News and Announcements

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Welcome to the Yellowstone Ski Festival!

Posted by David Kask at Nov 4, 2008 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

For over 29 years, cross country skiers from acrossNorth America and around the world have traveled to West Yellowstone, Montana’s Yellowstone Ski Festival to begin their Nordic ski season on the Rendezvous Ski Trails. Traditionally, the Yellowstone Ski Festival takes place during Thanksgiving week and this year will be no different. The dates for this year’s Yellowstone Ski Festival are November 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29, 2008. The event's highlights include a series of Nordic skiing clinics, the SuperTour races, the Try It and Buy It Gear Demo (the largest public gear demo of its type) and an Indoor Ski Show.

Whether you are a beginning skier or an experienced racer,West Yellowstone is THE place to start your ski season. Last year, over 2300 skiers from around theUnited States andCanada were inWest Yellowstone for the Yellowstone Ski Festival. Where else can you participate in ski clinics coached by former Olympic athletes and lifelong Nordic skiers, try out and purchase the latest ski gear and accessories, and share the Rendezvous Trails with so many great skiers? The Yellowstone Ski Festival offers all of that and more!

Skiing has a long history in the West Yellowstone area and dates back more than a century to when U.S. Cavalry soldiers patrolled Yellowstone National Park on skis they dubbed "agony boards". Skis were also used by early explorers and trappers as they traveled through this immense mountain valley. In 1908, the Union Pacific Railroad reachedWest Yellowstone and put the town on the map as the West Entrance toYellowstone National Park. Summertime tourism boomed but when deep snows closed the mountain passes and shut down rail travel,West Yellowstone was a world unto itself. With four to six feet of snow on the ground from November to April, skis were used for both travel and sport.

In the 1970's, Neal Swanson and his sons, Kent and Carl, saw the potential for expanding the cross country skiing opportunities inWest Yellowstone. With the help of Claude Coffin and his U.S. Forest Service crews,Kent put in many long hours fashioning the Rendezvous Ski Trails on the old logging roads south of town. Meanwhile, Carl was skiing competitively and in 1978 he won the Junior Nationals. In that same year, the Swansons were able to coax the U.S. Nordic Ski Team toWest Yellowstone for their November training camp. During each November since then, hundreds of our country's best skiers flock to this tiny mountain community for up to a month of physical and mental conditioning. In 2006, ski teams from Middlebury, Duluth East Nordic, theUniversity of New Mexico, the University of Alaska at Anchorage, Montana State University, the University of Minnesota and Whitman College all kicked off their ski seasons in West Yellowstone.

Biathletes are also present in large numbers during the Yellowstone Ski Festival. The U.S. Biathlon Association used the Rendezvous Ski Trails to train and compete for years before a permanent firing range was established adjacent to the trail system in 1985. The range is now considered one of the best in the country and it continues to draw biathletes from around the world for early season training.

We hope that we will see you at the 2008 Yellowstone Ski Festival. As usual the Festival will include all of the activities that took place last year and we are always looking for new ways to improve and diversify the week.  Stay tuned to this website for regular updates as our planning progresses.

On a final note, we hope that you will support our local sponsors and the equipment manufacturers who come to West Yellowstone for Thanksgiving. Without their support, the Yellowstone Ski Festival would not happen - please show them your appreciation!

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Snow in West Yellowstone

Posted by David Kask at Nov 4, 2008 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

Snow has been falling in West Yellowstone.  Check out the Rendezvous Ski Trail webcam.

Rendezvous Ski Trail Webcam

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Yellowstone Update #1

Posted by David Kask at Nov 3, 2008 4:00PM PST ( 0 Comments )

The buses to West Yellowstone are almost full!  If you are planing to come along please get your forms and fees in ASAP. 

Change of leaving location:  Due to activites at Duluth East on Friday, Nov. 21 we will be leaving from Woodland Middle School, 201 Clover Street, 55812 (off Woodland Avenue).  We will also return to this location.  For a Yahoo map to the school click on "Locations" in the left menu.

Final fees and forms are due November 10. 

Keep watching the forcast for West Yellowstone! 

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West Yellowstone 2008

Posted by David Kask at Oct 1, 2008 5:00PM PDT ( 0 Comments )
Duluth East Ski Team
2008 West Yellowstone Ski Trip 

November 21 to November 29, 2008
West Yellowstone, Montana
Cost $535 ($545 after Oct. 27)  

Trip Leaders:

Bonnie Fuller-Kask (218) 724-2775 
Dave Kask 

Other Information:

  • This trip has filled up in the past. We will fill the busses on a first paid – first reserved basis.  Your seat will be reserved when we receive your down payment.
  • Leave East High School at 5:00 p.m. Friday November 21
  • Have a bag dinner with you - we will not be stopping for dinner.
  • We will stop for a quick breakfast on Saturday morning
  • Arrive West Yellowstone Saturday afternoon.  We’ll have time to ski.
  • Leave West Yellowstone about 4:00 p.m. on Friday
  • Arrive Duluth about 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 29. 
  • $535 Fee includes ($545 after Oct. 27):
    • Transportation
    • 6 nights lodging at the Kelly Inn
    • Continental Breakfasts in West Yellowstone
    • Ski passes for the week
    • 3 team dinners and Thanksgiving dinner.
  • Skiers should bring additional money for lunches and other dinners
  • There are grocery stores and restaurants within walking distance of the Kelly Inn.
  • Waxing benches, irons and waxing help will be available. 
  • Skiers MUST bring the following kick waxes; Red Special, Blue Extra and Green plus a cork!  This is necessary to get out on the ski trails faster.
  • This is not a school-sponsored trip.  Parents will be required to excuse their students from school.  Permission slips, including Emergency information will be required.
  • Please keep the volume of bags to a minimum.  The bus will be full.
  • No coolers, there will not be room on the bus.
To reserve your seat on the bus, get your $250 non-refundable deposit to Bonnie ASAP.  The seats will be filled on a first come first served basis.  Remaining trip fee is due to Bonnie prior to November 10, 2008 (we have to let the checks clear the bank so we can use the money in West Yellowstone).  Please make checks out to DE Nordic Activity Fund.Note: If signing up after October 27, 2008 the fee increases to $545 because the ski passes go up.Parents and other interested adults are welcome to ride along on the second bus.  The prices for adults are:
  • $535.00 - Quad occupancy
  • $576.00 - Triple occupancy
  • $658.00 - Double occupancy
  • $902.00 - Single Occupancy

Add $10 if signing up after October 27, 2008.

 

Click on handouts below for all the forms....

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Spring Cleaning at Snowflake

Posted by David Kask at Apr 1, 2008 5:00PM PDT ( 0 Comments )
We will be cleaning Snowflake inside and out on Saturday, April 19.  We'll have crews there from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.  Come join the fun of making Snowfake spiffy after the long (and great) winter.