Have you been cross-country skiing on the Grand Mesa? Thank this organization.
share
MESA, Colo. — The future of federal public land management is uncertain, in Colorado and the rest of the country.
For decades, local governments and nonprofits have worked to maintain and manage trails and other resources that the United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management don’t have the budget to fully operate..
During a trail expansion last year, for example, volunteers from the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Association (COPMOBA) helped BLM and Mesa County complete new mountain biking routes in Fruita. Those COPMOBA volunteers put in a total of 3,000 hours building and maintaining trails in 2024.
Another western Colorado organization, the Grand Mesa Nordic Council, has provided access to cross-country skiing on the Mesa for more than 30 years. The trails are open to anyone at any skill level. The organization asks for donations on its website and on the maps at each trailhead that show the miles and miles of trails winding through spruce and fir trees on the flat-top mountain.
Rocky Mountain PBS recently spoke with Grand Mesa Nordic Council’s executive director, Christie Aschwanden, on a windy, bluebird day on the Grand Mesa. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Video: Joshua Vorse, Rocky Mountain PBS
Rocky Mountain PBS: What does the Nordic council do, and how did it get started?
Christie Aschwanden: We run, administer, maintain, groom all of the cross-country ski trails on the Grand Mesa. The Nordic Council was founded in 1990. It really started as some friends coming together to create a cross-country ski area.
Some of what is required is a permit from the Forest Service. All of our trails are on U.S. Forest Service land; we operate with a special use permit that allows us to do that. The organization was originally formed really in order to start grooming [trails] with that [permit].
RMPBS: What’s your interaction with the Forest Service beyond the permit required to groom the trails?
CA: They're actually great partners of ours. A lot of people think that the Forest Service grooms these trails and maintains them, when in fact, it's our nonprofit. We really operate based on donations and membership.
RMPBS: What do those donations go to?
CA: The cost of running the trails is actually pretty high. Our snowcat costs are close to $300,000. It's expensive. It costs a lot of money to operate, it runs on diesel fuel. All of those costs are paid for by donations and memberships that people buy.
RMPBS: What makes the Grand Mesa special for Nordic skiing?
CA: One is the type of terrain that we have. In Colorado, a lot of times the cross-country skiing is really on steep mountains where all the trails are either up or down. We have some really nice, gentle rolling terrain. It's very beginner friendly, but we also have some really nice, more advanced trails for more expert skiers.
So we really have a lot of everything, any kind of terrain you'd want.
We have about 50 kilometers of trails up here on the Grand Mesa. Most of them are groomed for both skating and classic skiing. We are one of the largest ski areas in Colorado.
RMPBS: What’s the difference between classic and skate skiing?
CA: For skating, you need a hard surface. That's why we have the snowcat groomer. [It] also puts in the classic track. Classic skiing is what most people think of when they think of cross-country skiing. It looks a little bit like running on skis. It's a beautiful way to get out and ski when the conditions are right.
Skate skiing is a newer type of technique. It's sort of like ice skating where you're going side to side on skis. It's a lot faster than diagonal striding or classic skiing. I like it because it's faster. Both techniques are really popular and it's really just personal preference.
Christie Aschwanden and Ben Graves skate ski at Skyway on the Grand Mesa. Video: Joshua Vorse, Rocky Mountain PBS
RMPBS: What are you working on over the summer?
CA: We are currently undergoing our first big capital campaign to create our first permanent structure on the Grand Mesa at our cross-country ski trails.
This building is going to be called the Skyway Station. It's going to serve two purposes. One is that there's going to be a community gathering space. So this will be a warm place to come in from the weather. And then we're also going to have a space in this building to store the snowcat to protect all of our grooming equipment.
Right now, our organization doesn’t have any buildings, so all of our materials and things are stored at board members or staff's homes. So, we will have a place to keep all our stuff, keep it secure.
The total cost is going to be about $1.3 million. We've raised about $1.1 million at this point. We're in the very final stages of our fundraising. We have enough that we can break ground this summer, we're hoping to complete it next winter.
We are working with the Forest Service on this project. The building will be owned by the Grand Mesa Nordic Council, but it's on public land administered by the U.S. Forest Service. We will be building it with a permit from the Forest Service, and they've been great partners with us on this, in support of the project.
Video: Joshua Vorse, Rocky Mountain PBS
Type of story: Q&A
An interview to provide a single perspective, edited for clarity and obvious falsehoods.
An interview to provide a single perspective, edited for clarity and obvious falsehoods.
To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.