Dan and Eric taking a break on Blackhawk–photo by Bill Husby
Comment from groomer Bill Husby, “Today’s ski was definitely a change of pace ski. Burned more energy climbing out of snowbanks after crashing than I did skiing today (6+ falls).”
Bernardo trying to assist two downed SCUM on the North Star–photo by Dan Johnson
When the trail groomer takes off his skis and walks the downhills that he groomed, you realize that you might have made a mistake.
Fata Morgana on Sunnyside (Robert’s belt is causing a belly mirage–really, he’s as slim as Bernardo)
Snow on Dermot’s vest isn’t from any of his tumbles on the North Classics. However, he chose to bail out of the South Classics and do the Sonot Connector to Sunnyside instead.
However, we all made it back to our cars intact, although some of the snow from the trails was still on our ski gear.
The SCUM skiers were too focused on their workouts so were unable to find all 12 of the LOL Christmas ornaments. However, we did find 8 while skiing:
LOL #1--photo by Joanna Fox on 12/26/22 on WB access during Ski Your Age in Kilometers
LOL #3 found on Skadi loop, hanger was separated from ornament–photo by Byron Broda on 12/9/22
Santa Bill with LOL ornament #4 on Roller Coaster on 12/11/22–photo by Dan Johnson
LOL ornament #5 on Medevac on 12/11/22–photo by Dermot Cole
Ornament #6 on White Bear near biathlon on winter solstice--photo by Bill Husby, who spotted it
LOL #7 ornament on White Cub, 12/9/22–photo by Dan Johnson
LOL ornament #8 on Tommy Knocker trail–photo by Joanna Fox
Byron and ornament #11 on Old Tower Loop
Bill Husby saw LOL ornament #12 on Little Bird while grooming, but we never got out there on skis, so we failed to nab that one, too. We thank the LOL for this fun addition to our December skiing and an excuse to take a rest break–a SCUM necessity.
Happy New Year from the SCUM at Hilltop Junction on the lovely White Bear corduroy–photo by Joanna Fox
Even though the SCUM hadn’t been skating for several weeks because of the the recent cold spell, they took full advantage of the pistenbully groomed trails today and skated 15 km of them in around 2 hours. We took rest breaks once we had crested the uphills as seen above at Hilltop and below the summit of Heartrate Hill.
Giving Bob Moloney the SCUM salute for skiing Heartrate Hill without any rest stops–photo by Dan Johnson
We saluted Bob Moloney, who at 79 years old, skated Heartrate Hill without stopping for any rest breaks. After we finished White Bear, Moilanen Meadows, Big Surprise, and Warm-up, it was Bob, who pointed out that we needed to ski some additional trails to get our 2-hour long overdistance skate ski today. So, peer pressure made sure we did ski our full 2 hours.
We thank the NSCF groomers who made today’s workout possible. We’ve donated to the NSCF trail fund and hope you will join us.
SCUM Birch Bakken skiers on 12-30-22 including Bob, Eric, and Eric (FS), Joanna, Bernardo, Dan, Mike, Dermot, and Susan (CL). Bill took the long way down to the start so missed our group start before sunrise.
To those unfamiliar with the Birch Bakken challenge, it was dreamed up by groomer Bill Husby, who was suffering a chest injury today from his fall skiing the Chinook loop on Thursday after he had set it. The course takes a 4.0 km route from the low point to the high point of the Birch Hill Recreation Area. The red line in this GPS trace is the course:
From the FWW alpine building (point 1 on the map), we headed up Cliffside, at the Cliffside gate, we head up the downhill section of Sunnyside to Section Line junction (this is much steeper than the regular inbound trail shown in blue). We then skied the inbound Sunnyside trail to the Outhouse Loop, then to Relay Return, backwards to the Blue Slot, then back on Relay Return to South Tower to the light pole at the highest point of the Tower Loop (point 2).
Here are the statistics for the oldest and slowest No Y SCUM, who was skiing at “Sonot Kkaazoot pace” and kept her HR within level 2:
Hopefully, finish photos will be added as they become available. The temperature inversion on the BB Challenge was about 20 degrees today. After finishing the BB Challenge, we skied back down the South Tower to look for wayward SCUM.
As promised, action photos by Eric Troyer and Corinne Leistikow. Corinne passed me on the Outhouse after she skied White Bear to Sonot Connector, Blackhawk, Chinook, and the rest of the Sonot Connector. She saw the SCUM gathering at the bottom of the hill so skied by most of us while chasing Eric. The day before Dr. Leistikow told me the importance of recovery days. I guess that only applies to her older patients.
Joanna heading up the Birch Bakken first–until she took a wrong turn at the Cliffside gate–photos by Eric Troyerexcept where noted otherwise
SCUM chase Joanna up Birch BakkenEric Buetow chases Mike Mathers
Mom and Dermot take off last (except for Eric Troyer, photographer)
Mom ahead of Eric Buetow on the South Tower, only because Eric forgot the Blue Slot so had to backtrack before starting South Tower again
Eric finishing strong up the South Tower
Corinne joining the SCUM from the Tower Loop
Finished SCUM
SCUM after Birch Bakken–photo by Corinne Leistikow
Dermotized SCUM faces on Friday at -8 degrees F–photo by Mike Mathers
The skies have finally cleared after 15.2 inches of snow at the airport this December (and considerably more at Birch Hill). With a 20 deg temperature inversion between the hills and valleys, the SCUM are prepared for a full range of temperature conditions as shown here on Friday when it was actually cold enough for our fleece SCUM hats. However, with two Pistenbullys grooming the trails, the skate platform and the tracks were relatively fast.
Saturday morning, the SCUM headed out to ski in Bad Bob Baker’s Moose Mountain tour. Here’s a glimpse of the skyline as Bad Bob finished grooming:
View from Bad Bob’s house–photo by Bob Baker
Starting from the home of Bad Bob and Sharon Baker at 10:10 a.m. (the SCUM van got lost and were late arriving), the goal was to ski to the top of Moose Mountain ridge to watch the sunrise over the mountains (Mt Hayes, we think). All of us managed to do that.
Here are the speedy SCUM:
Speedy SCUM await sunrise–photo by Joanna Fox
and the entire gang:
The SCUM plus Bad Bob Baker, Sonot Kkaazoot and Moose Mountain tour organizer–photo by Joanna Fox
and the main attraction:
Why we climbed 330 m before dawn–photo by Joanna Fox
Today it was -26 deg F in the valley, but a balmy -5 deg at Birch Hill as the SCUM finished their winter solstice weekend of training.
Here we are at the top of the Tower loop:
SCUM and Christmas tree on Tower Loop–photo by Joanna Fox
and at the Denali viewpoint on the Sunnyside:
SCUM with moon and comet in the skies over Denali
Happy Winter Solstice!
Update from the actual shortest day in Fairbanks:
SCUM on Wednesday, 21 December at biathlon range where it was -18 deg F–photos by Joanna Fox
SCUM await the Arctic Force on Cliffside–photos by Joanna Fox
On the day after the Frank Soos Distance Race #1, we decided to ski the military transect starting on the White Bear, going down the Sonot Connector and returning up the Cliffside and Sunnyside trails to the Outhouse and Relay Return. When we got to the bottom of Cliffside, we found we had company, a group of the Arctic Force at Fort Wainwright.
Today while participating in our sophomoric humor, we came up with a new SCUM acronym to more accurately reflect our current composition. Susan’s Class of Uncoachable Misfits was the new definition. Here’s the SCUM in action on the Cliffside once we got ahead of the Army:
Snow angels by the 70 to 79 age class from yesterday’s Frank Soos Distance Race (and one 69-year-old)–video by Joanna Fox
Snow angel by the wannabe 70-year-old SCUM
We did eventually ski back to the Birch Hill stadium, regrouping when Santa executed a dramatic fall:
We’re looking for some younger recruits to join us. The Sonot Kkaazoot is a little more than 3 months away. Woodels will be awarded this year and the post-race banquet will be held like before the pandemic. Plan to join us. You’ll have to prove that you’re a misfit, though.
Joanna proving she’s a misfit–photo by Dan Johnson
By the way, we have located 4 of the LOL Christmas ornaments. We’ll do a blogpost when we get all 12.
With temperatures at Birch Hill in the high 20s and nearly a half foot of new snow this weekend, wayward SCUM like Carl Hemming and Steve Clautice rejoined us today for our ski around the Frank Soos Distance Race #1 course. The entire course had been groomed and tracked last night so tracks were firm and fast. I wish I could say that my body was fast, but such wasn’t the case. However, I got around the 15 km course (plus Moilanen Meadows for some extra credit) in just over 2 hours.
Here are some views from the trails:
Bill Husby leads two SCUM in the tracks on WB —photo by Joanna Fox
Steve Clautice also using the tracks although skating–photo by Joanna Fox
Although Bill was using his skin skis–he claimed a leaf caused him to fall--photo by Dan Johnson
Dan Johnson skating with the fitness acquired chasing his son-in-law–photo by Joanna Fox
After we finished our 15 km ski, we retired to the warm-up hut for coffee and ginger snaps (Frank Soos’ favorite cookie). Carl had been AWOL for so long that he found what he thought was a rat turd in his coffee cup:
Carl and his cup with extra “protein” –photo by Bill Husby
Meanwhile, the ageless Dan Johnson posed next to his framed retirement photo:
Dan Johnson reenacting the photo taken at his retirement–photo by Joanna Fox
We hope that you will join the SCUM in skiing the Frank Soos Distance Race #1 next Saturday starting at 11 a.m. It’s great training for the Sonot Kkaazoot. The grooming crew will make the trails fast, and you’ll have fun with the SCUM.
Thanks to the volunteer brushing by Mike Schmoker and David Prusak, the SCUM were able to ski Blackhawk (and Chinook) on set tracks today! The volunteer effort by Mike and Dave not only assisted the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks in contributing labor match for the club’s RTP grant, but their work also allowed us to ski these classical only trails on machine set tracks in November (with half the normal snowfall to date).
SCUM in Blackhawk–photos and grooming by Bill Husby
As groomer, Bill Husby had the inside information on where the tracks were lifted on downhill corners, so he avoided falling. But he did drop one knee to the trail causing a three-SCUM-pile-up on Chinook.
Groomer caused SCUM pile-up on Chinook corner–photographs by Joanna Fox, who negotiated all the corners in the tracks
However, these skiers didn’t have the quantity of snow on them that others had.
Dermot with evidence of his spectacular face plant on the Chinook trail–photo by Dan Johnsonon Sonot Connector
They just had the misfortune of falling when someone had access to their phone. Given the -5 deg F weather, most of us were well dermotized and our phones were zipped into inner pockets. However, one phone was recovered from a Blackhawk tumble when its owner got up too quickly to note its absence.
Bad Bob joins the SCUM for ski of Sunnyside to Sonot Connector and Blackhawk–photo by Joanna Fox
Bad Bob Baker, Sonot Kkaazoot originator and race organizer, joined the SCUM for a leisurely ski through the newly fallen snow on Sunday.
Bad Bob indicated that registration for the 36th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot will open in January 2023. There will be woodels for all three courses, and a post-race awards banquet with hot soups and other goodies will be held. Stay tuned.
The man in orange (Bad Bob) waits at the Cliffside gate--photo by Joanna Fox
We waited when Bob Moloney fell on one of the more technical corners on Cliffside. However, when someone falls on the straightaway at the bottom of Cliffside, their miscue is recorded (especially if their flexion is limited by bionic knees).
Did you see that moose divot that caught my ski? —photo by Dan Johnson
Groomer, Bill Husby, was eager to ski the Blackhawk trail even though there hadn’t been enough snow to groom it this season. So Bad Bob, Greg, Dan, and Bill headed into the helicopter trail to check on the brushing work that Mike Schmoker and David Prusak had done this fall.
Bill led the way (after Bad Bob who was back on White Bear by this time) —photo sequence by Dan Johnson
Bill bombing the tracks that Bad Bob set
Greg grinning at Bill in the snow
Greg checking on Bill with his ski pole basket
While the younger SCUM were rolling around the helicopter singletrack trail, the rest of the SCUM continued on the Sonot Connector and White Bear. The new snow was lovely in the low light of a late November morning.
Meanwhile, the older SCUM ski up the Sonot Connector to the White Bear–photo by Joanna Fox
Remember, the 36th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot is Saturday, 25 March 2023.
While drinking coffee and eating our post-workout scones in the warm-up hut today, we learned that Bad Bob Baker will be in Fairbanks for the 36th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot. Thus, our first skate LOD of the season meant that a SCUM redemption for our failure to finish the 50 km course at the 35th Sonot Kkaazoot would be witnessed by Bad Bob, who dreamed up the new 50 km course with 1,689 m of total climb.
Today’s SCUM workout was 30% of the Sonot Kkaazoot distance but only involved 21% of the climb. We skied Flat Black to get our bodies warmed up. We finished with the Competition Loop and Tommy Knocker Extension so that we could climb that evil hill at the end of the Comp loop twice. Bill’s smile shows how we felt conquering that hill:
Bill smiling and Dermot groaning up the Comp hill
Bernardo leading the happy crew--photo by Bill Husby
Norma smiling as she crests the hill–photo by Bill Husby
Skiing the White Bear had time for heroics as Norma and Bill decided to doublepole from the Sonot Junction to the top of Hilltop, while the rest of us skated that 1.3 km section of gradual uphill. Then Norma and Bill got serious, and we skied without rest breaks until we reached the top of Heart Rate Hill, where we rang the bell that Chris Broda (of LOL) has hung on the White Bear map sign:
Dermot was much happier after conquering Heart Rate Hill–photo by Bill Husby
Bernardo strolls to the top of Heart Rate Hill like he did Ester Dome all summer–photo by Bill Husby
Skiing is great in spite of our meager snowfall so far this winter. Thanks to our NSCF groomers, and all the volunteer brushing work done this fall, we have a better skate ski base this year than we did last year. Maybe with three more months of training, the 60+- and 70+- year-old SCUM can finish the 36th Sonot Kkaazoot 50 km course. That’s our goal.
Sonot Kkaazoot 