SPORTS PULLOUT & CLASSIFIEDS INSIDE
• B SECTION • FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2022
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Steve Roti/Submitted photo
Skiers race in the Tour of Meissner in January 2021.
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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.