Dear TLC members:
It is with great regret I inform you that our pisten‐bully groomer broke down this past Saturday at Meissner. Some of you may have skied past it Saturday or Sunday as it was stranded beyond the Tangent‐Snowbush intersection. Or you may have seen Tim Chain making the long walk back to the pole barn carrying a fist‐sized piece of the groomer’s engine with him, which he said “shot out of the side of the engine”.
The club’s first priority was to get the groomer off the snow and into town, where we can assess the damage. We all owe the Moon Country Snowmobile Club a huge “THANK YOU” for helping us transport the pisten‐bully groomer off the snow and into town. Within 4 hours of the time we had called to ask them if they could tow our groomer to the Meissner parking lot from where it had broken down, they were there at Meissner. They used their groomer to tow our groomer to the trailhead, then came back with a truck and trailer, loaded our groomer, and brought it to town. Which is wonderful because of all the flack they take from Nordic skiers. They said, “We don’t want anything in return; we just want everyone to get along.” Please see below for how you can help thank them, but most importantly, please be a good TLC representative and be nice to the ‘bilers. We should also thank Karen Benson, Tim Chain and Ken Roadman for making all the phone calls and arrangements to get our groomer to safety.
The next thing we need to do is figure out our options. Tim’s first assessment is that a piston broke through the engine wall, knocking off a hand‐sized piece of the engine block. This means the engine is shot and repairs are sure to run into many thousands of dollars. The TLC board will meet later this week when we have a clearer understanding of our options.
In the meantime we are going back to grooming with our snowmobiles. Please be patient, the grooming cannot be as good or as extensive with the smaller equipment. However, we will continue to provide limited grooming at Meissner. And we will send the club membership updates when we know more.
The best thing you can do to help us to get our excellent grooming back up to speed is to:
1) Thank Moon Country Snowmobiles by going to their website www.mooncountrysnowmobilers.com, where you can send an email Thank You.
2) Please go online to www.tumalolanglauf.com and make a donation via paypal, or send a donation check to Tumalo Langlauf XC Ski Club, PO Box 2032, Bend, OR 97709.
3) We need more members to help share the cost of grooming at Meissner! Please ask everyone you know who uses Meissner to join TLC and make a grooming donation. We now also have a Business membership of $250 that is a win‐win for your business and for TLC.
We are at an extremely critical juncture in our ability to fund grooming with the cost of repairs to our aging groomer. We are projecting that we will spend five times what we spent last year in maintenance and repairs to the aging pisten‐bully. We will be calling on our members and the community at large to support our efforts to provide this community service, and to help support our efforts to raise enough money to purchase a new groomer. With everyone doing their part, we can look forward to many more years of excellent grooming at Meissner.
Tom Carroll President, Tumalo Langlauf Club
