Donations
Your tax deductible donation is greatly appreciated and will help build and manage trails in the area.
Upcoming Events

  • Upcoming Events

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    • December 2010

    Solstice & Full Moon Ski Celebration

    Tuesday, Dec. 21, 5:00-8:00 at the Nordic Center. Chili feed and hot cocoa at 6:00. Bring a dessert to share. Enjoy our great snow! Bring the relatives!

    Community Pint Night

    Tuesday, Dec. 28, Red Lodge Ales supports BRTA with 50 cents of every beer sold donated to our cause! Show up, drink a pint, socialize, and help your winter and summer trails association. Bonus: at the same time Ray and Mark will be having a book signing (at Red Lodge Ales) for their brand new book, “History of Skiing Red Lodge”, including a chapter on the Red Lodge Nordic Center!

    Swap Results

    With the help of the BRTA board, volunteers, and people who bought and sold gear, our annual ski and gear swap was a screamin’ success! This year, Red Lodge Mountain raffled a Midway chair with all proceeds going to BRTA. Marc Swanson was sorely missed. His original idea for the swap and his stellar organization has made each swap fun and profitable. BRTA plans to use the swap proceeds for winter trail grooming, summer trail maintenance, and kid’s ski rental program. A huge shout out to everyone who helped this year. We couldn’t do it without you!

    Instructor Clinic

    Interested in learning how to teach people cross country skiing, both classic and skate? Improve your personal skiing. Sign up for our clinic to be held Saturday, Jan. 8 at Red Lodge Nordic Center. Cost is $65 with $30 reimbursed by BRTA if you volunteer to instruct at least one time this season at RL Nordic. (No certification will be earned). Call Grant at 425-0130 for registration information.

    Upcoming Nordic Center Events

    Learn to Cross Country Ski clinics are scheduled for Jan. 15 and Jan. 29 at Red Lodge Nordic Center, 10:00 am; classic and/or skate styles. Cost is $10 plus $5 Nordic Center fee. RSVP. We will have more information on our website www.beartoothtrails.org.  Also, the Red Lodge Nordic Festival is set for February 19th – more details to come.

    Kids Ski Lessons

    Children ages 5 thru 12 will again be offered the opportunity to learn how to cross-country ski at the Red Lodge Nordic Ski Center, located 1 mile west of the golf course.

    This program, known as “Nordic Kids”, is sponsored by BRTA and is conducted by volunteer instructors and support staff.

    Saturday lessons will be held on Jan. 22nd and 29th, and Feb. 5th & 12th, 2011 from 1 to 2:30 PM. Parents need to register their children as space is limited and filling up fast. You can register or have questions answered by emailing Elise Fouts at ehfouts@ msn.com, or phoning Les Hedquist, 425-3804.

    Parents and any interested skiers from the community are invited to volunteer with the program as class assistants. A training clinic for ski instructor’s and assistants will be held on Saturday, Jan. 8 & 15, 2011 at the Nordic Center from 1 to 2:30 PM.

    Participants will learn class-management techniques, xc skills progression, how to instruct with games and how to use the provided lesson plans. If you are interested in helping with the classes, please call Glenn Schnell at 307-272-1565 or email Elise at ehfouts@msn.com.

    BRTA Receives $1000 donation

    BRTA recently received a very generous, unsolicited donation from the Seidman Family Foundation for the purpose of further developing the Rocky Fork Trail System. Thanks so much for your incredible generousity!

    Forest Service Updates

    Call or stop in at the Beartooth Ranger District office in Red Lodge for current information on trails and roads in the Beartooth Mountains, 446-2103.

    The West Fork Road is gated for winter use until April 15. Winter use includes just about everything except wheeled vehicles (if you encounter wheeled vehicles, report it to the Forest Service). BRTA will groom the road when snow conditions and our availability of volunteers and equipment allow…hopefully once a week. Beware that the road from Silver Run turnoff to the gate (a ½ mile) is not plowed and can be difficult in deep snow.

    Feature of the Month:  Get There.  Get Back.  Be Safe (or Roaming Alone Can Now Be Safer) 

    By Gretchen Nolan

    Every year thousands of outdoor adventures end badly. Unfortunately, hiking mishaps are responsible for as much as 45% of typical Search and Rescue Mission statistics. The vast majority of these rescues are made more difficult due to a lack of information about the lost or injured hiker’s plans. Lost hikers affect everyone and SAR teams put their own lives on the line to locate missing individuals. Even though most of us know we should, in reality very few of us who hike, leave a note or advise a friend of our travel plans.

     If you roam alone or in small groups you need to know that there now is a simple way to practice the Golden Rule of hiking using digital technology. TrailNote™ is an auto-notification system that helps you be safe outdoors. It is free, easy, and doesn’t inconvenience anyone. And, only if you do not return from your hike or adventure will your contact network be notified of your absence.

     Basically, here is how it works.

    1. Leave a quick and simple TrailNote stating where you are going and who to contact if you fail to cancel your trail note by a certain time. I suggest multiple contacts of people who know each other.

     2a. When you return, log into your free account and simply cancel the TrailNote. That way no one need be notified as you are safely home.

     2b. If you fail to return or cancel your trail note, an alert will go out notifying your emergency contact network. If your contacts are unable to reach you to verify your whereabouts they can, based on your instructions, be in touch with authorities to inform them that you may be missing.

     The TrailNote system is easy to test with a buddy or simply by writing a TrailNote using your own email address.  Be safe and learn more about this personal security measure at: http://wwww.trailnote.com

    Quote of the Month:

     “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” ~ Edward Abbey

    Always consider yourself welcome at BRTA monthly Board meetings, second Wednesday, basement of the Red Lodge Carnegie Library 6:30 pm., or call your favorite Board member to learn what’s up with BRTA.