FITNESS
Don’ t Hole Up for Winter
Adeline Panamaroff
We can— and should— stay safely active in the chilly outdoors of Alberta’ s winter. But how do we find variety in activities to help us stay limber as nature hibernates?
There are plenty of options for snow lovers in Alberta. Senior-focused groups, like the Rocky Mountain Senior Ski Club( RMSSC) in Edmonton and Skrastins Outdoor Club( SOC) in Calgary, are some of the clubs for winter outdoor enthusiasts. If fast-paced winter activities— like the potential falls of downhill skiing— don’ t excite you, maybe cross-country skiing is more your speed— or even snowshoeing, which is a harder workout than you’ d think!
Edmonton Area Winter Activities
RMSSC members enjoy downhill skiing and crosscountry skiing and have an unofficial segment of snowshoers. Meeting mainly at the Snow Valley Ski Club in Rainbow Valley Park, this group also takes frequent chartered bus trips throughout the season to ski locations, like Banff, Jasper, Kananaskis, and Silver Star, as soon as the first snowfall. Most crosscountry skiing happens within Edmonton, Devon, or Drayton Valley.
Accepting members at 55 and older, the average age of the more than 1,300 RMSSC club members is 71. Most members have had some experience with skiing before becoming members and look to the club as a way to keep up the passion for carving through fresh powder.“ Usually, the [ people in the ] downhill group have been skiing for a long time. It gives you confidence,” says JoAnn Grand, a longtime member of the club.
For an added level of membership safety, skiing lessons are offered at Snow Valley for downhill skiing and at Goldbar( through the Nordic Ski Club) for cross-country skiing— perfect for a refresher on the basics. Plus, on any given meetup day( Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings), more than thirty members can be found at Snow Valley.“ We try to make sure that nobody skis alone. We have a white button that says we’ re part of the Rocky Mountain Ski Club,” Grand says.
Clubs like these offer boosts not just to physical health but also to mental health.“ When you meet people who have the same interests as you, it’ s so much easier to get out and do things because you’ ll have someone to do things with,” Grand says. The club offers several social events for new and seasoned members to connect.“ We have a spring dinner, a summer barbecue, and a fall dinner,” said Ron Marcinkoski, president of RMSSC.
There are warm season activities as well, with golf and cycling organized by the RMSSC, a onehundred-per-cent volunteer-run club.
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