When the SCUM workout schedule calls for ski walking on the Fort Wainwright alpine hill, we don’t let a little rain deter us. (Note to Dan Johnson, we’ve got to give the National Weather Service a little slack on when the showers will end.)

By the time we had hiked to the top of the alpine hill, the rains stopped and the blue skies returned:

We shed our jackets and bug dope on the bench at the top of the hill before heading down:

Robert who had missed last week’s 4 ascents because he was driving through 110 deg heat moving his daughter from New Mexico to Oakland, CA, was prepared to carry the medium rock as the large rock had disappeared over the winter.

So we did our first ascent, wishing for a breeze or less clothing. For the second ascent, most of us shed additional layers except for Lola whose fur coat wasn’t removable:

With the 93% humidity, it felt much hotter than the actual temperature, so we opted to do just two ascents today.

So Dan, what chores did you do instead of joining us today?

Tim Woster had ski walked 4 ascents of the Fort Wainwright alpine hill on 9 June with Mom. Today we paced ourselves so that we kept our effort in level 2 for the most part going up the hill. The FWW contractor was hydroseeding the bottom and top of the alpine hill today so we couldn’t take our usual route at the very bottom. However, Dan and Bill still started next to the ski lift hut:

So Bill Husby, Dan Johnson, Bernardo Hernandez, and Mom did 4 ascents today in honor of the 4th of July and the FWW frog:

We took the ascents leisurely today since some of us plan to do the Golden Heart Trail Run tomorrow. Before heading out to FWW, Dan and Bill had already moved all the newly refurbished and painted ski racks back to the Start Mesa area.

We ascended 740 m this morning, not a bad morning’s effort for a bunch of old geezers.

Two SCUM did 4 ascents, one did 3.5 ascents, four did 3 ascents. Dermot did just one ascent and one truck load of firewood.

Dermot’s workout will generate the most heat in the long run. However, Tim and I ski walked 715 m of climb today in our 4 ascents of the FWW alpine hill. The hill averages a 19% grade over 0.84 km. I burned 864 kcal for my workout but looking at Dermot’s t-shirt, he may have burned significantly more.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.