History

A Brief History of Ski Trail Grooming at the Meissner Sno-Park

1970s

In 1977 the Meissner area was a wide spot along the Cascade lakes Highway called the Tangent Parking area. The ungroomed ski trails for the most part followed old logging roads. There were a few blue painted wooden signs at the trail junctions and metal yellow squares marked the trails. Some of these old trail markers may still be found on the current Meissner trails.

1980s

In the 1980’s, the Oregon National Guard worked with the Deschutes National Forest during several of their Central Oregon summer camp sessions. Among their projects was clearing and graveling an off-highway parking area in the location that is now the Meissner Sno-park. The parking has since been paved and enlarged several times. The guardsmen also constructed the Nordeen and Swampy Lake shelters during those summers.

The Tangent Sno-park was renamed and dedicated to Virginia Meissner in 1988 after she passed. Meissner was the Central Oregon Nordic Club (CONC) President during the 1970s and ‘80s and taught cross country ski lessons, led cross country ski tours and was active on the State ONC Board. The Wednesday trail loop is her best remembered legacy on the current trail system.

1990s

In 1989-90 ski season CONC acquired a surplus Ski-doo snowmobile from ODOT. Bruce Ronning began grooming a few of the low standard roads that Virginia Meissner had used with her 1980s ski classes and touring groups. The following winter CONC, with the leadership of then president George Irish and board members Bill Martin and Ronning raised funds for and acquired a used Polaris long-track snowmobile locally and a rudimentary track sled from the Portland Chapter of the Oregon Nordic Club. CONC, Sunnyside Sports and several local skiers made significant contributions to the funding effort which eventually amounted to $3000.

During those early years, the trails were groomed on a volunteer agreement with the Deschutes National Forest that initially allowed for 10 kilometers. Jay Bowerman and others assisted Ronning in the intermittent effort when snow conditions were suitable. Several new trails were cleared and built and the grooming effort was expanded to 20 kilometers. Among those early groomed trails were Tangent to what is now five corners, Mistletoe into the Meissner shelter, Larkspur connecting Mistletoe to Snowbush and up to five corners, Pinedrops to the eastern leg of Ponderosa, and the original Wednesday’s loop that has since been rerouted.

In 1996 the Tumalo Langlauf Club (now Meissner Nordic) was formed and Scott Johnston, Russ Barkman and others took over the snowmobile based grooming effort. With the formation of TLC and the purchase of upgraded equipment, the grooming became a regular three day a week operation.

2000s

The grooming continued to improve and expand under the TLC stewardship each year as community-based fund raising allowed for the acquisition of several iterations of better snow machines and grooming implements.

In 2003, TLC created the Meissner Strategic Plan that called for expansion of trails and parking and a lodge at the trailhead. In 2004, a Pisten Bully 130 with a tiller was purchased and the pole barn was built with grant funding from Oregon Nordic Ski Foundation.

I wasn’t part of original TLC organizing group as Julie & I were living in Corvallis the ’96-97 year while she did her PhD coursework. But I was very aware of what was going on and was watching carefully because I was laying plans to start XC Oregon soon after we returned to Bend in Summer ’97. 

Although TLC started with the intent of being a form of an adult racing club, it quickly ran into “complications” with folks that were worried that design would submarine MBSEF Nordic and also Mt Bachelor had concerns with the concept. So over the year I was gone Ben and Justin began to focus more on their own racing and Scott eventually found himself adjusting to different ideas from both the original Board plus community folks. 

Once I was back in Bend, I got into the TLC leadership mix as I felt TLC would play an essential role in the community even if the adult racing club component wasn’t working out (something that XC Oregon did eventually provide).

In that short early span, Scott and I shared a common vision of TLC’s biggest role being to provide a supplemental ski location via a community effort. It’s important to note that neither of us ever felt the goal would be to hurt Mt Bachelor’s business model. What became Meissner grooming was all about adding value to Bend’s ski scene rather than creating competition. Thankfully that is exactly what has happened!

For my part, it was quite logistically challenging to be thrust into the TLC President role when Scott eventually moved to WA in part because I was in the process of starting two non-profits from scratch (XCO and AXCS) at the same time. But mostly it was a challenge trying to balance the competing interests of those skiers that wanted TLC to be a Nordic social group while there was a smaller group of us that were sold on the vision of TLC being primarily focused on community grooming. I’d say working out that disconnect slowed down the evolution to what Meissner Nordic is today by a good half decade.

My guess is that the original Skidoo was used as early as 97/98, but for sure things with TLC grooming became more regular in 98/99 and years to follow — I know that because those were the earliest XC Oregon years where we were being very careful to follow the directives of what we were (and were not) allowed to do as an adult racing team at Mt B.

Scott and I were just two of several people in the grooming rotation in those early years. Rock star volunteers like Russ Barkman and Lloyd Vordenberg took on huge roles in the years prior to the first snowcat. I’m undoubtedly also missing some other big-time groomers from those early years.

It was a several hour labor of love to do grooming. You had to pick up the snowmobile (stored on a trailer), drive up to Meissner, unload, groom, 99% of the time you’d get stuck at least once in deeper snow since there wasn’t a pad created by the snowcat, reload, drive back to town. You had to own a rig that could tow the trailer so that limited who could do the gig. Getting stuck was not fun and could really bang up your body. So most of us would only groom once every once every week or two in the early years. Then it got more regular and eventually years later real momentum was built.

It’s also notable that up until the point that the first snowcat was purchased and the pole barn erected, all the gear that was used at Meissner was also being regularly used for grooming at both Skyline Park and Shevlin Park by Park/Rec staff. The gear was stored at the Simpson BMPR facility and there were (most years) more weeks of skiable snow in town so that synergy worked very well. Of course, it’s 1000% better grooming these days at Meissner so the trade-off has not been bad. Especially now that XC Oregon has been able to find ways to re-generate a small grooming kit for in-town use.

As an athlete on the US Ski Team during that time, I wanted to see more options for skiing in Bend, as well as a place that was closer to town to ski. Since Meissner was already a Sno-Park, and had the trails (roads) already in, it seemed a perfect fit. Really, Scott Johnston was the driving force, and with Bruce and Russ doing most of the early heavy lifting (literally), it got a good foothold. In my opinion it was Larry Katz who really took it to the next level, and now it’s hard to believe what Bend ever did without the XC ski trails at Meissner.

Russ Barkman: Meissner Sno-Park Groomer 1998 to 2006
Interview by Whit Ross

We Nordic skiers are so lucky to have two great options for groomed skiing close to Bend, the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center and Virginia Meissner Sno-Park. One obvious benefit of our club-run ski area at Meissner is that it saves us lots of driving time. Other great benefits of Meissner are the sense of community and the friendships that have evolved from our love of Nordic skiing. What many people don’t realize is that the wonderful groomed trails and consistent grooming schedule that we enjoy today at Meissner took over two decades to develop.

A significant part of that development has been attributed to the volunteer work of Russ Barkman. Russ not only dedicated long hours to grooming trails, he also spent many hours on the grooming committee, selecting and buying new grooming equipment. Russ’s hard work kept the Meissner dream alive during many years of financial hardship for the Tumalo Langlauf Club (the predecessor to today’s Meissner Nordic Ski Club).

Another outcome of Russ’s work is that Tumalo Langlauf Club had constantly improved its grooming equipment in order to continue to improve the ski experience at Meissner Sno-Park.

I asked Russ for his perspective on Meissner Nordic’s progress:

Whit: What were the biggest changes you observed at Meissner Sno-Park during your tenure as a groomer?

Russ: Well, in 1998 there were very few cars in the parking lot even after grooming. In 1999, Meissner Sno-Park became a place for high school kids to train with their coaches. By 2006, there were lots more people skiing at Meissner, and the parking lot was widened to accommodate parking on both sides of the Sno-Park. Another ongoing change was buying newer equipment every couple of years in an endeavor to improve the grooming.

Whit: What were your biggest challenges of grooming?

Russ: The biggest challenge was too much snow! Back when we were grooming with snowmobiles, we had to wait a day or two to let the deep snow settle before we could groom. The next biggest challenge was the canted hillside on both Snowbush and Tangent and trying to keep the machine upright.

Whit: How long did it take to you to groom?

Russ: Back then we were grooming Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and I was usually grooming from 7 am until noon, although sometimes I was grooming/working for 8 hours because I had to pick up the snowmobile from the Bend Parks and Rec lot and transport the machine to Meissner, and then deliver the snowmobile back to the Bend Parks and Rec lot on the way home.

Whit: What was the most unusual thing you saw while grooming?

Russ: Several deer up to their backs in the deep snow!

Whit: What was your fondest memory from your days of grooming?

Russ: The fantastic turnout for the High School State Championships. It would never have happened at Meissner without the grooming. Also, Meissner became a frequent training site for World Cup athletes like Patrick Weaver, Justin Wadsworth, Ben Husaby, Beckie Scott, and Suzanne King.

Whit: What is the most important skill or knowledge to have as a groomer?

Russ: To keep the grooming machine at or below about 5-7 mph. This speed creates the best possible surface for skiing.

Whit: What is your overall summary of Meissner Sno-Park during your tenure?

Russ: Groomed trails are what made Meissner Sno-Park take off! It’s now the busiest Sno-Park in the state.

Groomers are a special breed! They must endure harsh weather conditions, have thorough knowledge of the machines, and be dedicated to the final product (i.e., great corduroy!). Russ has been a skilled and passionate volunteer, dedicating over 3,000 hours of unpaid time creating fun and skiing for everyone at Meissner Sno-Park. Thank you, Russ, for your time, expertise, stories, and humor. You represent a significant chapter in Meissner Nordic’s history, and you are, and always will be, appreciated.

The genesis of the club came from a demand by USSA that at National Championships all relay teams needed to be made up of members of a single club. They were trying to emulate the Norwegian system. In response Justin Wadsworth, Ben and I formed the club with the USSA.

The USFS offered the club a grant to buy a snowmobile to groom with. This was orchestrated by Bruce Ronning of the Bend Park & Recreation District so we could groom in town when there was enough snow.

With the grant money Bruce got us a Skidoo Skandic SWT machine. I found some old bed springs and we began grooming in Dutchman Flat at the first snow each fall. At some point we got a groomer/track setter, but I can’t remember what kind or when that happened and began grooming at Meissner.

There were some very big snow years then and I recall one night grooming session with Ben where we continually got the machine stuck. In 2000 we left Bend and moved to the Methow Valley in Washington but the club had grown quite a bit by then.

I hope this fills in some gaps in the history of the club. I’m glad to hear it is thriving. I did ski there once when I brought our Junior team from the Methow down for a race at Mt B in around 2006 or so and the whole operation was on another level from when I left and I was the groomer with one little snowmobile.