Pembina Nordic Ski Club – The Heart of Winter in Drayton Valley
The Pembina Nordic Ski Club
The Pembina Nordic Ski Club boasts a dedicated group of volunteers and members who maintain outstanding Nordic and Skate Ski Trails just a few minutes from Drayton Valley. This is a special place where families come together to connect with each other and nature while disconnecting from electronics! This time spent outdoors also helps improve fitness and mental health.
The History
When the first group of Drayton Valley area Nordic skiers came together 50 years ago, they met to ski on the golf course and the flats below the downhill ski area. Once established as a group, the members elected Marty Prentice as their first president and soon had the desire for more adventurous trails. They turned to the crown land on Township Road 494 overlooking the river and volunteers continued to expand the trails. In the early days, there was no money for sophisticated trail grooming equipment. Long time member Lori Macintosh remembers when grooming the trails meant taking her family out on snowshoes after a snowfall to pack it down enough to ski in the tracks. (Fast forward 50 years and we have a tracked quad that pulls custom-made equipment that grooms over 15kms of trails to race quality)!
Historical Ski Club Events
The Jackrabbit Learn to Ski program has been an important part of the club since the club’s onset. The Jackrabbit program teaches kids how to ski and leadership skills that helped them be valuable members of the community. The current program offers lessons at affordable prices with equipment that kids can rent for the season and the option to attend fun races in other communities. Kids continue to have fun improving their skills and confidence by going to ski races hosted the Pembina Nordic Ski Club as well as other clubs!
The Rustic Chalet
Pembina Nordic Ski Club was able to make their dream of a warm cabin a reality in 1987, thanks to volunteers and funds from the local Texaco. Dave Mussell and David Fowell remember waking up multiple times in the middle of the night to fill the stove and keep the fire going during the annual Jackrabbit sleep over in the rustic chalet.
A Provincial Park
After years of struggling to maintain great trails while competing with the motorized users who also enjoyed the area, a group of volunteers lobbied the government, and the Eagle Point Blue Rapids Park was established in 2007. (For more history on Eagle Point Provincial Park, visit https://www.epbrparkscouncil.org/about/)
Current Events and Ongoing Club Info
The Nordic Skiers are a diverse group of people but one thing they have in common is a love for the outdoors! Over the years, this has contributed to the expansion of the area for a variety of activities. A running group hosts the annual Turkey Trot in the autumn and disc golfers enjoy the Night Owl Tournament in summer.
Over the last 10 years, the trails have expanded to include 9km of multi-use trails. They are excellent for snowshoeing, fat tire biking, summer hiking and cycling. Thanks to a grant from Weyerhaeuser in 2024, these trails are now top tier!
While the rustic chalet has a special place in the hearts of longtime members, a modern facility named the Rotary-Pembina Outdoor Education Centre opened in 2019. This has allowed Pembina Nordic Ski Club to utilize the area in more diverse ways and expose more of our local youth to the outdoors.
We hope you will all come out to experience the heart of winter at the 2026 Eagle Point Loppet on January 24th, 2026. Click the button to register for the Eagle Point Loppet! All levels of ability are welcome!
Whether you’re a skier or not, you can support this amazing club by joining them for the 50th celebration event, happening on the evening of January 24, 2026! This event will be an anniversary to remember with food, friends, memories, silent auction & dancing!
GET YOUR TICKETS FOR THE 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
