In my heart and soul, I know this to be true, whether it is in fact the finest place on earth to ski really does not matter, because we all know that it is. Let me give you a couple of examples of why I know that the cross-country groomed trails throughout our area are the very best.
Recently our area hosted the 33rd Wells Fargo Boulder Mountain Tour, a very prestigious race on the Great American Ski Chase series of national races. The skiers pour in from all over the United States, including the fastest young skiers in our country. We have the Masters skiers from almost every state across the land, and they all marvel at the quality of grooming within this valley. The Wells Fargo Boulder Mountain Tour really put the North Valley Trails on the XC map, and helped to create Galena Lodge as a destination ski area. When you combine Galena Lodge, the North Valley Trail System, Sun Valley Nordic Center, the Wood River Trail (bike path in summer) and Quigley Nordic, not to mention the great skiing over in the Sawtooth Valley, there is very little anywhere that can truly compare.
The Blaine County Recreation District's professional grooming team, under the leadership of Eric Rector, works to provide outstanding grooming seven days of the week on the trails. The effort recently put in for the Wells Fargo Boulder Mountain Tour was exemplary. Rick Kapala, renowned SVSEF cross-country ski coach, who has traveled and coached all over the world, summed it up in our last tour committee meeting when he said, "This event is all about the grooming. Anywhere else on a stormy day like this the groomers would have given up, but not here—the grooming is absolutely fantastic!"
I was skiing on Sunday after the tour at Galena Lodge with Murray Banks, a Vermonter and Masters world champion many times, who was absolutely blown away with the ski trails at Galena Lodge; he had no idea of the variety of trails our area offers. The national team members here for the race, the factory team members and the ski company tech reps and wax specialists, who all travel the world in the racing scene, commented often that this event is outstanding.
We all seek perfection here in the valley, and constantly tweak the courses and the tour to improve each and every detail, and occasionally people take it a bit too far in the comments that border on complaints. But the input is all good, and the staff and volunteers in and around the BCRD work very hard to remain the finest cross-country ski area possible.
I salute and applaud the groomers, the BCRD staff and Don and Erin at Galena Lodge, along with all the volunteers it takes to keep these events and day-to-day ski operations going forward.
Please be aware that you are in the middle of the finest cross-country ski trails on the planet.
See you on the trails.
Bob Rosso
Ketchum
