The warmer weather and winds have brought down gobs of snow from trees along the Birch Hill trails. It also brought down a good-sized white spruce on the lower section of the N40 trail.
Here are the SCUM heroes that moved it off the trail. Doing a good deed is easy when you’re still fatigued from the 30 km Frank Soos Distance Race on Sunday.
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).
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.
However, these skiers didn’t have the quantity of snow on them that others had.
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.
Enjoy the groomed trails and please contribute to the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks grooming fund: https://nordicskicluboffairbanks.wildapricot.org/Donate/
A huge thank you to the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks groomers who made possible for the SCUM to ski the entire White Bear on their first outing on skis for the season. Seeing as we had just finished a major trail brushing effort, we were disappointed to see that the wet snow created hazards that we hadn’t seen last week.
I didn’t need to get beyond the Warm-up Loop to have my first fall, which my friends rushed to document. It was practice for the falls I would do throughout the morning as I attempted to remove fallen branches while skiing:
The sensible approach after this tumble would have been to stay in the stadium area and practice technique and balance. However, the White Bear had been rolled and combed, and I needed to check on the brushing we’d done last week. As early as the cutoff from the biathlon to White Bear, I discovered I didn’t have enough kick, but continued on with my slick skis:
We followed the tracks of Eric Troyer and Corinee Lestikow until Coronary Bypass, where Joanna wanted to head back. However, with virgin groomed trails ahead, Dermot and I wanted to continue. Joanna yielded to subtle pressure.
Dermot was attempting to do brush hazard removal, but the snow was still sticking to the branch:
The most serious trail hazard we found was a large section of a birch tree that had probably fallen during an earlier wind event as the leaves were still attached. Additional snow on this suspended section of tree (with leaves) could definitely be a hazard to a groomer or skier who passed under this tree at the wrong time. This tree is just outbound from the Heart Rate Hill sign:
Thanks to the groomers, we had a wonderful first ski around the White Bear today. The snowpack is very thin, so we were classical skiing to preserve the snow. We hope other skiers will do the same and contribute to the trail grooming fund:
With 4 inches of wet, heavy snow, ski walking up the Fort Wainwright alpine hill once today was equivalent to three ascents during the dryland season. With ice spikes in our shoes, we stayed upright both descending and ascending the alpine hill. However, I slipped and fell on an icy patch of Beacon Road (that had been plowed this morning) as we were ski walking to the FWW alpine hill.
Barring a major warm spell, this is likely our last dryland workout; it also represented two seasonal firsts.
Our first snow angel:
and our first snowman at Flat Rock:
If temperatures cool to within than a degree or so of freezing, rolling the snow on the Birch Hill stadium and ramps will be possible. Thus, the trail brushing by Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks volunteers is likely finished until spring. However, in the past several weeks, over 61 hours of volunteer work with chainsaws, hand saws, and pruners have provided match hours for the RTP grant funding Birch Hill trail improvements.
Thanks are extended to Dave Prusak, Mike Schmoker, Bob Moloney, Tim Prusak, Ben Calvillo, Melissa Lewis, Bill Husby, and Susan Sugai, who provided valuable self-directed trail brushing this week.
With Mother Nature holding off on snowfall this winter, we have time for additional trail work that can contribute to our match of the RTP grant funding Birch Hill trail improvement.
This week, three pairs of SCUM have done 17 hours’ worth of trail work on the black loops and Black Hawk. The classical only trails and far end of White Bear would be the best targets for future trail brushing. From firsthand experience trying to ski walk there, Classical Bear needs work.
If you do trail brushing work, please let me know where you’ve work and the number of hours you have devoted to it. Email me at: contact@sonotkkaazoot.org
It won’t take much snow for us to enjoy skiing this winter.
Today John led a group of 12 SCUM and two dogs in a highly effective several hours of cutting trees and brush (all early successional trees, i.e. willows, alders) from the trails to be used for Junior Nationals in March as well as sections of the White Bear trail. Skiers, spectators, and disk golfers will notice the difference the late season cat work and brushing has done.
We broke up into 2 groups working on the South Tower and Relay Return, and two groups on the White Bear, so I didn’t get photos of the group that was the furthest from the Birch Hill stadium. There were two groups within each group: cutters and brush haulers.
Some of the younger SCUM haven’t retired yet so were unable to participate in our work party today. Thus, Dave Prusak and Eric Buetow got a head start on Sunday when they worked with John on the South Tower uphill:
Norma, Tim Woster, Mike Schmoker, Robert, Bernardo, Kent, Cam, Tim Prusak, Mike Mathers, Bob Moloney, Dave, Eric, and yours truly had enjoyable day helping John and the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks widen the trails so our groomers can make trails even better this winter. It won’t be long before we’ll be skiing.
The Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks groomers have been busy removing trees downed by recent wind events so that you can enjoy the Birch Hill trails. In the photo below you can see the freshly sawed trunk of a spruce tree that had fallen across the gate to the Sunnyside trail and sprung up after cutting. As you run, hike, or bike on the Birch Hill trails, cross train by hauling or tossing the debris off the trails before ski season.
Today the SCUM ended their ski walking workout on the Fort Wainwright alpine hill by returning to the stadium via the Sunnyside trail and encountered remains of a large, downed spruce tree on the Outhouse trail. What better cool down than removing debris from the trail? Volunteer trail clearing as a short diversion from your run or bike will make trails better for skiing in winter.
If the SCUM (average age of today’s volunteers was 70 years old) can pause their workouts to do some trail tidying, won’t you help, too?
Sonot Kkaazoot 