About Mat-Su Ski Club
What We Do
The Mat-Su Ski Club promotes Nordic Skiing in the southern Mat-Su Valley, Alaska for fun, community, and health.
We groom ski trails at Government Peak Recreation Area, the Moose Range, Archangel Road, and Independence Mine. We host community ski races, and more competitive races; as well as the annual Mat-Su Ski for Women. We offer educational clinics and adult ski lessons. Hundreds of kids are learning to ski every winter in our Junior Nordic program. We organize and lead community ski get-togethers and an annual overnight ski trip to a remote hut or cabin. We work with other ski organizations, such as local high schools, when they race at the venues we maintain. The Club has and can host FIS-sanctioned Nordic races at GPRA. We host the annual Government Peak Hill Climb, a component of the summertime Alaska Mountain Runners race calendar. We organize volunteers, raise funds, do trail work, pursue grants, manage projects, and work with public and private agencies and organizations to build new ski trails and facilities, and to maintain the trails year-round.
We ski!
Club History
The Club was born out of efforts to develop the Crevasse Moraine trails in the 1980’s and the Colony High School trails in the 1990’s. We sponsored a small Junior Nordic ski program from 1987 to 2000. In 2007, as a result of our expanding role in developing the GPRA trail system, we organized as the Mat-Su Ski Club, receiving Federal non-profit 501(c)(3) status in September 2008. The Club has a strong history of partnering with the MatSu Borough, and with other non-profit organizations, schools, and the community to achieve big goals. We are always working towards opportunities for developing our community’s trail systems and facilities and for encouraging people to take advantage of them.
The Club has over 400 adult members now.
Club Finances
The Club’s core programs are self supporting. The Club generates income from its Junior Nordics program, Membership dues, Adult Ski Lessons program and annual fundraisers. Support supplied by the Club for high school through FIS-level nordic races is another source of income. The Club recieves an annual recurring level of donations from the community; individuals, corporations, and local business’s. Foundation, corporate, and local community support has funded the largest infrastructure projects and capitol purchases undertaken by the Club. We are a volunteer driven organization, with three part time staff members. Our overhead expenses are minimal. Excess funds go to development of trails and facilities, and to set asides for future equipment needs. See the latest financial snapshot of the Club here.