Interview with Mike Burns

MIKE BURNS IS A LOCAL SKIER, VOLUNTEER, JNQ ORGANIZER, GARY SILVER AWARD WINNER, AND MEMBER OF THE NON-MOTORIZED SNOW PARK ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

What are some of the bigger challenges that you face both locally with Mount Spokane and on the statewide level? 

There are different challenges, but there are obviously a lot of similar fundamental challenges, and one of the biggest ones is just funding, right? The funds are generated off of permit sales. We’ll have a good sales year for permits if the snow looks good early, I bet we’ll have a record year this year because there’s a lot of snow in the Cascades and east of the Cascades. People are excited to get out and play, which means they’re going to buy snow park permits. We should have a great year of permit sales. There have been years in the past where it has not been a great year of permit sales and funds for grooming and snow removal are limited. Part of the funding is the guys that plow our parking lot at the Selkirk Lodge and the road to get there and keep the bathrooms clean. 

So if we don’t have a lot of permit sales, those services are lacking, and I’ve seen it in years past. So I would say that’s a fundamental challenge that you always have, making sure that you’re getting enough funds and you’re allocating them appropriately across the entire system showing equity. I’ll give you an example. Mount Spokane seems to be getting favorable allocations of funding because we’ve had a new groomer more recently than anybody else, but we also have some of the highest use of our trail system of anywhere in the state. 

I’m guessing we sell five to six hundred combo stickers every year at Mount Spokane which is $120 annually now. Fees went up last year and that’s the first time they’ve gone up in nine years and I actually sat on the committee that came up with the recommendation of what to do. The cost for snow parks and special grooming stickers had been static for nine prior years. Obviously the cost of fuel, equipment, and labor has not been static for nine years so we had to do something. We were thoughtful and did a lot of research with other costs for Nordic passes and costs to go Nordic skiing within the state of Washington and beyond. We were looking in Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Oregon to see what it cost to recreate on Nordic trail systems in other parts of the Western US. Frankly, our fee structure is still one of the most cost-effective ways to do it from the perspective that you’re buying it for a vehicle and not a person. In comparison, the Methow Valley, which admittedly is one of the best places to Nordic ski in the country, is $400 annually per person for a ski pass. 

How do you handle the permits for the people that visit Mount Spokane to recreate in ways other than skiing? 

On Mount Spokane, motorized trail users are snowmobilers for the most part. Snow bikes are pretty new, but they’re also doing those. That money is allocated off of permit sales from registrations on winter vehicles and usually doesn’t get cross-purposed. So the non-motorized and motorized programs are separate from a funding allocation source, but in a pinch our guys might have to go out and help the motorized groomer finish his laps over on the backside of Mount Spokane. So I mean there is collaboration, and as much as they are two separate pots of money, there is crossover in terms of just where it makes sense. 

One of the challenges that is somewhat unique to Mt Spokane versus other places is that we have a ton of users in a multitude of capacities. What I mean by that is we have snowmobilers who try to drive on the Nordic trails. We have snowshoers who want to walk and be out on our groomed Nordic trails. We have snow bikes who want to do that. So it seems to be more conflict in our area because it’s confined a little bit more than other places are. And that does cause some challenges. I know that it’s a heartache for state parks to try to keep users separate because our budget at Mount Spokane is roughly between $50,000 and $75,000 annually for the grooming. You don’t want to waste that money because a snowmobile tears it up 10 minutes after you’ve spent 8 hours and $2,000 in fuel to go out and groom, right? That’s just careless. 

Why is Nordic skiing so important to you? 

Well, obviously we’re fortunate that our kids like to go out and slide on snow because if that wasn’t the case, we probably wouldn’t be doing this. I certainly love to do it. You know, it’s the environment. It’s the activity. It’s healthy. It keeps you doing something. Being active as a family builds cohesion, builds strength, and builds community. These are people that I like to hang out with and be with and do things outside with, 

so that’s super important for both Kate and me and our family. We’re not the type of people that would want to be inside on the weekends in front of the fireplace. I mean, we do that certainly, but we like to be active before we sit down to read a book. The days are pretty short in the winter, so you’ve got to maximize the time. You can get some Vitamin D outside. 

How has Nordic skiing affected your life? 

I didn’t ever think that my daughter would take such an avid interest in skiing that she’d end up Nordic skiing at the collegiate level. Obviously, her getting a full ride to a great university had a big financial effect on our lives, but in terms of how it’s enriched us as a family, I mean, it just created so many fun times together. Whether that’s going to a cabin in the Methow Valley or going to races together as a family in Bend or Soldier Hollow, we’ve loved it all. You know, I pursued being a technical delegate, which is an official for United States Ski Association. I followed the guy from Spokane before who’s the head of all the technical delegates in the Western U.S., Al Pacorni, and he kind of roped me in. 

But it’s been so fun. I get to watch high-level skiing regularly and I’m going to the events anyway because my kids are typically participating in them. So I’m there to make sure they’re run fairly and that the participants are safe. I’ve learned a ton from just being exposed to the community and jumping in feet first. It’s been extremely rewarding. I mean, yeah, it’s a lot of time and a lot of hours of learning the materials and training so you can be a head official and make sure that the event is put on properly, fairly, and that the environment is conducive for really good competition. But, you know, it’s been so rewarding to just be part of that. Like I said before, I love the community that we have at Mount Spokane, it’s fantastic, but I also really love being able to see the communities in other places and how we’ve come together as a community from across the region. 

For example, I’m getting up at 5 a.m. this weekend to drive Bridget to Omak to meet with the Methow Valley team because she’s going up to Canada with them for 10 days. They’re taking her in under their wing because there’s a bigger community out there within our state and there’s great people all over. In my opinion, that’s because they have the same values. They want to be active and healthy and they love the outdoors just like we do. It’s just a really good vibe.