Below are the results of our January 2011 survey. Thank you all for contributing.
We had over 125 people participate in the survey, both members and non-members of TLC / Meissner Nordic. This information will guide TLC / Meissner Nordic in future decision making. Based on your feedback we will make some changes immediately, and other changes gradually.
Some of the most interesting and important information can be found in Questions 10 at the bottom of this page.
Note: all information was submitted anonymously. TLC / Meissner Nordic has no visibility or ability to track who responded in what way to a question.
Question #1:
What information do you want from trail update reports?
Question #2
When reading a conditions report, would you rather read the weather conditions (temp, winds, precip, humidity) first or the trail conditions (… trails last groomed Tuesday morning with exception of TWPC. Trails are firm, and hard packed with moderate wear …) first?
Question #3
At what time of day do you need trail condition information posted for you to make a decision regarding skiing at Meissner? Select the latest time that works for you.
Question #4
What is your preferred method to receive trail update information? (Please rank from 1 to 5, 1 most preferred method, 5 least preferred method. Use each number once.)
Unfortunately, we worded this question poorly. The ratings scale we used was opposite of all other questions in the survey. This became obvious after the first 10 responses to the survey posted and the most requested method for trail update information was Twitter. Thus, we have no data to share with you.
Question #5 What information do you want to see on the Facebook page?
Meissner Events = Upcoming Meissner events (i.e. Learn to Ski Day this Saturday)
Area Events = Upcoming Nordic/Winter events in the area, more than just Meissner (i.e. Mt. Bachelor, XC Oregon, Bend Endurance Academy, MBSEF, etc..
Meissner Conditions = Anecdotal reports of Meissner conditions (ie. 2″ of new snow, the skiing is great!!!)
Area Conditions = Other reports of significance (ie. the Flagline snowmobile trail is in great shape for skate skiing.)
Trip Reports = Trip reports from other ski resorts (ex: a report from skiing at Methow Valley).
Pictures = Pictures of happenings and people at Meissner (i.e Jane’s Hut is now open, grooming 7 days this week, etc.)
History = Tidbits about Meissner history
Question #6: At what time of day do you normally ski at Meissner?
Question #7: I normally ski at Meissner …. (select one)
Question #8: What are the 3 primary reasons you do visit the web site or would visit the web site. (Select at least one and no more than three.)
Question #9: Please rate your level of satisfaction with Tumalo Langlauf / Meissner Nordic. Please consider grooming operations, communications, and events.
Question #10. Other comments:
Below you will find the comments of survey takers and Meissner Nordic’s response (indented within a box, in light gray). We have not responded to all comments, but those that we feel warranted a response.
Also, some have been slightly edited to remove a persons name or correct gramar, but the “message” of the comment has remained the same.
1. Love the grooming…. exceptional job! Also love the new trails. Happy to donate time (in summer for maintenance) and money for operations. thank you for all your efforts. However, I have no need for yurts, lights, or other amenities etc..
2. It has become a great facility. Thanks for all the efforts!
3. Lee and Lloyd are doing a great job. As is the whole TLC board. Thanks
4. Meissner Nordic is getting better and better. Glad to hear the forest service is going to enhance the parking lot as that has been a bottleneck more than once this season. Keep up the good work on the grooming!
5. Spending a few weeks back “home” in the mountains of So Cal made me really appreciate what a great asset we have in Meissner!
6. Great job this year! Loved the 7 day a week groom over holidays. Missed the pre-season party but now on facebook! Congrats.
The best source of information is the web page, www.MeissnerNordic.org We also run extensive postings on Facebook. However, we try not to post more than 2 times per day to prevent over posting. The phone recording also has a lot of information about club happenings.
7. I am a classic skier, so could you please not move towards grooming all trails at Meissner. It is nice to have a ‘backcountry” type experience there too.
Per our contract with the Forest Service, we cannot groom more than we are currently doing. The intent is to always have a some “backcountry experience” available at Meissner SnoPark.
8. Keep all dogs out of Meissner.
The role of Meissner Nordic is to provide excellent grooming of ski trails at the Meissner SnoPark, skier education, and to facilitate social events for members. Meissner Nordic has no authority or jurisdiction regarding dogs being north of Century Drive (either at Swampy or Meissner SnoParks). This is an issue that is in discussion between the Forest Service and DogPAC. The Forest Service is open to hearing all comments and thoughts regarding this issue. Thus, we suggest contacting the Forest Service directly.
9. Place grooming information on the home page.
By bookmarking the following link and you will be brought directly to the grooming page: www. MeissnerNordic/trails/
10. The improvements that have been made this year are excellent. I, of course, would like more grooming, and earlier in the morning, as I ski at 6am….but over all, I am incredibly impressed with Meissner Nordic.
Regarding more grooming see the response to question #7. Regarding earlier grooming, the thought will be passed on to our groomers. No guarantees though
11. I think everything is great! I hope the trail system can continue to expand in the future and frequency of the grooming. It will also nice when there is more parking, but that’s just a repercussion of the growing popularity of Meissner.
Regarding more grooming, we are currently limited by our contract with the Forest Service. Also, please see response #7. We would love to groom 7 days a week, but we need more funding to do so. To do this we probably need a second grooming machine and a second trained groomer. Grants are available and we sure could use help securing funding through those grants.
More parking is coming! The Forest Service got the approval to expand the parking lot by 50%. However, funding and final completion of the project is several years out. Until then, we encourage everyone to park head-in and perpendicular to the banks and no more than 1 car door from your neighbor.
12. Meissner has come a long ways due to a lot of effective hard work by dedicated volunteers. Thank you.
13. Great grooming effort! Thanks Lee. Great effort by board/volunteers to keep members informed. Still need a better way to let the general public know how important is to DONATE TO THE GROOMING FUND!
We are absolutely open to any and all ideas regarding how to increase giving!! Let us know your ideas. Please note that we are limited in what signage we can post at the trail head. Thus, our media outlets are the general press, the SnoPhone, the website, and Facebook.
14. I’d like information on the map as to what trails are “always” groomed, “sometimes” groomed and “never” groomed. As someone fairly new to skate skiing, I’m not always sure which trails are groomed, and that info would make it much easier to plan destinations and loops. It would be nice for the visitors as well. Also, there are several intersections that are not marked, and having them marked would make it nice for beginners and visitors as well. Thank you for the great service you provide us lucky enough to live in the area
Regarding your comment of what is groomed and when – we are working on that. We have tried to make our web conditions reports more specific and we have an idea in the works for at the trail head.
Regarding mapping and intersections — we are working on this also. This is more of a long term project. Currently we are working on elevation profiles of the trails and and updated map. The signs on the trails are Forest Service signs and yes, we know that almost everyone one of them says Meissner SnoPark 2.5 miles that way. We have some ideas on how to remedy this. Again, we are open to suggestions and more importantly, we sure could use your help.
15. You guys do an amazing job! I am very pleased with the trails, events, warming huts. Thank you so much.
16. Great job this year … the expanded trail system ROCKS. really appreciate the effort on getting us accurate info on trails, appreciate the honesty. We need accurate signs out there because I get lost (all signs say 2 miles back to the parking lot!) New yurt is killer … and great to see all the kids out at the races. Such a wonderful addition to our community. Bathrooms at Meisner have SLICK floors, almost killed myself twice now.
See our response to comment #14 regarding signage.
Yes, it is really cool to see all the kids out. Meissner Nordic, for the community, by the community.
Ahhh yes, bathrooms. Not much we can do here, they are the purview of the Forest Service. However, when the parking lot expansion happens new bathroom will be installed. Maybe its worth making the comment to Forest Service now so they can take this into account.
17. Please keep the communication simple; like the 7am phone report with weather and grooming; same info on the TLC webpage would be useful as well. Using Facebook, Twitter, I-phone apps will complicate simple communication; these tools should NOT replace the 7am phone report or web page info. thank you for your consideration (one helpful idea would be info on the phone report or at the trail head that gives skiers an idea on which trails have been groomed and will be groomed; often a skier has no idea what trails may or may not be groomed).
The phone report is here to stay. We have no intention on eliminating it. Our two primary methods of reporting are the phone and the web page. We give supplementary reporting and information on Facebook and by Twitter. We are working on a more complete iPhone / Android application.
Regarding what is groomed and when, please see comment # 14 with response. We should have a solution in place shortly.
18. Great job!
19. This is the first year since Mt Bachelor nordic opened that I haven’t had a season pass there. The skiing at Meissner has been so good I haven’t missed it once this year.
20. The grooming has been great! Keep up the great work, and thank you!
21. I think the biggest improvement has been the honest grooming reports and updates. I want to know IF they’ve groomed, preferably what they’ve groomed, and trail conditions. Otherwise, I just drive by and go to Bachelor because it is more of a known entity. [ie daily grooming report, temp, snow, etc. It was too frustrating for me to stop, get boots and skies on etc only to find they haven't groomed OR groomed only one or two trails. [eg groomer broke down] The grooming and reports of grooming need to be consistent so we can count on it. The grooming was absolutely awesome over the holidays and I think it showed by the number of people using VM. The parking lot was usually jammed. I can tell you ‘word of mouth’ has put VM on the map so a huge thank you to Lee, Lloyd, and Kevin for his reports.
Hopefully we are getting better every day with our reporting, but we have our misses occasionally.
22. I absolutely do not want to see dogs in Meissner or Swampy. Dogpac should stay everywhere else but the small area not open to dogs. I really hope TLC is not supporting this idea.
Please see comment #8 and associated response.
23. awesome job!
24. The club is really hitting its stride this season (pun intended). Keep up the promotion of Meissner as an area for HUMAN skiers, not their pet companions.
Please see comment #8 and associated response.
25. Keep up the good work, you are doing a great job. Thank you
26. I ski at Meissner after 3 on some weekdays and between 9 and 2 on some weekend days. Great job on the grooming this year.
27. great grooming this year. thank you!
28. We feel most fortunate to have the Meissner community ski area so close to home. We are enjoying the enhanced grooming and newer trails and things just get better and better.
29. Thanks! It’s great to have this community area in good shape. Love all the new areas open for skating in the last couple of years. I like seeing Lee.
30 Thanks for your work to make the website better!
31. Keep up the good work!!!!
32. I don’t use any of the “social network ” tools.
No problem, we will continue to provide information via the phone, the web, and email (i.e. newsletters).
33. I can’t believe all of the improvements that have been made at Meissner over the last few years. You are doing an outstanding job, and I think this survey will only help strengthen your ties to the community. It’s nice to know that you are still trying to further improve your service. I feel more donations coming
34. Thanks – love the great new trails.
35. Thank you for being here for us! The sno park is absolute heaven on earth!!
36. We are so excited to have this nordic area close to where we live, it’s great with amazing trails and grooming!
37. What an amazing accomplishment! Thank you all.
38. Thank you for all you do for our family to have a great time. you do a great job on the trails. Its a pleasure to support you.
39. I’m also interested in ongoing, newsy developments i.e., status of Meissner expansion (implementation of the Environmental Assessment), updates of FS position on dogs on trails, and from question #5, “Other reports of significance.” Thank you.
40. Don’t visit on weekends because not enough parking.
An expansion to the parking lot is on the way … but not for several years. We will continue to put out the word when we think the the parking lot will be full — this is usaually mentioned on the phone report and the web page in the Quick Notes section at the top right. Note - with the limited space when Facebook posting it is difficult to get out all information sometimes.
We also have tried to encourage people to park head-in and perpendicular to the banks and no more than 1 car door from your neighbor. You can find out about Events at Meissner SnoPark by going to the Events page on the website.
41. The new trail between Cascade Lakes Hwy and Tangent (Currant?) could use a bit more work on some of the tight turns. A few trees removed here and there would make for more rounded turns and smoother flow. Otherwise, its all great, keep up the good work…
We will keep this in mind during the summer trail work parties. Would love to have you join us!
42. I’d prefer having the grooming done before 8AM or the night before (instead of 9:30AM-Noon) Trails are getting cut up because snow doesn’t have time to set up.
This is a hit an miss issue. Sometimes it would be nice to have very early morning grooming, especially during the deep cold winter days when the snow takes a while to set up. But … then in the spring, grooming later in the day is better because the sun has had a chance to thaw some of the frozen hard pack.
Also, we will continue to remind people to let the snow set up before skiing it when that message is appropriate.
43. First off – grooming has been excellent this year. Kudos- Suggestion on your survey – the ratings on question 4 are backwards from your other questions. You didn’t ask a question about crowds at Meissner – esp. when HS programs are there. How much do the highschools contribute to grooming costs? Has anyone ever suggested grooming snowbush to wedns. to the cinder cone road for skating to make a longer connector loop?
Yes, we made a mistake with question #4 — good catch. We caught it about half way through the survery but by then it was to late to change the format of the question. Regarding crowds — we will keep this in mind for our next survey.
Yes, the high schools do contribute to the grooming costs. In fact the OHSNO league (which includes Bend, Redmond, Sisters, and Summit high schools) has been one the largest contributors this year.
We are limited by our contract with the Forest Service in what we can groom. The portion of Wednesdays that you suggest is not within our contract. Also, please see comment #7.
44. I ski the crap out of it when conditions are good and only on grooming days. I would like to see the trails groomed earlier in the morning so they have a chance to set up before skiers get on them!
See comment # 42 and associated response.
45. You folks rock!
46. I am brand new to Nordic Skiing and just learning. Appreciate the resource the club provides.
47. Keep dogs off Nordeen and out of the Meissner parking lot.
See comment #8 and associated response.
48. Tumalo Langlauf Rocks!
Follow us: