Welcome Archive!
Perisher X Country welcome you to the first newsletter of PXC NEWS. This newsletter is the latest news of what is happening within PXC, with special reference to the volunteers and to those who have a keen interest in helping grow cross country skiing.
Perisher X Country (PXC) is all about promoting the activity of Cross Country Skiing to a wider audience so that one of the best kept secrets around is not a secret anymore. Please encourage everyone to go to our website and subscribe to PXC NEWS.
What's Been Happening
The season is off to a great start. Last year the first good snow did not come until the 10th of July. Our team up at the Perisher XC Centre have been working hard to prepare the Trails for the season. The Perisher XC Centre managers this year are Geraldine Blanch & Adrian Blake with Jonno Whittaker as our Groomer.
In this edition of PXC NEWS a summary of what’s to come is as follows:
1. Out on the Trails
2. Nordic Shelter Preparation
3. PXC- Upgrades Communications
4. PXC Cup & Other Races/ Event Information
5. Come & Try Thursday’s
6. The Nordic Shelter Goes Greener
7. Future Initiatives
8. Thanking Our Sponsors
With thanks to Mike Edmondson, our resident photographer, for managing and supplying the large majority of the images within the website and newsletters.
1. Out on the Trails
Much has been done pre-winter at the Perisher XC Centre on the trails, getting them ready for the skiing community. Working bees have been held on the first weekend of each month, from February to June with much being achieved. A huge thank you is due to the following people, some having worked one weekend, right through to some who have been there every working bee. The list is in no particular order;
Geraldine Blanch, Rowan Christie, Peter Cunningham, Alan Civil, Karen Civil, Margaret Mahoney, Wayne Pethybridge, Graeme Power, David Roxburgh, Sonja Sim, John Sim, The Birch Family, Melissa Williams, Frank Bakker, Kai Bakker, Peter Ward, Leslie Ludwig, Rhonda Cunningham, Sonja Weinberg, Robert Eddy, The Porter Family, Louise Rose, Leonie John, Lachlan Kennedy, Denise Allardice, Michael Stenning, Chris Wall, Dick Roe & Maria NG
Apologies if anyone was missed, but I believe that over 30 people were involved in total.
The standard trail work carried out included: putting in new ski trail poles and replacing the damaged ones, fixing pole signs - their identification or the reflectors, trimming the trails, putting in new trails or links, maintaining or installing new snow fences and the uplifting or replacing the drainage pipes and covers. Where possible, rocks were also removed.
Work on re-routing the ski trails is carried out to try and avoid rocks. It is also done to make the overall trail system easier or to provide greater variety.
This year three new links have been poled. These are; Carl's, Ross's & Ted's link. The last of the poles were installed during the June working bee. The Coaches link has been re-jigged as well. Thanks to the NPWS, we now have steel directional posts at the beginning of each link.
 
Alan & Karen Civil, moving a pole into place Our short haul specialist - Sonja Weinberg
A special mention must be made that all work was carried out with no injuries or accidents helping to justify the preparation and pre- job safety as prepared by Tim Greville from NPWS.
Thanks also to Tim Greville and his work colleagues from NPWS for providing labour on some of the weekends. We also acknowledge with thanks that the NPWS provides all materials that are out on the trails.
A big thank you must go to Peter Cunningham and the committee of the CAC, for allowing us to stay in their lodge in Perisher. Thanks also to Cooma Hut for coming to the rescue at least once a year when CAC is booked out. This year it was the May working bee.
These weekends are great fun as Saturday evenings always start with hors d’oeuvres followed by a dinner party/ group dinner.
2. Nordic Shelter Preparation
In conjunction with work on the trails, there is always ongoing maintenance to be done on the Nordic Shelter both inside and out. It is not the good tooth fairy which does all this work, but a combination of the above people as shown in the first story.
Each year, we try to make improvements. This year the older downstairs bathrooms have been re-tiled with new basins and toilets being installed. The project manager was Rowan Christie. Thanks to Rowan and his small team who had the trying task of removing the old tiles (there since 1982) and a big thank you to Rowan for his expertise and diligence in laying the new tiles. The complex tiling involved additional days outside of the weekends - all done as a volunteer. A huge clean-up was required throughout the lodge to get rid of all the dust that resulted from jack hammering the old tiles. Thank you to the work party involved.
 
 
From the old to the new.
Kangaroo Hoppet Posters
John Sim’s latest initiative has been to display the Hoppet posters within the Nordic Shelter. John reports the following - As you wander around the Nordic shelter, you will see a new display high up in the old section. The almost complete set of Hoppet posters have been "Blu tacked" up for each decade with the hope of making them a permanent display. Trying to balance chronological order with visual appearance was a challenge and comments are welcome. If anyone has the 2003 poster that could be scanned or donated please contact the shelter manager.
Research is continuing on finding all NSW podium place getters for each of the Joey, Birkebeiner and Hoppet with the idea of establishing an honour board. Enjoy the ski season.
Comfy Lounge
Thank you to the Hemmings/Champion family for generously donating their preloved, but very comfy King Living lounge which is now located in the North Room.
Mobile Phone Recharging Station
Newly installed and located in the North Room
A Defibrillator
A defibrillator will be installed in the South Room in early July.
3. PXC- Upgrades Communications
Where are we if we cannot communicate to the masses? Much work has been done with money and time being spent developing our own database and newsletter system. Thanks to our graphic designer “Simon Blazey” of Rockerfella Industries and our programmer “Tim Forrest” of Toledoh Enterprises.
A full description was given of the 3 subscription options within our first edition of PXC EDGE. The same system applies to this newsletter. You can manage your own subscriptions by clicking on the “Unsubscribe or Manage” link at the bottom of this newsletter. The momentary glitch that was found after the edition of the 1st PXC EDGE should be fixed, so all should be good.
Additional work has been going on regarding our FaceBook presence. Recently we had a FaceBook user workshop. This was facilitated by Matt Gould from Snowsports ACT. Thanks to Robert Eddy & Geraldine Blanch & Wayne Pethybridge who attended. Go check it out.
4. PXC Cup & Other Races/ Event Information
The PXC Cup is a new event which is on the 21st of July. This will be run along the same fun and casual lines of the Cooma Open which was held in late July. The Cooma Open is now on the first Saturday of XC Ski Week (4th of August). It was seen that we needed a citizen race which will plug the gap between the Cooma Clean Out The Waxbox event on the 8th of July and the Cooma Open. Nothing better than a race to get you prepared for all the fun and games of XC Ski Week.
Some volunteers will be needed to help run the race so please contact Wayne Pethybridge if you can help out on the day. Contact email is info@perisherxcountry.org and mobile 0431 285 566
How to Enter Events
Go to the PXC websites Local XC Events page e.g. https://www.perisherxcountry.org/events/local/. Against participating events you will see the Online link. The link’s address is https://www.skiandsnowboard.org.au/events/ . The participating events have either just been set up or there might need to be a few more added. Regularly check this link to see what is new.
Much work has gone on here as we are changing over to the Ski and Snowboard Australia (SSA) events system and like all good things, these take time.
Please help event organisers by entering online well before the events.
XC Ski Week
Plenty of DL flyers, A4 & A3 Posters have been printed to be sent everywhere.
Check out the website link to see all about XC Ski Week https://www.perisherxcountry.org/events/xc-week/
This year we are trying to organise with Hans Oversnow so people can get a lift home after the Night Relays Presentations/ Dinner, at a reasonable price. Stay tuned.
5. Come & Try Thursdays
Thanks to Peter Ward & Leslie Ludwig for following through with this initiative and managing the process.
Come & Try Thursdays are for those who are either members, guests or staff of a lodge or club and are presently staying in that club or lodge, be it commercial or private. This initiative is supported by PXC, KAC, SLOPES and Wilderness Sports. Lessons and ski hire (if required) are provided at a subsidised rate every thursday throughout the season. To get a PDF version of the poster below (Click Here)
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6. The Nordic Shelter Goes Greener
Remember your water bottle this winter when you go to the Nordic Shelter. There are no more soft drinks or bottled water available there. The tap water is clean, delicious, cold and chemical/plastic-free - you only need to add your refillable bottle.
How often do you get something this good for $10?
The tap water at the Shelter is sourced from Rock Creek, settled to remove sediment and then pumped to the Water Treatment Plant located on the XC trails where it is disinfected with UV light and sent to the Nordic Shelter taps. Chemicals are only used three times a year to clean the pipe system, which is then flushed to clear it. Someone goes to the Shelter specially to flush the pipes there to make sure the drinking water is always as good as it can be.
Label your water bottle!! Dozens of nameless bottles are left or lost in the Shelter every year.
If you forget your bottle, refillable bottles (and permanent pen close handy for you to label them) will be on sale at the Shelter for $10 each.
Other items for sale are PXC Caps - $20 and the Cloth Trail Maps for $15.
Any profits from the Bottle and the Caps sales gets re-invested into PXC and goes toward further promotions and developing our website.
7. Future/ Ongoing Initiatives
1. PXC is looking to improve our signage so visitors to Perisher will have a greater chance of knowing that there is XC skiing at Perisher and that the Perisher XC Centre does exist. Presently the existing signage, whilst being a great sign, only goes to reassure the converted that they are heading in the right direction to get to the Perisher XC Centre.
2. Summer grooming attempts to achieve our objectives of: reducing rock hazards, improving drainage and making the trails easier, safer, interesting and exciting to ski.
3. Recent PXC meetings supported that we should continue to promote the operation of the Nordic Shelter "PXC Visitor Hosts" on weekends.
4. Continue to improve PXC ability to communicate better to the skiing community.
8. Thanking Our Sponsors
PXC would like to thank their sponsors;
Guthega Inn
Rhythm Snow Sports
Your WorkWear
Salomon
FoodWorks (Perisher)
If you want to go direct to their individual websites, click on their logo's below.
The funds raised by your generous support helps us fund improvements like developing our website, employing outside help and capital items which go towards improving our infrastructure.
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