here sooner or later. Based on appearances, it looks like later. But let’s start hoping for some snow and soon. There was about three inches up on Eagle Run and the Twisted Klister a couple of days ago. But I have a feeling the warm temperatures we’ve had has caused abit of melting to occur. If anyone has any influence with Old Man Winter or Jack Frost, encourage to help us out.
​See you at the club meeting December 7th. 7PM, Community Untied Methodist Church.

As you may have noticed the weather is beginning to change. With any luck it is the beginning of a good skiing and snowshoeing season.
The board got together two weeks ago and began the discussions regarding what the club should do this season. The major issues discussed included: 1. Should club meetings be held again? and 2. What events should the club attempt to put on? Since it seems clear that COVID is still going to be with us for the long term, the members of the board had a variety of opinions on what should be done. So, to make a long story short it was decided it would be useful to put the question to the membership (i.e. Would you like to see the club start holding monthly meetings again?).
The boards’ objective is to make a decision during the November board meeting based on the number of positive responses received from members. If atleast 20 folks indicate that they would be interested getting together again we would find a venue to meet again on the first Tuesday of the month starting in December.
If the club were to start holding meetings again, the board agreed that the venue would need to be large enough to allow for social distancing. It was also agreed that use of masks would be optional, but highly recommended. It is our hope that most folks attending a Nordic Club Meeting would have already been vaccinated, and would feel comfortable enough to get together again.
If you would like to see the club start meeting again this season, please let us know before November 17th. Current club members can send a response to the club email address: pnc12@emaildodo.com, or leave a comment on the WEB page.
FYI – In the event there is enough interest, Greg Lewis has already checked and may have already gotten the go ahead for the club to meet at their church.

Regarding winter events, the board has agreed that the club should hold the Poker Run and Rock Soup again this season. It was also agreed that based on past experience the use of the Panhandle Hut during these events defeats the purpose of social distancing. To solve this problem, a portable open-air tent will probably be put into use this year for registrations, etc. A warming fire in the stove will still be maintained so folks can use the hut to warm up if they feel comfortable doing so.
The board would also like to invite the members to submit ideas for other events this season. It may still be too soon to get back into weekend trips to places like Windthrop, but there may be folks that would be happy to get together for local one day excursions. Please, if you have ideas let the board know. Again, send your responses to the club email address or leave comments on the WEB page.
As reminder, since it is the beginning of another season the need for folks to renew their membership or join the club is critical to supporting the maintenance of the trails and facilities at 4th of July recreation area. I want to thank everyone who stuck with the club in 2020 in spite of COVID and hope you will renew your membership in 2021. Randy, wanted a reminder to be included in this newsletter that
membership renewals, or joining for the first time, can be done through the WEB site. This also includes the ability to submit dues. Please sign in and take care of this as soon as you can, so that the membership list for the year can be completed as early as possible. Thanks again for your support!
PS – You may have already seen a message sent out by Goeff recently looking for volunteers to get the grooming equipment sheds and snowshoe warming hut up. If you have the time 
As you may have noticed the weather is beginning to change. With any luck it is the beginning of a good skiing and snowshoeing season.