Memories of the Golden shovel
By Don Lenkeit

I first discovered Bear Valley Cross Country in the early 1970s. We used Bonna wooden skis and bamboo poles, and always avoided using a klister wax! Gradually, we transitioned through the many equipment and technique innovations. The skis on the wall at the store are the wooden ones we first used in Alberta and then for several years at Bear Valley Cross Country. In the early 1980s, our family, with three other families, co-purchased one of the five original cabins in the Old Subdivision. Very basic, but the source of very special memories all year long – Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter!

My first Bjornloppet Race in 1973 followed a 20-kilometer course that went up and across Osborne Ridge and descended along a very steep and straight hill into Orvis Meadow! Paul Petersen, wisely, modified the descent to a two-step drop. Alas, it became necessary for me to yield to my aging body and transition from the 20K to the 10K and now, at 81 years of age, to the 5K event.

Below is a short poem I wrote in 2012 as a token of my appreciation and respect for the efforts made by the PistenBully snowcat and crew that prepped the trails and sledding and tubing hills. We celebrated their season-long efforts in this low snow year, by presenting a signed Golden Shovel to Paul and Dianne Petersen at the "Tour de Bear" potluck. Before you read, imagine the early morning cold and a setting full moon, complete with a tableau of “moon shadows”, that echo the lyrics of Cat Stevens.

2012 Tour de Bear—Memories of the Golden Shovel
Don Lenkeit

Ruminations—One Cold Morning at Bear
Cold. So cold!
Moon shadows spider web in Orvis Meadow.
Is it late, very late?
Or
Is it early, very early?
PistenBully fires up.
Lumbers across Hwy 4.
Shovels in hand,
Paul, Travis, Jim and Steve
Watch moon shadows yield to a rising sun.
Cold. So cold.