The North Shore Nordic Club ski areas in Lakeside and Bigfork are now open and being groomed regularly.

The Bigfork trails on Foothills Road near Echo Lake opened with groomed skiing on Friday, with a base of eight inches of snow. The trails will be groomed Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The seven kilomters of groomed trails in Bigfork and 24 kiometers of trails at Blacktail Mountain are maintained by the North Shore Nordic Club. The club is funded by donations and a few fundraisers. It costs about $150 a day to keep the trails open.

The club has been receiving enough support that this year it was able to hire a paid employee to groom the trails, though volunteers still did the initial grooming to get the trails open.

The paid groomer will help ensure trails are groomed regularly.

Volunteers started the trails system in 2004 so they could have a place to ski in the winter.

The trails at Lakeside and Bigfork are groomed for classic and skate skiing. Users must use skis or snowshoes on the trails. Snowshoers are asked to stay to the side of the groomed tracks. Dogs are not allowed on the Bigfork trails, as they cause significant damage to groomed trails.

Dogs are allowed on the Blacktail trails.

Trail conditions can be checked online at northshorenordic.org. Donations for the trails can be mailed to North Shore Nordic Club, 9236 Hwy 35, Bigfork MT 59911.