Category Archives: History of the Sonot Kkaazoot

SCUM rises to the top although more slowly now

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Carl, the only remaining primordial SCUM (from 1995-1996 season to present), finishes his 4 ascents

When the SCUM started back in the 1995 to 1996 winter, most of us were in our 40s. SCUM offspring were skiing for high school teams. Thirty years later, most SCUM are in their 70s and many are grandparents. In our first two decades, the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot was our end-of-season goal and our “final exam.” However, by 2022, winters precluded the Chena River staying frozen to late March, so the Sonot Kkaazoot was moved entirely to Birch Hill. The new course traded 20 km of flat terrain on the river for 20 km of challenging hilly trails. Fewer of the SCUM were able to ski the 50 km course.

Now the SCUM can no longer ski and volunteer for organizing the Sonot Kkaazoot. With no race director for 2026 stepping forward to date, we will continue to ski and volunteer, but at an intensity and duration that is feasible given our advanced age.

Many years ago, Bill Husby, a SCUM and longtime NSCF groomer, issued the challenge for the SCUM to complete 4 ski walking ascents of the Fort Wainwright alpine hill by the Fourth of July. This season, between travel and air quality issues, only three SCUM (Bill Husby, Eric Buetow and Dave Prusak) successfully achieved that challenge. Five more SCUM (Joanna Fox, Mom, Robert Hannon, Bernardo Hernandez, and Tim Wooster) did their 4 ascents in the week following the 4th of July.

Carl Hemming, who spent much of the early summer rebuilding an outhouse at his Quartz Lake cabin and then spent several weeks in Michigan visiting family, finished his 4 ascents today. They weren’t fast, especially compared to those we’ve done in the past, but they were done under brilliant blue skies and golden leaves. Instead of mosquitoes, only a few no-see- ums flew around our faces.

Here’s proof from Mom’s Polar heartrate monitor trace

Although negative splits would be desirable for well-trained athletes, for SCUM who are closer to 80 than 70 years old, and injured, we were happy to do 4 ascents.

Our workout included 735 m (2414 feet) of climb and a total distance of 9.24 km. The average climb on the chairlift ascents was 22% (170 m climb over 0.84 km).

Carl nears the top of ascent #3
Carl at the end of ascent #4

So, please let us know if you know anyone who is willing to take on the organization of the Sonot Kkaazoot. Bad Bob Baker and the rest of the SCUM will be happy to help you out. Woodels for this year have been cut and sanded already.

Sonot Results (before Anna Sorensen)

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Page 1 of the 1992 Sonot Kkaazoot 50 km race results

37th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot skiers definitely appreciated the live results posted by Anna Sorensen, head timer. Long before Anna, there was hand timing by Bad Bob Baker and results done on a Selectric typewriter. Shown above is page 1 of the 1992 Sonot Kkaazoot results for the 50 km race. We see that Karin Gillis, mother of current FXC Masters coach, Christina Turman, was only 30 years old. Sharon Baker was 33 years old. Ken Leary was 34 years old. Only Sharon and Ken from this results page skied on Saturday. Andy Reynolds and I were on page 2 but were still skiing the Sonot Kkaazoot 32 years later.

Maybe when I finish my MFA degree, I’ll have time to scan all the old Sonot Kkaazoot results and post them.

Award winning skiers on new Sonot Kkaazoot courses

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Congratulations to the top three skiers in each of the new Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot distances:

Men’s 50 km: Galen Johnston with a time of 2:35:05.8; Wells Wappett, 2:36:30.2; and Alex Morris, 2:39:12.4.

Women’s 50 km: Rosie Fordham with a time of 2:43:15.8; Kendall Kramer, 2:48:08.3; and Alison Arians, 2:49:55.5.

Women’s 30 km: Meredith Schwartz, 1:53:00.5; Mallory Presler, 1:58:11.4, and Inga Peterson, 2:52:35.9.

Men’s 30 km: Kieran Kaufman, 1:37:05.8, Owen Wooller, 1:40:10.1, and Thomas St. Clair, 1:42:06.6.

Men’s 10 km: Elias Engman, 32:38.0, Peter Delamere, 33:59.0, and Reid Merrill, 35:41.2.

Women’s 10 km: Hannah Delamere, 41:55.1, Lilli Bond, 41:55.5, and Ellie Abrahamson, 43:02.2.

Congratulations to Sonot Kkaazoot skiers

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For the first time in recent history, all skiers participating in the 32nd annual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot finished their 9.5 or 30 km courses in under 4 hours. Also, winning times are the fastest in the event’s history in part because the courses were shorter than other years when the Sonot Kkaazoot has been held all at Birch Hill.

Congratulations to our 32nd annual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot winners, all of whom reside outside of the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

30 km 

Eric Packer, 28, Anchorage,   1:12:12.9

Marine Dusser, 30, Anchorage, 1:22:53.7

9.5 km

Andrew Stringfellow, 16, Nenana,  24:36.5

Georgianna Fischer, 16, Bozeman, MT, 28:27.8

One hundred twenty five skiers finished the 9.5 km event and 125 skiers finished the 30 km one. Although the number of skiers completing the 32nd annual Sonot Kkaazoot was slightly down from the previous 6 years, this is the largest combined field for an all-Birch Hill Sonot Kkaazoot.

Thank you to all the volunteers and skiers who helped us celebrate spring on skis in Interior Alaska.

Yes, it’s been warm in March before

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Yes, it’s very warm outside today and is forecast to be the same or warmer tomorrow. However, we’ve had warm March temperatures in the past, and still held the Sonot Kkaazoot as it has been for 31 years.

In 2015, March was very warm like this spring and the Sonot Kkaazoot took place on March 28 that year—five days later than this year.

PAFA_201503

Although the Chena River is not looking particularly solid for safe skiing, we have held the Sonot Kkaazoot on the traditional course starting and finishing on the Chena River for the past eight years (2011 to 2018). Before that, we had three consecutive years of alternate Sonot Kkaazoot courses, two years all at Birch Hill (2008 and 2009) and one year all on the Chena River (2010) to balance things out.

Sonot Kkaazoot skiers have to be flexible at times and ski whatever conditions and courses Mother Nature tosses our way.  However, spring skiing in Fairbanks is always a special treat.

Best ever conditions at Fort Wainwright Road Crossings

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Thanks to Robert Hannon, Sonot Fort Wainwright liaison, and Dani O’Donnell, Fort Wainwright Community Engagement and Media Relations staff person, a crew of 17 Fort Wainwright volunteers were recruited to help Eric Troyer and Bill Chedister in staffing the road crossings on River and Ski Roads.

As shown below (all photos by Eric Troyer, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2012647878765322.1073741843.106945789335550&type=1&l=a4233c29a2), these volunteers directed vehicular and skier traffic, shoveled snow on the roadway, and encouraged 40 and 50 km skiers in the early and late stages of their Sonot Kkaazoot journeys.

These Fort Wainwright personnel greatly enhanced the partnership with Fort Wainwright that has existed for all 31 years that the Sonot Kkaazoot taken place.

We urge skiers to thank their neighbors and Fort Wainwright personnel for their additional commitment to the greater Fairbanks North Star Borough community.(https://sonotkkaazoot.org/volunteers/). Without the partnership with Fort Wainwright, the Sonot Kkaazoot would not be possible.

Last weekend ski at Birch Hill likely today

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Traditionally some of the best skiing of the year happens after the Sonot Kkaazoot. However, with the overall winter being warm and low snowfall with a record loading of birch seed and spruce cones, the ski season at Birch Hill for 2014 to 2015 is drawing to a close. In addition to the Ski for Women participants, we enjoyed the wonderfully groomed ski trails today and some unexpected sunshine.

Dermot not dermotized_smShirtless Ray_sm3 shirtless skiers_smWe close out the ski season at Birch Hill with this rare shirtless photo shoot.

Skiing at West Ridge is still feasible for at least another week so we may post some photos from our annual Smith Lake biathlon (ski, swim) event that will likely be no earlier than late April.

FXC coaches set new record Sonot Kkaazoot times

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Fast snow conditions led to fast times in the 2015 Sonot Kkaazoot.

Rebecca Konieczny set a new record time for the Women’s 50 km freestyle Sonot Kkaazoot. Her time  2:23:40.6 took 7:32 off the previous record finish time held by Melissa Lewis from 2005. In addition, the Sonot Connector was added to the Sonot Kkaazoot course in 2012, so Rebecca skied a couple of km further than the old “50 km” course when skiers accessed Birch Hill Recreation Area via the Fort Wainwright alpine hill.

Likewise, Peter Leonard, also improved upon the previous record time for the Men’s 20 km Sonot Kkaazoot set in 2005 by Marius Korthauer. Pete’s time of 45:56.3 bettered the Men’s record time by about 58 seconds.

Sonot Kkaazoot coverage in local media

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From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer with 11 photographs:

http://www.newsminer.com/sports/local/jack-novak-captures-title-in-sonot-kkaazoot/article_0d3087f4-d5e9-11e4-b58b-0f8cf05f9f6e.html

Alaska Dispatch News story on the oldest finisher in the 50 km Sonot Kkaazoot:

http://www.adn.com/article/20150331/79-year-old-cross-country-skier-finds-solace-50-kilometer-sonot-kkaazoot