So you’d like to lead a day tour?  Great, we would love to have more people leading tours. It is a fun way to meet people while enjoying the sport you love.  You do not have to be an expert skier. Tour leaders can span the range of abilities. What is important is that the group is safe.  As an added incentive, lead two or more tours and get your Sno-park pass cost reimbursed and be eligible for up to $100 per year for safety education. 

Our club thrives from people wanting to coordinate and lead overnight ski trips for club members. Typical trips range from a group of 8 to 12 people in shared lodging at Pacific Northwest XC ski destinations and beyond.  Time commitment depends on complexity and length of the trip, but can range from as little as a few hours to tens of hours.  Tasks include:

• Lodging research and arrangements
• Writing a trip description
• Coordinating with people who sign up
• Helping with the day-day planning on the trip
• Writing a trip report for the monthly newsletter or arranging for someone to
• May be for one or more trips per year depending on commitment and club need

Experience leading a group of people in outdoor activities is helpful, whether informal or more formal.  Training can vary depending on the background of the individual, and can include things such as leading day trips for ONC-PDX or co-leading an overnight trip. We have a leader’s handbook and other guidelines and online tools and instructional videos to help.

Benefits include a generous trip discount, discount for extra (external) safety training classes, selecting the trip specifics to your liking, and the satisfaction gained in leading a group of people doing an activity that they love.

The John Craig Memorial event consists of self-timed ski races of about 6 or 12 miles and casual ski tours of the same lengths. Participants leave from the East Snow Gate of Highway 242 (McKenzie Pass Highway), about 9 miles west of Sisters, Oregon.  The date changes year-to-year but has been held the 3rd Saturday in March in recent times.

Volunteers are needed to help as follows:

Before the event:

• Designing an appropriate poster to promote The John Craig Memorial Ski Race and Tour.  This should be completed by the middle of December.
• Designing and having printed shirts or hats to give/sell at the event.
• Distribution of posters in ski shops, ski areas, gyms, schools, and more around the state starting in January and continuing until the event.
• Help with using social media to publicize the event – various outdoor groups, clubs, meetup, etc..
• Responding to emails from people who have questions about the event.
• Organizing overnight lodging for people who wish to stay overnight in SIsters.
• Managing registration lists.
• Contacting media – newspapers (whatever they are), radio, & TV.
• Soliciting door prizes for the Pizza event

During the event:

• Set-up beginning and finish line tables, outhouses, etc.
• Help with registration at the event and check-in.
• Timing the event and recording the times.
• Helping participants park their vehicles.
• Hosting the Pizza Party at the end of the event.
• Safety skiers to ski the event to check on people.

After the event:

• Collecting and organizing the participation and financial information.

Trail tending is a great way to participate in the stewardship of the trails we ski. The Oregon Nordic Club partners with the US Forest Service to maintain and expand the wonderful network of Nordic trails in the Mt. Hood and Gifford Pinchot National Forests. Spending a day on a work crew is a fun way to meet new people, catch up with old friends, and enjoy a day in the woods, while providing an important service to the Nordic community and our forests.

We host two work parties each year:
     Summer – In mid July or August we complete cabin and trail work with drive up access to the cabin and campground.
     Fall – the annual firewood stocking for both cabins is always the first Saturday in October 9am to 4pm at Tilly Jane.

All volunteers earn a free overnight stay at the A Frame during winter ONC club weekends!

Check out our volunteer opportunities: click here or contact our Friends of Tilly Jane.

Looking for a fun and easy way to contribute to the club?

Each month two members are needed to help with room set up for the monthly meetings from 5:30-6:30 pm the second Tuesday of the month.  Details as follows:

• Meet in the parking lot of the Multnomah Arts Center Sr Center parking lot at 5 pm and help unload supplies from the car.
• Set up 10 card tables & chairs; add table cloths and place floral centerpieces, and four name badges/pen
• Set-up 8′ tables for food (back of room) and presentation (front of room).
• Set up small round table for beverages.
• Hang ONC banner.

Get the satisfaction of creating a warm and inviting atmosphere for members and stay to enjoy the member meeting presentation in person.  If interested in helping to set up the room, text Dale at 503-984-6678 and let her know.

Our newsletter is the glue that holds the club together.  We are looking for members who would like to help create it each month.  Work with Word or Google Docs, do some minor photo editing, check grammar, punctuation, etc., and create the newsletter using Mailchimp.

We get some great photos from our ski trips, both day tours and overnight.  We need someone to help keep them organized and to keep an eye out for new photos that would fit well on our website.  There’s an existing library on Google photos to get you started.

Familiar with WordPress or other CMS platforms?  Worked with Google or Office apps on the web?  If any or all apply, we could use your help to develop, update and maintain things on our website and Google Workspace.

Are you a fan of ONC-PDX and  a dedicated active member who would like to welcome new members into the club?

The Membership Team is responsible for tracking new members as they join, reaching out to them to give a warm welcome, help integrate them into the club by being a personal contact, maintaining the member profiles, and greeting/recognizing new members who attend the monthly meetings.

This is a relatively low impact task with high satisfaction.  Join the team!

How about being a volunteer coordinator?  Keep a list of volunteers and volunteer opportunities and connecting with interested parties.

Have you enjoyed any of the great overnight trips that our club is famous for? We are in need of a few people to help keep this program running. Can we count on you to help?

Committee work includes coordinating the trip schedule, contacting and interacting with trip leaders, compiling trip descriptions for the newsletter, and helping with the annual “trips extravaganza” night. You’ll meet with other committee members about once a month for an hour or so. Some follow-up emails and phone calls are needed at times, at your leisure.

In a nutshell, you’ll be part of the team to help organize the program for the ski season. Sounds like fun? It’s as much as you make it. We have a set of tools available on Google Workspace (spreadsheets, Word docs, etc.) to help streamline everything, and some seasoned people to help out too.

Benefits? Get to know other club members, help shape the trips offered, and keep our all-volunteer club thriving. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Help be the public face of ONC-PDX to draw in new members.  Manage our Facebook page and keep it up to date.  Expand to Instagram too.  Have a fun time and help serve the club.

We support advocacy in helping to preserve outdoor spaces for skiing and recreation – this involves research and reporting on “Nordic Issues”.

We are always looking for people to volunteer a few hours to help. Your effort can go a long way toward ensuring that we continue to have access to the spaces and facilities that support recreational activities for everyone. Nordic Issues include proposals involving highway & trail routes, resort expansion; public land use designations & swaps; and climate change.

When you are on the board, you will be involved in decision making and deliberations that makes this club so worthwhile.  You will be conducting business, updating best practices and policy matters, and addressing members’ concerns.  The board meets for about 90 minutes each time, and roughly ten times per year.  All directors serve a minimum of two years beginning in April of the year elected.  Being a member of the Board of Directors will give you a chance to meet other members and have some fun and satisfaction in serving your club well.