36th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot

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Athabaskan: Sonot (pronounced “SAW NOT”, “springtime”) Kkaazoot (“kah-ZOOT”, “to slide your feet across the snow”)

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Congratulations to

Christopher Kalev and Mariel Merlii Pulles winners of the 50 km event

Anja Maijala and Basile Plattet winners of the 30 km event

Reid Merrill and Isabella Foland winners of the 10 km event

All unofficial results are available on the Results page on the tab at the top of this page.

A huge thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who made the 36th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot possible.

We hope to see you next year.

Sonot Kkaazoot Race Courses: All three races will have the same route for the first 2 km, which starts in the stadium, up the main ramp, out Relay Start Loop, onto the South Tower to the top and back down to the end of Tower, then onto Roller Coaster Bypass to stadium.

10 km course:   After the above start route, the 10 km will head down the White Bear access and out onto the White Bear.  Will follow the White Bear to the Beacon Cutoff, then return via the White Bear, skipping Moilanen Meadows, back to the White Bear Access, finishing the White Bear Access to the stadium, then a hard right following the east side of the stadium and then ski the whole Warm-Up Loop and into the FINISH.

10 km Sonot Kkaazoot course with profile

30 km course:  After the start route as the racers come into the stadium from the Roller Coaster Bypass, they will ski directly across the stadium and down onto the Competition, then out onto the entire North Forty back to the Competition, then down onto the entire Back Hole back to the Competition then finishing the remaining Competition and back into the stadium. Skiers then proceed up the west side of the main ramp and down and around the Blue Loop, then down onto the Outhouse Loop to the Sunnyside. Ski the entire Sunnyside trail (not Cliffside), and back to the Outhouse Loop. Finish the Outhouse Loop then turn left onto the Relay Return to the top of the ramp. Turn right onto the Tower Loop, ski entire Tower Loop followed by Medevac and finishing the Roller Coaster. Ski right down onto the White Bear Access then right onto the White Bear, all of the White Bear including Moilanen Meadows, and the White Bear Access back to the stadium. Turn right and ski along the east side of the stadium, and the entire Warm-Up Loop, and into the FINISH.


Section 1 of 30 and 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot courses with profile
Section 2 for 30 and 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot courses with profile

50 km course:   Ski the 30 km course but after skiing under the bridge, the 2nd lap for the 50 km course will lap around the finish and take a right down on the Competition, then onto the North Forty for a little over a kilometer, then skiers will take the cut-off back onto the Competition, by-passing the Black hole, continuing up the Competition keeping straight and left back to the stadium, then right up the west side of the main ramp, and down the Blue loop, then the Outhouse loop, then  down the Sunnyside and Cliffside, across the base of the Ft. Wainwright Ski Hill just in front of the Ft. Wainwright Ski Lodge, and then turn left up the Sonot Connector all the way back to the White Bear. Turn right onto the outbound White Bear, then ski the rest of the White Bear and Moilanen Meadows and the White Bear Access to the stadium. Turn right and ski along the east side of the stadium. Ski the entire Warm-Up loop then under the bridge and into the FINISH!!!

Section 3 of 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot course with profile

PDF versions of the course maps can be downloaded at the Courses tab above.

Feed Stations are located in the stadium and on the White Bear trail at Sonot Junction. A detailed list can also be downloaded at the Courses tab.

QUESTIONS:  contact@sonotkkaazoot.org

Sonot 2015 start_sm

Photo of the 2015 start by Chris Hemming

Banner photo courtesy of Retrospection Image.

Ski walking in June snow

Snow on my fleece top after removing my gloves and poles so I could access my phone

Today we were grateful for car heaters after doing our three ascents of the Fort Wainwright alpine hill. Bernardo started an hour early so finished before the rain changed to snow. Likewise, Bob decided to do just one ascent. However, Tim, Robert, and I did three ascents (because Bernardo had already set the bar that high).

Here we are before our last ascent:

We wouldn’t have done this alone!

After our three ascents, when we were walking back down to the Birch Hill stadium and our cars, we noticed streams flowing down the trail. Seeing as our feet were already thoroughly soaked, we didn’t need to waste energy dodging the puddles.

One SCUM travels out of town to have cold and wet adventures:

https://notquiteoverthehillcorrineanderic.blogspot.com/2023/05/reframing-stupid-summer-ski-trip-in.html?

However, we were content to dodge the construction in the Birch Hill parking lots, and get our workout done. Some of our fellow SCUM were building fences, teaching paddling, waiting for furnace servicing to be done, or waiting for a flight into Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge. We missed them, but our dryland training will continue for 4 or 5 months yet.

Summer SCUM training on FWW alpine hill begins

This spring, we skied on Friday, 5 May 2023 at Birch Hill on groomed corduroy and three weeks later, we ski walked up the Fort Wainwright alpine hill, which some of us felt was steeper this year due to isostatic rebound. FXC Masters workouts start next week, but the SCUM are older and slower so need to start sooner. We’ve been ski walking up Ester Dome for three weeks. This week the Birch Hill trails had dried out enough to resume ski walking up the Fort Wainwright alpine hill.

We welcome anyone to join us. For our Wednesday Ester Dome workouts, we meet at 10 a.m. at the Ester Dome Road bike trails parking lot. For the Friday FWW alpine hill workouts, we meet at Birch Hill at 10 a.m. The full Ester Dome route is 10 km with about 455 m of ascent and descent. Today’s workout involved only 2 repeats of the FWW hill in preparation for 4 repeats by the 4th of July. Depending upon how one attacks the hill, the ascent is 155 to 160 m in 0.84 km, so roughly a 19% grade. If you cannot train every day, these workouts will yield large benefits for a short investment of time. Bill Husby suggests that if one of the SCUM misses a workout, he must bring beer for the rest of the group in order to be reinstated.

Wow! Skiing on 2 May corduroy

Dermot skiing Tower Loop on May 2, 2023

Today we got a jump on our on-snow training for the 2023-2024 training year as roughly 5 km of the trails had been groomed this morning. Although there is ground showing on the Relay loop and some frozen water hazards in the stadium, the skiing was amazingly good and fast this morning.

Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who has donated this season to the NSCF grooming fund.

Crust skiing in light rain ends ski training year

With light rain this morning and temperatures staying well above freezing overnight, Dermot Cole and I decided to crust ski this morning starting at 10 a.m. The entire White Bear trail had been groomed on Friday, and White Bear to Sonot Junction was groomed Saturday morning. On both those days, we had enjoyed the fresh corduroy, so we were surprised to see that today, Sonot Cutoff looked like a stream bed.

Dermot Cole on Sonot Junction Sunday morning

However, except for the lake forming on the White Bear at Sonot Junction, the crust on the trails was relatively firm and skating was enjoyable. The trails had a vegetated appearance as the rain had concentrated the tree debris at the surface.

Dermot on White Bear near Hilltop

We only saw two other skiers this morning, but saw and heard geese and chickadees, and saw fresh moose tracks. At Beacon Cutoff, I wanted to check the temperature on the thermometer posted on the junction sign, but the snow did not hold my weight even with my skis. I was able to stay upright for several minutes, but would Dermot help me? No, the journalist had to get his phone out to record my data collection attempt.

Don’t expect help from a journalist if you run into problems with your data collection!
Pointing to my burial site after my 11-minute dousing in crushed ice.–photo by Dermot Cole

Crust skiing is an adventure, but mishaps happen so having a ski buddy is helpful. There’s still lots of snow on the trails so hope for some cooler night temperatures to allow the groomers to work their magic. They’ve already groomed 189 days this season.

SCUM get Schmokered on the Sunnyside

Although the Birch Hill trails were groomed this morning, most of the SCUM were not skiing on them. That was because we got “Schmoker”ed yesterday.

Because both Jesse and Christina had encouraged FXC Masters to do pickups when we ski, Mike Schmoker suggested on Sunday that a good SCUM workout would be to do intervals between each of the cutoffs on the White Bear trail. Seeing as Mike was the first SCUM to successfully finish the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot, he commands certain reverence from the rest of us. Fortunately, White Bear had been groomed only to the Sonot Connector on Wednesday. However, Sunnyside had been groomed, so I modified Mike’s workout to do intervals between the cutoffs on Sunnyside.

Here are the unsuspecting SCUM before the intervals. Joanna had excluded herself from the workout because she was leaving for Costa Rica on Sunday and didn’t want to get injured before then. Therefore, she assumed the role of self-appointed coach and videographer.

SCUM before being Schmokered–photos and videos by Joanna Fox

Here’s a demonstration of Byron being Schmokered on the uphill section of the Center Sunnyside loop:

Mike leading the SCUM pack on Wednesday just like during the recent Sonot Kkaazoot

It sounds like the rescue helicopters were flying overhead as the back of the pack SCUM finished our Center loop interval:

Tim and Mom work harder to go slower than Mike and Byron

We were too wiped out to take an after photograph on the Outhouse Loop. Instead, we stopped on the White Bear at the Biathlon Range. It was such a lovely day that we took an extended recovery ski on the White Bear and Moilanen Meadows. Enjoy the groomed trails while we have them.

Resting after our interval session and extended cool-down

M09 and M10 SCUM enjoy spring skiing

M09 and M10 SCUM and Joanna ski White Bear today

This morning at 10 a.m., the only SCUM present were the over 70-year-old group of SCUM and two kids, Joanna and Greg. Greg was just arriving as we were heading out, so I told him he’d have to find us on the Black Loops.

However, leaving Birch Hill stadium, we followed fresh grooming down the White Cub to the Biathlon. At Zoomer Cutoff the grooming ended but, we decided to continue skiing out the White Bear. Byron texted Greg but got no response. We found the slightly icy surface made for faster skating and good balance practice. Owen was on classical skis but the fast tracks compensated for his less than perfect kick.

After finishing White Bear (and Moilanen Meadows, which hadn’t been groomed in over a week), we noticed that Sidewinder had been groomed. Thus, we headed down Sidewinder with the goal to ski the down to Big Surprise Cutoff and then back up on the sprint loop. However, one of our M10 SCUM had a little bit too much speed on one of the key downhill corners, so took the route less traveled.

Action photos and video by Joanna Fox, who was following Don, but followed the corduroy instead of her elder

The snow on this route was a little too deep for Don to execute his previously demonstrated kick turn, so he removed his skis for his retreat, which all his fellow SCUM were able to enjoy, including Greg who finally found us.

SCUM find Greg as Don returns to the trail more traveled

With less skiers enjoying the trails now, when you have little mishaps, the likelihood of having witnesses decreases. Unless of course, you’re SCUM. Then your pals will make sure there’s lasting evidence to remind you.

Real SPRING skiing NOW!

Although the Sonot Kkaazoot has traditionally been our spring celebration of nordic skiing, the calendar of the weather gods was different than Bad Bob’s this year. April 2023 has been our March. With record snowfall on some of our April days, the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks groomers have been busy. If the Sonot Kkaazoot had be held today, I might have been able to finish the 50 km course.

Yesterday, the groomers had done their magic on the FWW trails, specifically the trails necessary to do the SCUM “military transit” that includes the Sunnyside, Cliffside, and Sonot Connector. The White Bear was also being groomed as we skied. With the sun out, I was eager to climb the Sonot Connector (as penitence for not skiing it in the Sonot Kkaazoot). Thus, I kept skiing as the others paused for a photo in the sun.

SCUM soaking in the vitamin D at the Cliffside gate–all photos by Joanna Fox

All of the SCUM are faster than me, so it was only a matter of time until they caught me on approach to the Sonot Connector. Again, they wanted a group photo (SCUM excuse for a rest break), but I wanted to continue slowly uphill. However, Mike’s ski on top of mine was a persuasive argument against that option.

Mike holding me back from skiing on the beautiful corduroy

To extend the break, they pointed out Byron’s facial injury from a head plant on the Cliffside downhill. If appears that a crazed squirrel grabbed his ski as he tried to get out of the tracks and the impact broke his sunglasses:

Byron’s facial badge of courage

Seriously, the skiing was great. Here’s the entire gang enjoying the sun and vistas:

At the top of the Sonot Connector, half of the group decided to ski back to the stadium on the White Bear. Jerome battled the ungroomed snow to ski the trail in the designed direction while the other two, skied backwards on the corduroy that had been set within the hour or so. Three of us decided to ski back down the Sonot Connector and up the Cliffside and Sunnyside trails that were firm, sunny, and provided fantastic views of the Alaska Range and Tanana Valley.

Enjoy the spring skiing. Now is the time to work on technique so that you start next season with good muscle memory of what is needed for the Sonot Kkaazoot in March.

Just 44 skiers finish 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot

Official results for the 36th Sonot Kkaazoot are now posted. On a beautiful morning where the temperatures dropped to low single digits in the Birch Hill stadium at race time, 165 skiers successfully completed one of three official Sonot Kkaazoot courses.

The 10 km course was the most popular, where 78 skiers finished, while 6 skiers DNF (did not finish) and 4 (did not start).

The statistics for the 30 and 50 km events were very similar. Forty-three skiers finished the 30 km and 44 finished the 50 km. In each event, 4 skiers did not finish. In the 30 km, there were 3 DNS while 2 were DNS for the 50 km.

These numbers attest to the difficulty of the new courses. In 2018, the last time the Sonot Kkaazoot was held on the Chena River, 103 skiers completed the 20 km, 38 finished the 40 km, and 74 finished the 50 km.

Those of us who didn’t complete our intended courses started training for the 37th Sonot Kkaazoot on the following day. We’re enjoying spring skiing and have increased our donations to the NSCF trail fund. https://nordicskicluboffairbanks.wildapricot.org/Donate/