Programs
Eight ways into the same fifty-five kilometres
A first lesson, a school group, a masters skier, a biathlete and a UNBC varsity racer are all using the same trails at Otway. Most clubs run two or three of these streams. Caledonia Nordic publishes eight.
From first lesson to varsity
A club that can take a six-year-old all the way to a race bib
The eight streams below are not eight separate clubs. They are one pathway: a lesson, then a youth program, then — for the ones who want it — competitive cross-country, biathlon, and a varsity team on the same site.
The club does not publish dates, age bands, fees or registration for the streams in one place. That is the single largest gap this concept ran into, and it is left visible rather than filled in with guesses.
Stock photo The streams
What is published
Eight streams the club names. Where dates, ages or fees are not published, that is said rather than invented.
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01
Ski lessons
Lessons for people who have not done this before, or who want to stop fighting the technique. The entry point to everything else on this page.
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02
Youth programs
Programs for young skiers at Otway. Ages, session dates and fees are not published in one place, so none are listed here.
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03
Competitive cross-country
A competitive cross-country stream, training on the same 55 km network everyone else skis.
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04
Biathlon
Ski and shoot, on a biathlon facility the club describes as world-class. How a newcomer starts, and whether rifles are provided, is not published.
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05
UNBC varsity
The University of Northern British Columbia varsity team is part of what runs here — an unusual thing for a community club to be able to say.
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06
Adult & senior programs
Programs for adults and for seniors. The membership schedule prices adult and senior 55+ identically, which suggests the club wants both on the trails.
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07
School programs
Programs run with schools, which for a lot of Prince George children is the first time they stand on nordic skis.
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08
Summer programs
Programs through the months without snow, on the paved trails at Otway. The reason a membership here is not a four-month purchase.
The unusual ones
Four things most community clubs cannot offer
Any nordic club can run a lesson. These four are what makes Otway a destination rather than a trailhead, and they are worth saying out loud on a homepage.
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On site
Biathlon
A biathlon facility the club describes as world-class, on the same site as the ski trails and the rental shop.
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University
UNBC varsity
A varsity team training out of a community club — a pathway most junior skiers never get to see up close.
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Racing
Competitive cross-country
A competitive stream on 55 groomed kilometres, which is a great deal more training terrain than most clubs can set.
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Schools
School programs
Programs run with schools, reaching children whose families would not otherwise have put them on nordic skis.
Groomed
55
Kilometres
The facility
Fifty-five groomed kilometres, and a biathlon range to match
Otway is not a small operation. Fifty-five kilometres of groomed trail, lit night skiing, dog-friendly trails, numerous snowshoe trails, a world-class biathlon facility, paved trails for the summer and a rental shop on site. Most clubs in the province have one or two of those.
- Groomed network
- 55 km
- After dark
- Night skiing
- Biathlon
- World-class
A note from JnP
Eight programs is a schedule, and a schedule is a page
Everything above came from what the club has already published. There is no session calendar on this page because the club has not published one in a single place — and a concept site that invented start dates for a real youth program would be worse than useless.
What a programs page really wants is eight rows with dates, age bands, a fee and a register button. That is the difference between a parent deciding in October and a parent meaning to phone and never phoning.
Contact the club →