Pat Lovely skate skied the virtual 10 and 30 km Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot courses in times of 37:07 and 2:01:52, respectively.

Pat writes: “The ski last Sunday (March 21) was sunny and uneventful a beautiful afternoon and lots of people out.”

For the 30 km ski, he writes: “The Tuesday ski I started late afternoon and I had a few missed trails and wrong turns. I went the wrong way on Black Baron and had to ski back up which added some extra and then when I finished I realized I had missed Medivac and Rollercoaster so I had to go back and pick those trails up and add 3 min 23 secs to my 30 km time for 2:01:52.”

Congratulations, Pat. Even with your wrong turns and extra kilometers skied, your 30 km time is currently the second fastest recorded.

Mark Ross, artist for the 2021 Sonot Kkaazoot poster, skate skied a 10 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot on Saturday in a time of 33:19.

As part of her ski-swim double workout on Saturday, Norma Haubenstock classical skied the 10 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in 56:52.

Norma writes: “I finally did my 10 k. I was classic skiing and got started late. I was pressed for time so I could make it to swimming.  I was 10 minutes late.”

We’re glad that Norma prioritized skiing over swimming.

Norma also wrote: “I might try a little skating tomorrow but might find some flatter trails. Not sure. I also want to take advantage of the beautifully groomed trails at birch hill. They are perfect.” 

On Saturday, Joan Hoza skate skied the 10 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in a time of 53:20.

She writes: “It was a very snowy, but beautiful day!
Thanks to all the sonot organizers and groomers.”

Cathy Donaldson skate skied her virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot yesterday in 2:49:25.

Cathy writes: “It was nice and warm but the snow was suction-y and almost caused me to face plant once or twice in the blacks. Glad I have a little bit of structure in my skis or it would have been a bit worse! Didn’t have the full details of the course in my memory before leaving, so I ended up skiing a little extra. Coming out of Relay, I didn’t know whether to go down the ramp and up east ramp to the Tower. I did it just in case:) So my distance is a little closer to an actual 30 km.”

Cathy was an overachiever because she definitely didn’t want to shortcut the course. Actually, Cathy’s longterm memory was spot on because the last time we skied the regular Sonot Kkaazoot course we did the ramp and East Ramp before doing the Tower Loop.

Martin Truffer, a professor of glacialogy, skated the 30 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot yesterday in a total time of 2:28:32. With his intimate knowledge of snow and ice, I trust his expert judgment when he writes: “skiing was slower than I expected from the warm temperatures.”

Congratulations, Martin. I agree that conditions for skate skiing yesterday were not speedy yesterday.

Bill Hibler meticulously documented the progress of his virtual 50 km Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot that he completed in 8:40.

William D. Hibler III writes:

“Sonot Progress

On a cold day Friday (19 Mar) last day of winter I did the start loop (with some wrong turns) in ~25 minutes. Tried to finish 10K, but stalled out.

On Sat (20 Mar) much better skiing. Sunny and faster. But I got lost on the back 40 so went back to warming hut and did the blue trail, outhouse loop and relay loop.  Back to warming hut in 45 minutes.

On Sunday (21 Mar) I did the warm up loop and the North 40/corkscrew (2^nd try) to the start of Black hole in 45 minutes. 

On Monday.  (22 Mar). Great ski conditions.  Did the black hole back to the warming hut area in 35 min.  Then did the Tower loop and Medevac in 30 minutes. One fall on Medevac going up from an ice block catching a tip. 

Tuesday. Good day.  Cool but new snow. Late Start.  Did Big Bear, Moilanen Meadows, access loop and warm up loop.  2 hrs 10 minutes:

Total 30 K time: 5 hrs 10 minutes.  

Wednesday: Did all of 20K to start of Big Bear Portion: 66 min.  Great snow.

Friday: Thought I had finished race until all the sign mismatch.  Call it 2 hrs 10 min for end of race starting at white bear access.  Need two more km!

Saturday: Went back and skied the warm up loop from the 46 km mark to end in 14 min.  

Yea: 50K:Total time: 8 hrs 40 minutes”

Thank you for your detailed report and for your generous donation to the trails fund.