Second annual Corduroy Cup in Houston

The second annual Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club Corduroy Cup is underway and will run until mid-March.

The event is all outdoors and COVID-19 friendly, and features eight trail routes within the club’s ski area for participants to complete a their own time, tracking their accumulative kilometre travelled. Last year’s final results saw a total of 1,718 km travelled from all the participants combined.

The routes vary in difficulty rating and distance, with the shortest being 5.3 km and the longest being 11.8 km. A mini-cup is also available for newer skiers, with five routes that reduce the hill factor.

According to Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club President Greg Yeomans, the registration for the event closed in January, though he told Houston Today that he’ll look into opening up another round of registration to get more people involved before the conclusion of the event.

A big reason why the cup is being put on this year is due to the the hard work of the volunteer trail groomers who keep the trails in good condition to ski. It’s a job that Yeomans says is harder then ever right now, especially with the unseasonable weather that’s hit the area over the past month.

READ MORE: Morice Mountain Ski Club snow grooming all caught up

“We have enough snow but we sure need some fresh stuff,” Yeomans said. “Our trail system is 40 km long and in a normal year, we’re hoping with the grooming just to keep up with all the snow. This year has been extraordinary. Our challenge is fighting a hard crust that builds up from heat in the day and freezing at night,” he continued.

Despite the problems with the weather, Yeomans told Houston Today that the club is still hoping to provide a lot more skiing opportunities this winter season.

READ MORE: Buck Flats road to see increased traffic until March 31

“Trail use this year has been very high but has slowed down with this extreme weather. Hard snow is tougher on people. Seeing the snow melt in town often shifts peoples thoughts to spring. We had record membership numbers this year and I sure hope our new members get enough use out of their pass. It would be nice to see more people get hooked on skiing,” he said.