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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2022)
SPORTS PULLOUT & CLASSIFIEDS INSIDE • B SECTION • FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2022 THE REGION’S HUB FOR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES Get text alerts with up-to-date outdoor activities and events around Central Oregon. Scan the QR code or go to bendbulletin.com/text GET READY Steve Roti/Submitted photo Skiers race in the Tour of Meissner in January 2021. GET SET Submitted photo Riders compete in the Great Nordeen fatbike race in 2019. Great Nordeen and Tour of Meissner races bring Central Oregon nordic ski community together BY MARK MORICAL • The Bulletin It’s time to wax those skis and get ready to race. The thriving nordic ski community of Central Oregon will come together over the next two weekends for two big races west of Bend. After being canceled last year due to the pandemic, the 19th edition of the Great Nordeen returns to Mt. Bachelor on Sunday, and the Tour of Meissner re- turns to Meissner Sno-park on Jan. 29. “Super, super excited,” said Molly Cog- swell-Kelley, event organizer for the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation, which runs the Great Nordeen. “It will be really fun. I think people are really excited. (The races) absolutely 541-388-0002, and the entry fee is bring the nordic ski community $50. The deadline for online reg- together.” istration is Friday at 11:59 p.m. Billed as the largest In-person registration is avail- cross-country ski race in Central able Saturday between 3 p.m. and Oregon, the 18-kilometer Great 6 p.m. at the MBSEF facility in TRAILS Nordeen runs from Mt. Bache- Bend at 2765 N W Lolo Drive. lor’s West Village Lodge to Wanoga Sno- Cogswell-Kelley said she is expecting park on Deschutes National Forest trails. about 160 racers total. Also part of the Great Nordeen is a 15K “The events we’ve put on lately, we’ve fatbike race, starting from Mt. Bachelor’s had a lot of success and a lot of atten- Sunrise Lodge and following the same dance because people weren’t able to par- route as the 18K ski race. ticipate last year,” Cogswell-Kelley said. The Great Nordeen is a benefit for “Cyclocross season was very popular, and MBSEF, which offers youth skiing and our ski swap was a record ski swap for at- snowboarding programs. Registration is tendance.” See Races / B10 available at www.mbsef.org or by calling Snowshoeing strikes balance between effort and surrender BY CRISTINA PETERSON For The Bulletin Seeing the snowpack dimin- ish and places get messy with the recent melt saddens many winter sports enthusiasts. It causes incongruous emotions of enjoying the sun despite it feeling wrong for the weather to be so pleasant here in Jan- uary. It’s supposed to be deep winter with a chill in the air and snow on the ground. Some people worry about the climate and wonder what’s in store for the coming months or years if these warming trends continue. Questions swirl about what it means for the future of snow sports, for drought, fire season, ter weather and snow our forests and many sports in North Amer- species that all may be ica. affected by having a People’s concern for smaller snowpack. the climate falls along MOUNTAINS a spectrum and so can The climate action organization, Pro- actions to reduce car- tect Our Winters or POW , is bon emissions. on a mission to make change There’s the option to never at the margins of the outdoor drive to a trailhead, never ride community. Through cultural a chairlift, never purchase new shifts in behavior and norms, gear. That path seriously sti- through policy reform and po- fles the passion and pleasure litical pressure, and through derived from being outside. technological and financial But not making any changes investments, the organization means the planet continues believes that reducing carbon on the trajectory toward an emission is possible. increasingly unstable and These efforts could drasti- warmer climate. See Snowshoeing / B9 cally impact the future of win- Drew Peterson/Submitted photo Explore columnist Cristina Peterson snowshoes with her child near Suttle Lake.
