Volunteer with the Mat-Su Ski Club
The Mat-Su Ski Club relies on dedicated volunteers to run ski races and events as well as Junior Nordics, instructing ski lessons, trail grooming, trail maintenance, and trail ambassadors. Thank you for stopping by this page. The contact for each program and event is listed or linked below. The club values and appreciates every volunteer’s time and hopes that you’ll consider sharing yours. Ski ya soon!
Volunteers are needed to help with Ski Races. No experience necessary. We will teach you.
Description of Volunteer Race Positions
Have Questions? Contact Ida Gullett at race.director@matsuski.org
Ski Races and dates For the 2023-2024 Season:
- November 11, 2023: Race to the Outhouse (RTTO)
- December 8th and 9th, 2023: Colony Chaos
- December 22nd, 2023: Holiday Tour of Lighted Trees
- December 30th and 31st 2023: Icicle Double
- January 19th and 20th, 2024: Palmer Invite
- January 28th, 2024: Junior Nordics Finisher #1
- February 11th, 2024: Ski For Women
- February 18th, 2024: Junior Nordics Finisher #2
- March 3rd, 2024: Junior Nordics Finisher #3
Trail Ambassador Program: Contact Marla Jakab at marla.jakab@matsuski.org
Trail Ambassadors are volunteers that love our trails and interacting with the community. As the trails we groom and maintain become more popular and crowded, it is our goal to provide visitors with an awareness of trail etiquette in order to preserve all the effort and time that goes into trail grooming. These friends have knowledge of the area and can answer questions about events, ski races and programs hosted by the Mat-Su Ski Club. Also, it’s just nice to have a friendly person to talk to.
- They are visible by wearing this vest frequently when skiing at any trail system groomed by the Mat-Su Ski Club.
- They are available to answer questions that folks may have about the trail systems.
- They share proper trail etiquette with the public like where to walk, ski, bike, scoop poop, etc.
- They let folks know that grooming is done by volunteers and how proper trail use preserves this work.
- They direct folks to our website by handing out rack cards from vest pockets which contain a website QR code. This way folks can easily access the website for MSSC information, events, make donations or add a membership. (In our excitement to get the vests to our volunteers, this part was left out)
Trail Grooming and Trail Maintenance: Trail groomers are trained to groom at Independence Mine, Archangel Road and GPRA, along with the Moose Range. We use snow machines and a PistenBully 100 along with other types of equipment. Heavy equipment experience and ski trail knowledge preferred but not necessary. These volunteers are rewarded with parking passes and transportation fees. Trail maintenance is mainly done in summer to prepare trails for winter. 8 accumulated hours of trail work is rewarded with a Mat Su Borough parking pass for the following year. Contact Ed Strabel at edstrabelak@gmail.com
Junior Nordics Coaching: We teach kids ages 5-16 how to ski each winter from January to March. We are always looking for Junior Nordics coaches to help herd and coach kids and Junior Nordic Steering Committee members to help with the back office side of the program. All ski skill levels are welcome for coaching, and no experience is needed to be a committee member. There are many rewards for joining this program, including training from a professional coach on how to coach kids, if you want to participate. Contact Stephanie LaRousse at juniornordics@matsuski.org
Adult Ski Lesson Coach: Instructors teach beginner and intermediate ski lessons in Classic and Freestyle (skate) skiing from January through March each year. If you are interested in teaching a class to help folks learn to cross country ski or have questions about becoming a coach, please Contact Jerry Hupp at jerry.hupp@matsuski.org.