Bad Bob groomed the Chena River portion of the Sonot Kkaazoot trail again today after a week of cold weather. He commented that the trail was “nice.”
If you plan to ski the Chena River, be alert for any changes in the ice, stick to the area groomed, ski with a buddy, and make sure you carry your government identification if you ski onto Fort Wainwright.
Enjoy the sunshine and longer days.
Photo by Bad Bob Baker of Sonot Kkaazoot trail on Chena River near Hamilton Acres
From: National Weather Service Fairbanks Facebook page:
Ice thickness on the Chenr River downtown is 21″.
We have 2 feet of snow pack at the airport, which provides considerable insulation. The overflow that Bob Baker encountered on Sunday was only 4 to 6 inches deep. This cold spell will solidify that now that he had packed down the snow overlying it. Don’t panic. The Sonot Kkaazoot is still six weeks away and Mother Nature hasn’t revealed all her secrets yet.
However, this is for sure. Early registration ends a week from Friday so sign up now and save money on your entry fee. Just click on the register tab at the top of this page.
Bruce Jamieson observes as Bad Bob Baker points to the spot where he got stuck in the overflow and chose to stop dragging. Photo by Bill Husby
As of 10 a.m. Sunday, 9 February 2020, from Bad Bob Baker:
The Chena River is NOT skiable. Countless overflow areas. Only the first 2 to 3 km from the Cushman Street Bridge are skiable.
REPEAT: Sonot Kkaazoot trail on Chena River is not skiable as of Sunday morning, 9 February 2020.
FYI: Bad Bob plans to groom the Chena River portion of the Sonot Kkaazoot again on Sunday starting at 9 p.m.
Remember, if you plan to ski that course onto Fort Wainwright, be sure to carry your government identification.
Bad Bob Baker groomed the Chena River portion of the Sonot Kkaazoot course again on Tuesday. He said “it’s very smooth and quite fast and at least 16′ wide at the narrowest. The sugar snow has firmed up and the skating is quite nice.”
REMEMBER, before you head out to enjoy Bob’s grooming, if you are skiing onto Fort Wainwright, you must be carrying government identification with you. If you leave the Chena River and venture onto the base where the trail is accessible by road, you can be stopped by military personnel responsible for security protection on Fort Wainwright. Make sure you have your valid government identification with you.
From Sonot Kkaazoot director, Bad Bob Baker:
“The grooming of the 20 km course on the CHENA RIVER was a success! This year’s Chena River is very smooth, with plenty of snow and very little icy sections. Today I just roughed in a 12′ to 16′ wide trail. I will got back on the river again in a few days and re-groom and widen it a bit more. After the re-groom it should be very good skiiing… even now with this first rough-in…it’s not bad.. As of today, the SONOT can be held on the river.. we’ll see what MOTHER NATURE has in store for us..”
Photos by Bad Bob Baker after 2/3/20 grooming on Chena River portion of Sonot Kkaazoot course
Today is Ground Hog Day. Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow so he has predicted an early spring.
Undaunted, the SCUM, having just finished 6 weeks of classical skiing on brutally cold snow, decided to check with their own local ground hog. Unnamed but photographed this summer on the first switchback on the Cliffside Trail as you descend, we assume his burrow is nearby. Although it was -10 deg F in the stadium when we started out, it was still -25 deg F at Fort Wainwright so probably -20 deg F at the burrow elevation.
To warm up are aging carcasses, we first skied up the Tower Loop, where our SCUM ground hog unsuccessfully searched for his shadow:
The Sunnyside Trail is appropriately named so we hoped that if we descended it to the upper reaches of the Cliffside, we might find our ground hog and his shadow. Unfortunately, the little guy wasn’t feeling social today.
On the snowfield just uphill from his burrow, the SCUM tried other approaches to determining whether our ground hog might have seen his shadow so that the Chena River would remain thoroughly frozen through the Sonot Kkaazoot:
Those SCUM lacking the hand skills of Sam Bishop,
got down into their closest approximation to a ground hog stance, and checked out for their shadows:
If you look carefully, you can indeed see our shadows on the snow slope. Thus, the Birch Hill ground hogs have determined that we will have at least another 6 weeks of wintry weather before those wonderful spring days arrive in time for the Sonot Kkaazoot.
So register now before entry fees increase later this month. Just click on the “Register” tab at the top of this website.
All photos and videos taken by Bill Husby, Birch Hill groomer for 14 years and SCUM for 20 years.
From the National Weather Service Fairbanks Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/NWSFairbanks/photos/rpp.364371981058508/449100109252361/?type=3&theater, we pass on their summary of January 2020 records at Fairbanks International Airport (remember there was a significant inversion at Birch Hill on many days):
However, it is now February and longer days means warmer temperatures. Here are the average temperatures for February:
and here are the Climate Predication Center’s forecasts for February 2020:
So, what is holding you back from signing up for the 33rd annual Sonot Kkaazoot?
With the 33rd annual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot just 8 weeks out, it is time to be putting the kilometers into the bank. Today with temperatures in the Birch Hill stadium hovering around -16 deg F and snowing, it was an ideal time to do the North Classical trails especially for balance challenged SCUM. On a cold day like today, the only skiers who showed up for our Sunday workout were those old enough to remember skiing at much colder temperatures.
After warming up our 6 decade and older bodies on one circuit of yesterday’s Town Race #3 course, we headed off for the recently groomed North Classical loops. With Frank Soos leading the first part of the Classical Bear, he managed to dump a widow’s maker’s worth of snow onto our youngest SCUM, Sam Bishop. Sam decided that following the tallest skier among us wasn’t a good idea so he took the lead. At the Aurora Run intersection, we headed out the North Star trail and eventually came to the RSDH Bypass sign. As a faithful reader of the Sonot Kkaazoot blog, you will now know that this acronym stands for “Really Steep Down Hill” on this single track trail. Dermot Cole, photographer of the photo below, has another “S” word that he uses, but we’ve used the official acronym definition.
“Really Steep Down Hill” bypass sign
With the newly fallen -20 below snow, the RSDH was no challenge navigating, which is fortunate because with my down skirt fully zipped on the sides, I couldn’t snowplow. Dermot also took videos of our downhill ski technique so we could improve before temperatures warm up. Today, no one crashed even though we totally encased with frost from skiing on trails that varied from -15 to -25 deg F.
What does it take to ski at -20 deg F? Two chemical handwarmers in each of your mittens and a set for either side of your phone. And friends to ski with JUST in case something unexpected happens.
It was absolutely beautiful out on the trails today and while we weren’t skiing very quickly, we were getting quite a workout just to keep moving on both the uphills and downhills.
Although Shalene Frost won the women’s 20 km Distance Race #2 last Saturday by skate skiing, the majority of participants were classical skiing as the cold weather has lingered for over a month.
The long range forecasts show a 50 to 70% likelihood that the 8 to 14 day temperature outlooks will be below normal. Thus, most mortals training for the Sonot Kkaazoot should embrace classical skiing and plan to enter some classical races to test your fitness.
The Distance Race #3 will be held on Sunday, 16 February at 11:00 a.m. This event will be held in classical technique over 10 and 30 km courses. You can register for that race here: https://www.nscfairbanks.org/programs/races/distance-series/distance-series-3/
On Sunday, 8 March, the UAF Trails Club will host the 20 km classical Skiathon race and tour on the UAF trails at 11:00 a.m. Information and entry forms can be found here: https://uaftrailsclub.weebly.com/skiathon.html
Entry fees from this race support UAF trails so your $15 entry fee before March 7 ($40 on the day of the race) is a great investment in ski trails on the west end of the borough.
The trails at Birch Hill and UAF have ample snow pack and have been getting regular grooming so conditions are great if somewhat slow. Plan to enter some classical races and you’ll increase your fitness as the Sonot Kkaazoot draws closer.
Sonot Kkaazoot 