Durango Nordic Center Manager Helen Low has a quick answer as to why she has worked for the nonprofit organization for 21 years.

“It’s a wonderful place to work,” Low said. “Volunteers come back year after year to work here. We’ve had the same staff forever.”

Originally from the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England, Low settled into the Durango area in the early 2000s and started out as a Durango Nordic Center volunteer herself, before becoming a full-time manager in 2006.

“Yeah, there’s not a lot of skiing where I’m from,” Low said with a laugh. “When I moved to Durango, that’s one of the first things I learned.”

Founded in 1952 as The Durango Nordic Ski Club, the nonprofit’s intent was to provide an area for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing for people of all ages and skill sets with affordable prices for rentals and passes. The area would also provide a space for those interested in honing their skills for competition. The DNSC currently offers racing programs for even the youngest skiers, from ages 6 through 19.

According to the Durango Nordic Center’s website, “Our mission is to help young athletes achieve great things as individuals and as competitors by providing financial, developmental, and organizational support to the athletes and their coaches.”

Low maintains the programs and classes the Nordic center provides are just a few of the things that set it apart from other cross-country skiing and snowshoeing businesses in Southwest Colorado.

“We offer classes and teach lessons on skiing and snowshoeing,” she said. “We also have skate clinics. It doesn’t matter if you’ve had any experience or not.”

Low emphasizes that there is plenty for the whole family to do at the Durango Nordic Center.

“We have a lot of kids programs and a junior race team,” she said. “Sometimes, we have kids who don’t race or want to ski. They just want to have fun, so they come up here and play in the snow.”

For those who do want to get out onto the trails and do some cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, there are plenty of trails to choose from.

“We have 25 kilometers of trails,” Low said. “There are 48 Nordic ski trails.”

Low said another thing that sets the Durango Nordic Center apart from others is the organization’s ability to groom their trails on a consistent basis.

“We groom our trails every day,” she said. “We’re the only place in Southwest Colorado that does that. Our new snow cat does an amazing job.”

Low also credits trail work completed before the winter season in aiding the snow cat’s efforts in grooming the trails.

“We can extend the season by doing dirt work,” she said. “We smooth out the trails, so there will be less work for the snow cat when the snow comes.”

The new snow cat was purchased through the Nordic center’s fundraising efforts, as well as through trail fees, memberships, and donations made by community members and sponsors.

Many in the Durango community would be surprised that the Nordic center has to rely on fundraising and donations, as there has been a long-running misconception that the center is either owned by or associated with Purgatory Resort.

“We’re not connected with Purg,” said Low, “but a lot of people think we are. The Nordic Center sits on private property. The one who owns the land, who doesn’t want to be named, wants to preserve all of the trails. We also do all our own fundraising, like paying for fuel for our (snow) cat.”

Though the Nordic center’s benevolent landlord wishes to remain anonymous, Low said she and fellow co-workers have named a special trail after the person.

“She knows one of our trails is named after her,” Low said. “It’s a hidden little trail. We (the employees) all know it’s there.”

Besides the cross-country skiing, those interested in snowshoeing can rent equipment at the center and participate in activities like Full Moon Howlers, a guided snowshoeing activity that took place at midnight on Jan. 6.

Snowshoeing at midnight is just one of the many unusual activities the Nordic center embraces as part of its organization.

According to its website’s mantra, “We are a community. We celebrate the solitude and stark beauty of a winter’s day. We embrace the pursuit of fitness traversing our backyard wilderness under our own power. We get stoked if it’s a blue wax day. We thrive on type II fun (miserable while it's happening, but fun in retrospect). We enjoy some of the finest scenery in the State of Colorado from our trails. And some have the nerve to say, we wear silly clothes.”

Fitness is what many who visit the Nordic center are looking for, and cross-country skiing is considered to be one of the best forms of cardiovascular workouts, according to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s website.

“Cross-country skiing uses a large percentage of your muscle mass and is more efficient and effective than activities using legs alone or arms alone,” said Randy Clark, the exercise laboratory manager and manager of UW Health's Pediatric Fitness Clinic, on UW Health’s website.

Clark said the low-impact nature of the activity reduces impact loading on joints, which can be a safe activity for individuals with arthritis or joint surface defects.

“The weight shift in ski-skating and the diagonal stride techniques while gliding on snow increases your balance,” said Clark, “and balance is critically important in all sports, and as we age to prevent falls. Skiing increases your cardiac output (your heart's ability to pump blood) and increases your oxygen carrying capacity (your body's ability to take in, oxygenate, transport and extract oxygen at the working muscle), or stated another way: increases your cardiovascular fitness.”

Low agrees with Clark’s assessment. Besides having affordable fun amid the majestic mountain ranges and snow-powdered Blue Spruce and Douglas-fir trees surrounding the Durango Nordic Center, cross-country skiing can also benefit the hearts and bodies of those who hit the trails.

“It’s the best workout,” Low said. “An all-around great workout for the whole body.”

molsen@durangoherald.com