The Roosevelt National Forest's Canyon Lakes Ranger District is looking for volunteers to ski or snowshoe this winter in the busy Cameron Pass area where 32 miles of trail can see over 300 skiers a day on a weekend. This popular area includes trails that border Colo. Highway 14 between Chambers Lake and Cameron Pass. The area receives enough snow to ski before many others and snow often remains after other areas have lost their snow cover. For this reason, the number of winter recreationists at Cameron Pass continues to grow.
The Cameron Pass Nordic Ranger program began in 1992. Volunteers ski or snowshoe “with a purpose,” helping the Forest Service by providing safety, trail, and low-impact backcountry use information to winter enthusiasts; by helping maintain the winter trails and trailheads for safety; and by gathering visitor use information to aid in Forest Service planning the trail system. Some of the Nordic Rangers work as a winter trail crew to help keep the trails cleared of downed trees and limbs, install signs, and shovel paths to the restrooms.
Many of the trails are in the Rawah and Neota Wilderness areas, where routes can be challenging. Backcountry winter recreation also includes risks inherent with winter conditions in the mountains, including extreme cold. These are some of the key reasons volunteers in the area are so valuable to its many users, especially those with little winter sports experience.
To volunteer, participants are required to patrol a minimum of four days during the winter season as well as attend required training. An informational meeting is Nov. 17 at 7-8:30 p.m. via Zoom and will provide prospective Nordic Rangers a general introduction to the program and what Nordic Rangers do. The required training, also by Zoom, is December 1, 7-9:30 p.m. and the required field training at Cameron Pass is Dec. 4 from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. For more information and to RSVP, email CameronPassNordic@gmail.com
Jeff
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