SCUM find sweet tracks set by new groomer

SCUM hanging candy canes on spruce trees at Birch Hill–photo by Bill Husby

Temperatures were a little chilly on Sunday, so the SCUM waited until today to decorate trees on Birch Hill trails with candy canes. Skiers are welcome to them as long as they make sure that they properly dispose of the plastic wrappers. Some candy canes are clearly visible, but three of them were put in a spruce tree on the downhill near where Mother SCUM dislocated her shoulder 4 weeks ago.

While decorating trees, the SCUM were very pleased with the opportunity to enjoy Randy Foland’s stellar debut of grooming and setting tracks with the PistenBully. And while enjoying his fast tracks, we spotted LOL ornament #2.

Foland’s grooming instructor, Bill Husby with LOL ornament #2–photo by Mike Mathers
Rudolf (left) and Wolfman (right) pose with Bill while photographer Mike’s fingers freeze

When we ran out of candy canes, we skied the rest of the newly set tracks. Here’s a short video of the SCUM following Rudolf on Randy’s new tracks on the Outhouse loop:

SCUM following Rudolf–video by Bill Husby

After the Outhouse loop, we followed Bill as he wanted to check out all the trails that Randy had groomed. Sometimes following Bill means skiing trails differently than how they are laid out. Rudolf missed a turn on the Tower Direct.

Rudolf rolls on the Tower Direct--photo by Bill Husby

With many SCUM leaving to spend the holidays with their families, we enjoyed spending today’s ski spreading sweet treats on the trails. We savor the friendships made while skiing.

SCUM elves wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year–photo by Mike Mathers.

Randy, welcome to the grooming team! We really appreciated your trail grooming today.

LOL 12 ornaments of Christmas are hung at Birch Hill

With the SCUM volunteering for the recent Alaska Nordic Cup on the new Usibelli FIS ski trails at UAF last weekend, only one of the LOL ornaments of Christmas has been located. It’s not because of lack of holiday spirit as here’s the gang of SCUM looking around the trails today.

SCUM searching for LOL ornaments on Wednesday--photo by Joanna Fox
LOL ornament #11–photo by Bill Husby

The first Frank Soos Distance Race happens this Saturday, 7.5 or 15 km freestyle starting at 11 a.m. It’s a good way to create a calorie deficit so that you can enjoy more Christmas cheer.

LOL ornaments that Dan froze his fingers to document

It was -5 deg F at the stadium thermometer shortly before sunrise today. With the first Frank Soos Distance Race tomorrow, there was poor attendance for today’s workout. The freshest tracks were on the black loops so we headed that direction. LOL #1 was the first ornament that the Friday SCUM located, but no one’s hands were warmed up enough to stop and photograph it. You can see it in yesterday’s post.

LOL #4 —all photos by Dan Johnson

It was so cold that I’m not sure if we found LOL #4 before or after we descended Black Baron. Bob Moloney, who was skating today, doesn’t snowplow (like a normal SCUM) but did two acrobatic falls in his descent of Black Baron. We saluted our 80-year-old SCUM with our poles as he finished that trail.

I found LOL #9 as my thumb was being to throb again after temporarily thawing.

LOL #9 finished our prerace workout

Tomorrow’s Frank Soos Distance race will be conducted under Frank’s favorite conditions: cold snow and classical technique. Hope to see you there.

SCUM take on LOL ornament challenge

Most of the active SCUM are in their eighth or ninth decade on the planet and carry hardware within their carcasses rather than earning it in races. However, we have accepted the challenge of the LOL and have started searching for their 12 ornaments of Christmas. We will only indicate the number of the ornaments we find UNLESS there is no number visible.

LOL ornament on the Blue Loop that matches the ornament on Byron’s nose–all photos by Joanna Fox
LOL 6
LOL 8
LOL 12

The SCUM hope that skiers enjoy the newly groomed trails on Saturday at the first of the Frank Soos Distance Races. It begins at 11 a.m. and will be 7.5 or 15 km classical technique. Many of the SCUM will be participating so you won’t be last. Here’s the URL for online registration: