The Favero Snow Rabbit 3X - our dream machine!

Big News for Vallecito Nordic Club

Vallecito Nordic Club is excited to announce our desire to purchase a new snowcat machine, Favero Snow Rabbit 3X (SR3X).  This compact snow cat with blade and tiller would enable the club to provide a superior grooming product for your winter skiing adventures. The club is at a point where the frequency of grooming (7 days a week), snow conditions, and maintaining high grooming standards is stressing our current equipment and volunteer grooming team. The advantages of snow cat grooming are the quality of the skiing surface for both classic and skate technique, reducing the time spent by our volunteer groomers riding snowmobiles, and increasing the number of skiable days at our trail system. The snow cat with blade and tiller is ideal for our narrow trails and snow conditions.  The Snow Rabbit would cost about $190,000. We have begun a capital campaign to raise the funds to purchase this groomer and hope you will help with a pledge or donation.
For more information about why we think the Snow Rabbit 3X is right for Vallecito go this  the SR3X page (LINK)

For more information or to make a pledge contact us at: vallecitonordic@gmail.com

To make a donation today please go to our Membership page ( HERE ) or

Or you can:

•  mail a check to us at PO Box 4431, Durango, CO 81302

• drop a check off at Alpine Bank (any branch) and say it is for the Vallecito Nordic Club Snow Rabbit fund. If you drop off a check please email and let us know so we can better track donations.

Our current pledge/donation level! Thank you early supporters

As of 11/17/2024 we are have raised over half our goal: $111,050 out of $190,00! Thank you -and jump in to be a part of getting the Snow Rabbit 3X!
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Grooming Reports

NOAA Point Weather Forecast for Vallecito Nordic Trails

Cross Country skiers, snowshoers, and well behaved dogs are welcome on the trails beyond the gate at the trail head!

Bicyclists and those walking or running, please enjoy other areas in our region. Our beautifully groomed nordic and snowshoe trails become rutted and cratered from bicycling, walking and running. When we can repair this damage (some ruts we cannot smooth out with our grooming equipment), it adds many hours to our volunteer grooming efforts. Please respect this request.

GROOMING #1!!!!! 2024/25

Sometime in December, 2024- The season will begin (we hope)!

We look forward to skiing with you again at Vallecito!

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2023/24 was another great season at Vallecito!

By the numbers:

87 days of groomed nordic sking this winter (23-24)!!

952 hours of volunteer grooming- total heroes!

176 round trips of those volunteers driving out to groom our trails Vallecito

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Thanks to the generosity of skiers and several large donations we we were able to purchase two new snow mobiles last season. We had to switch snowmobile brands - there is only one company making groomer style snowmobiles now - and the new ones aren’t quite as durable as our previous machines. Also, Doug Allen - our grooming guru - has repaired all the grooming gear for this year. We are ready for to go!

In the mean time… Please renew your membership to Vallecito Nordic Club.

Everyone becoming a member by December 17th at the $75 or $100 level, is automatically entered in a drawing for a Rossignol skate ski package donated by Pine Needle Mountaineering. If you join at the $75 or $100 level and make an additional donation to either our Snow Rabbit 3 fund or to the ski club, you will receive an extra drawing ticket for each $50 of additional donation up to a maximum of 8 tickets for the drawing. This has to be done by December 17th! Early support helps us budget for the ski season. The winner will be notified/announced December18th afternoon.

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For the 2024/2025 ski season we have two events planned:

• January 19: Demo Days with Fischer and Swix, definitely attending and Salomon and Rossignol have been invited.

• February 1: Ski clinic - classic and skating

• Check back for more information and other events.

For past grooming reports and season summaries please click on Grooming Report Archives below

About Vallecito Nordic and what makes it unique

1. Our grooming is all done by volunteers. Express your gratitude when you can.

2. We depend on your support. Join/donate if you can. Membership

3. We allow dogs, but ...

   -They must be kept under control. That is your responsibility.

   -Aggressive dogs (to people, other dogs or grooming equipment) should be left home.

   -You need to clean up after them. No one likes brown wax.

4. No bikes

5. Walkers and snowshoers should consider using our dedicated path.

Vallecito Nordic PARTNERSHIPS

In 2021 we welcomed an additional partner the Pine River Irrigation District (PRID), which expanded our longtime collaboration with the Columbine Ranger District of the US Forest Service. Partnering with PRID opens up skiing on the beach and PRID has helped with trail preparation, plowing the road and graveling the road near the trailheads. PRID requires trail users to purchase a PRID Recreation Permit. You can purchase an annual PRID Recreation Permit or a Day Use pass at the PRID website using the links below. These permits are for a vehicle, not per person, so carpool and save!

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ANNUAL PRID Permit:

For annual passes for the calendar year 2025 ($60 plus a service fee) will be available the first week of January 2025. At that time go to: PRID Annual Recreation Permit

Your 2024 pass is good for December 2024. All money from PRID recreation permits goes to the Pine River Irrigation District.

In case the link doesn’t work the URL is: https://www.pineriverirrigationdistrict.com/recreation-user-annual-permit-per-vehicle

PRID Day-Use Permit:

If you choose nopt to get an annual pass, daily passes are $6 (plus a service fee) and are available here: PRID Daily Recreation Permit In case the link doesn’t work the URL is: https://www.pineriverirrigationdistrict.com/recreation-user-day-use-permit-per-vehicle