Hey everybody! Are you as excited as I am about the coming winter? Are you thinking of new and original ways of training and getting ready for your first time on snow? I am hiking up mountains this year, especially those around my new home of Johnsons Landing, B.C. There seems to be an old-growth tree for me to find every time I hike up a new mountain.

As we head into the middle of October, I would like to thank the members of CANSI’s technical committee (TC), under the leadership of Elizabeth Nicholson, for the hard work they have done all summer long, getting our course guides and teaching guides up to date. I would like to thank Rob Henderson for spearheading the development of our video database, where you can find all of the manoeuvres we teach demonstrated by some of our top instructors.

Karen Evans has been heading up our CANSI/Nordiq Canada collaboration committee. I would like to thank her and the committee for all the hours they have put in to create the Ski Your Best program, which will roll out in various pilot projects across the country this winter.

Our sole paid employee, Marie Lefebvre, works tirelessly to manage our members' needs and concerns. Thank you, Marie!

Garry Almond, Ken Halcro and our new accounting clerk, Jeannie MacDonald, are looking after our finances, including CANSI’s insurance policy, which we all depend upon when we teach. Thank you to all three of you!

Finally, thank you to our national Board of Directors, who all make the effort to attend our monthly meetings via Zoom. You make my job as your president very easy. Thank you for your dedication.

I'll be at SilverStar starting November 22, taking part in our Pacific XC course conductor briefing, the new and popular XC Level lll/lV workshop, Supercamps and the Nordic Racers of Vancouver training weekend. If you can make it out, let's go for a ski together.

Now, back to my training...

Denys Lawrence, CANSI president

Photos of Davis Creek Trail in B.C., above right, by Denys Lawrence