Volunteers are needed for the 39th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot.
Take a look at the Volunteers tab at the top of this page and see if there is a job that you can fill. The skiers and organizers will appreciate your efforts.
To volunteer or ask questions send an email to: contact@sonotkkaazoot.org
The sun was out and it was -6 deg in the Birch Hill stadium. With the classical only trails groomed yesterday, the SCUM headed out to the Blackhawk trail to enjoy Bill Husby’s grooming. We were treated to fresh new tracks except where a moose (untrained in trail etiquette) had disrupted the parallel grooves.
And Mother SCUM, who was going so slow, Dan’s fingers froze:
Enjoy the trails before the moose destroy them. The sunshine had us all smiling today even though it was -20 deg F on the Classical Bear trail.
All of you conquered the cold conditions, congratulations!
Although it seems that overtraining has been confined to snow shoveling, sandwiched between cold temperatures, the 39th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot is just a month away. This means that early registration ends this Saturday, 28 February 2026 at 11:59 p.m.
So click on the “register” tab at the top of this page and sign up now. You’ll save some money that you can use for fuel for your snow blower or for yourself, if you are limited to human-powered snow removal.
The snow storms keep coming so the groomers’ work is unending. However, when the snows stop (and we catch up with our shoveling), temperatures plunge so skate skiing hasn’t been feasible for SCUM.
Today we plodded on our classical skis with 3 inches of new snow in the tracks that were set just Friday. On Sunnyside and Cliffside, one had to be careful to stay on the packed trail as the snow on the edges was deep. Sarah discovered that the hard way on one of the downhill switchbacks on Sunnyside.
Heading up from the Fort Wainwright ski chalet, we had to search for the classical tracks that Bill had set Friday afternoon. When Jeff found them, we headed up the Sonot Connector,
where we met up with Bill and Jerome coming from the opposite direction.
Bill then told us of his adventure in the deep snow while setting tracks on the Sonot Connector when his snowmachine tipped and sunk sideways into the deeper snow while drag managed to the keep him upright. After a quick call to Brian, the head groomer, they had a come along to move Bill’s gear back on the more solid snow.
However, today, all the new snow had concealed the site of the mishap. Stay tuned, with 9 to 15 inches of additional snow predicted, groomers will need to be even more careful out on the trails.
Please consider increasing your donation to the NSCF trails fund. With over 6 feet of snow on the ground, we could have wonderful spring skiing, if the trail fund holds up.
Day 2: Owen 5 km, Bruce and Chris 10 km, all classic. 20 degrees and hard fast tracks… Bad Bob & Sharon skate this afternoon with temps around 38.
It’s Bad Bob’s Birthday and he got to race the 15km free on a beautiful day, sunny and 38 degrees with fast snow.
Owen had the race of the day collecting a silver medal in the 10km classic M11, Sharon placed 5th in the M8 15km free, Bad Bob placed 27th in the M8 15km free, Bruce finished his 15km free in the M9 while Chris completed his M9 classic.
Fun day for all..
From Bad Bob:
“. . all of us Fairbanksans skied the race course today. After a major snow storm yesterday and a 5 hour bus ride from Venice that normally take 2 1/2 hours, we all arrived safely. 37 degrees and fast snow greeted us on our first ski outing. 1st race happens Saturday.”
Hopefully, Bad Bob, Sharon, Bruce, Owen, and Chris will send us updates when they have a free moment.
With temperatures at Birch Hill this morning still below 0 deg F, the SCUM showed up for their workout with classical skis. Our aging bodies were still recovering from the Frank Soos Distance Race #2 (10 and 20 km freestyle) that followed 6 weeks of extremely cold conditions that precluded geezers from skate skiing. Although the temperature in the Birch HIll stadium was 5 deg on race day, for the SCUM, whose technique isn’t terribly efficient, skating 20 km was challenging, and we felt the hurt during and after the race.
So today after skiing the firm hard tracks on the Flat Black trails, we decided to give ourselves a break and have an adventure for the rest of our workout. We skied out White Cub and White Bear to the Sonot Cutoff and then onto the Northside Classical trails. We skied Aurora Run and then skied Classical Bear backwards:
Fun is an important aspect of training. Our adventure was fun and only one SCUM acquired the snow of shame on the single track, whereas two of us fell on the groomed trails.
After roughly 6 weeks where temperatures were below the -15 deg F cutoff for FXC Masters classes, temperatures warmed up for the start of Kristen Rozell’s 19th annual Sonot Kkaazoot Training Class. By the low number of entrants in the 20 km Frank Soos Distance Race #2 and the hurting bodies resting during the race, the extended cold spell has taken a toll on skier training. If you need motivation to get back into the groove, Kristen’s class still has 8 slots open and 8 weeks of training remaining. The class meets Tuesdays from 5:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
Here is the URL to the registration site:
Kristen’s class will definitely prepare you to successfully ski the 30 or 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot.
Sonot Kkaazoot 