Overlander Ski Club doubles membership, breaks trail use record amid pandemic

KAMLOOPS — Overlander Ski Club expected an increase in memberships and trail traffic amidst the coronavirus pandemic — just not by as much as they did.

Vesta Giles, president of Overlander Ski Club, heard industry reports from August that cross-country skiing could see a similar jump in activity – such as kayaking and mountain biking – due to having large space outdoors to easily socially distance.

Information at the club’s annual general meeting on March 1 showed that their expectations were exceeded. Membership and revenue doubled, and the trails hit 30,000 users for the first time ever.

“Before that, 20,000 was always our goal,” Giles said. “For the last five years we’ve seen steady growth. We were excited about maybe having a little bit of a bump, but we didn’t expect double. I’m really proud of our staff and our members have been really happy.”

The club located at Stake Lake south of Kamloops wasn’t hit hard by COVID-19. Their season’s end depends on the weather, but cross-country skiing typically ends around mid-March, when B.C.’s state of emergency was declared.

The few added expenses include some facility alterations and more staff to help guide the users.

“We have a couple of bottleneck areas that we’ve been really concerned about. The parking lot and the area in front of our day lodge where people have to funnel through to get on to the trails. But we have 60 kilometres of trails. Once you get out there, you hardly see many people because everyone is spread out,” Giles said.

The question for Overlander Ski Club is whether they can continue this level of growth, retain their new members, or if 2020-21 was an anomaly due to the pandemic. Giles imagines many will travel to sunny destinations during the winter if international travel is encouraged, but a survey through Cross Country B.C. has provided optimism.

“You can track how your members responded to that survey, and it looks like a lot of new members are really happy with what they encountered this year,” she said. “A lot of them are saying they’re coming back next year. We’re hoping we can keep a lot of them and bring back a lot of people we had as guests and convert them into members at some point.”