Our Club History

Mountain View Nordic Club History

Written for the MVNSC by a long standing club member in the Spring of 2026.

The club was incorporated in 2021 at the present location named 'Trail Creek Ski Site' off Township Road 324.  Prior to this we were skiing just off of Highway 27 on Range Road 3.1 on a beautiful area by the Little Red Deer River, private property owned by 5 different wonderful Landowners.  Is is not clear when the first skiers began cross-country skiing here but one of the original skiers recalls "it must have been around 35 years ago." (1990/91)  When they first began the trails were not 'track-set'.  The landowners were so helpful and worked with the group to cut trees and changed some fencing to make some very enjoyable trails.  As it became more well known the group was able to get permission to ski on more areas and to start track-setting in 2015.

Track-setting was done by volunteers with their own equipment.  At this time also some track-setting was being done at the Town of Olds.  The Town assisted us with some equipment as long as we trackset the Town trails.  We were then able to use this equipment on the 'Little Red Ski Area'.  We had a wonderful group of Volunteers and skiers who also maintained the trails, established a new fire pit area as well as cut fire wood for one of the Landowners in return for using their land and helping establish trails.

While we skied on this area we were not an established nor registered club.  We did not have memberships but we did ask for donations to help pay the costs of track-setting.  This ski area was a welcome area during the Covid times.  We enjoyed skiing here until 2020 when the land was sold and the new owner did not want public accessing his land for skiing.

The call was put out to find a new area for skiing.  Thankfully one of our volunteers was able to get a lead on the land which we ski on at present.  Around this time we purchased the 'Big Red Tracksetter'.  It was intended to be used initially on the Little Red but that never came to be.

Once we were established at the present location and had more skiers coming we thought it prudent to be incorporated in order to get insurance and start memberships.  We thus applied to Alberta Society to be come a non-profit association and also to apply to Nordic Alberta.  Around this time we approached the Olds College Community Learning Campus 'CLC' to buy some cross-country ski equipment that people in the area could rent to try x/c skiing.  They did puchase this equipment which worked out nicely as we offered ski lessons for different age levels from 2022 to 2024.  After that we were challenged to find suitable certified instructor(s).  We are proud to have hosted various college and school groups on our trails as well.

Through applying for various grants and donations from our community - Mount View Power, County of Mountain View, Olds Rotary Club, Olds Lions Club, Olds Kiwanis, Tourmaline Energy, White Cap Resources and Town of Olds; we were able to buy a new 2025 Titan Polaris Ski-doo.  This added to our modest fleet of equipment - a 1993 Alpine Ski-doo and a single cross-country track setter and groomer and also a trailer to haul the equipment back and forth to the ski trails sites.  We were also able to sell some old equipment to help pay for some of the above.

Many wonderful volunteers have donated many hours to maintain these trails.  Cleaning debris in the spring and fall, brush cutting, establishing new trails, creating a fire pit and of course track-setting the very enjoyable 7km of trails through trees and fields.  The club activities that have taken place also include moonlight skis, cookie loppets, skier friends, and many friendly get-togethers around the campfire.

So, congratulations and thank you to the many members, volunteers and supporters of this club who have donated so much to help get the Mountain View Nordic Ski Club to where we are today!