Upcoming Events

Skiwerx Mpls; Summer Session

06/10/2019

Eight weeks of rollerski skills and games for all levels at Brackett Park in Mpls (near the...

Kids' Explore (with North Star Ski Touring Club)

06/22/2019

FREE! Minnehaha Falls family hike and BYO-picnic. A great way to meet outdoor-families!

...

Kids' Explore Bike Camping Trip (with North Star Ski Touring Club)

08/16/2019

A three-day familiy trip to the Sparta-Elroy Bike Trail! Free. Supported by our partners at...

MyXChange: Ski Swap and Expo

11/16/2019

We will be back at Base Camp! Plan to spend the morning with us. Expo, speakers, break out...

MyXC Festival & Championships

03/14/2020

Our celebration of winter. The Festival events are all day Saturday (including the Fishscale...

K COUNTER TOP 10

Skier	Club	KM
Anders W	Hyland Lake	810.05
Philip L	Hyland Lake	737.1
Max M	Hyland Lake	550.9
Lukas W	Hyland Lake	431.13
Cate K	Lake Elmo	303.8
Caleb C	Tamarack SkiSparks	281
Darien H	Battle Creek	201.1
Jack K	Willow River	170.3
Ryan K	Willow River	170.3
Hyrum L	Bunker Hills	156.9

Wirth Youth Ski Club SATURDAYS

Primary tabs

Location

1301 Theodore Wirth Parkway

55422-4584 Minneapolis , MN

Phone: 612-604-5330

See map: Google Maps

Minnesota

SaturdayWirth

Venue Name:

Theodore Wirth Park

Attachment	Size
Wirth Club Skier Guide.pdf	66.51 KB

Registration:

Full

Meets:

Saturday

3:00-4:30pm

Starts:

January 5, 2019 - 3:00pm

Dates:

1/5, 1/12, 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/2

Rentals:

Club Rentals - closed

Membership:

$45

Ski Pass:

Mpls Parks Ski Pass for all skiers

Leader:

Michael Winikoff ,

612-414-0051

Email:

WirthSaturdays@mysl.org

Welcome to the MYSL at THEODORE WIRTH PARK in MINNEAPOLIS!

We are glad that you will join us for the 2018/2019 ski season in the city! The Wirth Club of the MYSL is an all-volunteer club that teaches cross-country skiing to children at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis. Children ages 4-15 and their parents are welcome, as are other volunteers who share in our goal of generating a love for Nordic skiing in youth and having fun in the snow. Our club welcomes families brand new to skiing as well as dedicated ski families. Our goal is to see smiles out on the trails.

November 14 Announcement

Wirth Saturday SkiSparks is now full. We encourage you to register for one of our other SkiSparks clubs if your first choice is full. SkiSparks clubs are more alike than different. All use the same curriculum and coaching philosophy. Additionally, all clubs in the Twin Cities metro area have been assigned a back-up location at a facility with snowmaking (Hyland, Elm Creek, Wirth or Edina).

Some great alternative clubs with Wirth Sunday:

Edina SkiSparks -- snowmaking!
Irondale SkiSparks -- rental equipment available
St. Anthony Park SkiSparks -- U of M Golf Course
French SkiSparks -- chalet rentals available

Schedule and location:

The Wirth Club is scheduled to meet on nine Saturdays from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., beginning Saturday, January 5 and ending Saturday, March 2 with the Midwest Junior Classics, which will have events and activities appropriate for all ages and levels. Wirth is one of the few sites in the metro that has snowmaking, so parking can be tight! Please plan on arriving early to find parking and to get your skier dressed, equipped and with their group. Your coach would like to start skiing at 3 p.m.! (The parking lot in front of the Chalet can fill up on nice days; if it does, you can park across the Parkway in the overflow lot or just south on the Parkway near the Loppet Trailhead.)

All skiers and parents will need trail passes this season. This pass is good for all trails at Wirth, Hiawatha, and Columbia Heights Golf Course. Parents must purchase a trail pass directly from the Loppet Foundation (loppet.org). While we understand this adds to the overall cost of MYSL participation, trail fees enable snowmaking at Wirth and help ensure we have a full season, even in the absence of natural snow. (See additional information below under Ski Passes)

After skiing, the kids gather for a snack. Please plan on volunteering to bring a snack once throughout the season. We will circulate an electronic sign-up sheet toward the beginning of the season. Ideas for snacks are granola bars, oranges, bananas, cheese, crackers, juice. Each family should bring enough snacks so that there is one snack per child. (Note that early in the season and on pleasant days more kids will turn out.) If you are in the mood for a larger snack, we encourage everyone to buy food at the snack bar. Thank you!

We typically hold an awards ceremony on the last session of skiing. We will need volunteers for this too.

Registration:

Register online on the MYSL Web site or contact our club's Skier Coordinator if you have any questions. To ensure appropriate class size for our volunteer coaches. Register early and volunteer to give our kids a great ski season!

Levels 1 through 4 teach the classic technique and Levels 5 and 6 introduce skating. If you are new to MYSL, use the age ranges as a guide when you register; your coach will help place your child in the appropriate level after the first class.

We require that a parent accompany any child not yet in first grade or any beginner in Level 1; this will ensure a great ski experience, and, you will be able to demonstrate how to ski (or how to fall down, as the case may be . . .).

Volunteers:

We need you! The Wirth Club is an all-volunteer club. We depend on parents and other volunteers to coach, encourage and help organize our children, and we expect at least one adult volunteer from each family registered. With your participation, we can create a great winter experience for our kids. We need these volunteers:

Coaches: – Coaching is one of the most important and enjoyable ways you can volunteer. While the Club is fortunate to have some of its coaches returning this year, we need more adult coaches to keep our coach-to-skier ratio high. Anyone can coach – you don’t need to be an expert skier to volunteer. MYSL has an excellent week-by-week curriculum, which includes many games on skis. Also, MYSL typically holds training opportunities for new coaches in December. Please contact our Coach Coordinator if you can make this valuable contribution.
Junior Coaches: - In addition, junior coaches have made a real contribution to the Club. If you are a high school skier and would be willing to serve as a junior coach, we need you!
Potluck Coordinator: – Would you like to help plan the end of season potluck? Please contact the club leader.
Parent skiers: – The Club encourages parents to ski with their kids – they love to see you doing the same thing and being able to show you what they can do! We encourage you to ski with your child's level and to help with games and exercises. You may learn how to coach!
Activity Leader - Help prepare a fun (crazy?) activity for the kids to enjoy during the class, such as a treasure hunt, face painting, a destination ski to find a special treat, ski acrobatics, or anything you can think of. A fun activity is a great way to teach skiing without the kids knowing they are being taught. We have built snow forts, served S'Mores on the trail, had costumed mascots make appearances. We are always open to new ways to make skiing fun.
Photographer - We'd like to capture pictures of our skiers for sharing at our end-of-year potluck. Are you tech-savvy and able to organize a slideshow?

Ski Passes:

A MPRB (Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board) Ski Pass is required on groomed trails in the MPRB system (Chain of Lakes, Columbia, Hiawatha, and Theodore Wirth Regional Trails). This must be visible at all times.

A Natural Snow Trail Pass (free to children 11 and under) will work everywhere except on the groomed snowmaking trails at Wirth. Saturday and Sunday MYSL Wirth SkiSparks will typically use the snowmaking trails unless there is enough natural snow. This will require an All-Access Trail Pass for all ages.

MYSL offers a discounted rate on the trail passes that can be found HERE for the following participants:

All children enrolled in SkiSparks
Parent coaches and assistant coaches
Parent volunteers who are present every week to accompany their SkiSparks skiers (for example sweepers and level 1 through 4 ski-along parents)

Please be sure to select "MYSL" from the drop-down menu as your program during pass registration.

The possibility exists that level 1 through level 3 skiers in Wirth SkiSparks would not need an All-Access Trail Pass because of sufficient natural snow fall. For this reason, the link to the discounted rate will remain available until January 15th. If we get enough natural snow before club meetings begin the Natural Snow Trail Pass (free to children 11 and under) will be sufficient. If your family is new to skiing and will likely only be skiing at Wirth during SkiSparks sessions you may want to wait before purchasing a trail pass. If you're eager to get out on the snow today and will be supporting our program as a volunteer, then an All-Access Trail Pass would be the best choice.

Weather:

The Club will cancel skiing if the temperature is forecast to be below -2 degrees F or if the wind chill is forecast to be less than -10 degrees F. The Club may also cancel or change locations if snow conditions are poor. With Snowmaking and access to shelter we typically have our sessions in almost any conditions. A cancellation will be sent by e-mail (to the address provided when you registered).

Equipment:

Make sure your skiers are dressed in layers appropriate for the weather conditions and are fed and hydrated. A dry, warm skier is a happy skier. There are several options for families in search of equipment.

1. MYSL has a limited number of rentals and we try to stock small sizes. Please select the rental option if you would like to rent from the club.

2. Wirth Park does rent classic equipment, but the selection can be limited.

3. If you need equipment or have equipment to sell, check out MYSL's ski swap in November.

Each child will be issued a stylish (i.e., white) MYSL bib on the first day and will be required to wear their bib each session. Bibs immediately identify your child as being with our club and help the coaches learn names. Please do your child a favor right now and think of a clever place to stash his or her bib between sessions so you don't forget it--consider leaving them in your car, in your ski bag, or with ski clothing. Please return bibs on the last day.

Curriculum:

The MYSL curriculum teaches skiing with games using an orderly progression through six distinct levels, Levels 1 through 6. Most all skiers (especially at the lower levels) WILL spend two years in each level, e.g., a beginning skier will spend two years in Level 1 at ages 5 and 6. To progress to the next level a skier must reach specific goals at each level. The curriculum is not designed so that a skier spends only one year in each level. Please familiarize yourself with these levels and goals (posted on the MYSL site) so that you can be aware of what your skier is working on and so that you can offer encouragement. Your coach can always explain the curriculum and goals to you and offer a recommendation for a suitable level.

Looking forward to another great season, and please contact us with questions or feedback, your Wirth Club leaders,

Michael Winikoff, mawinikoff@gmail.com, (Club Leader)

Club blog posts

All Wirth Youth Ski Club SATURDAYS blog posts

K Counter leaderboard

Are you a skier in this club? Click here to log-in to enter your activity into the K Counter.

Skier	Distance (km)
Emmett G	113.5
Owen M	97
Kai R	96.5
Ethan A	94.5
Bjorn S	91.5
Phoebe M	63
Eilif T	62.5
Willa T	57.5
Cullan F	53.31
Trevor C	52.3

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