A pair of sandhill cranes and their offspring animated our climbs today–all photos by Pam Laker except where noted otherwise
Cranes looking at Dermot–photo by Dermot Cole
Years ago, Bill Husby issued a challenge for the SCUM to do 4 FWW alpine hill ascents before the 4th of July. Today in the morning sunshine, there was some debate whether the 4 ascents had to be done in one day, or if they could be done over a period of time with breaks in between.
Jeff smiled during his 4 ascents today
Jeff Conn and Pam Laker ski walked 4 ascents today, unfazed by the heat and mosquitoes. Pam, who had been sick this week, was just happy to be out and breathing:
Pam and Jeff did 4 ascents today with smiles
The rest of us did 2 or 3 ascents with crane watching and stone structure building as necessary distractions.
Dan and Bill select rocks for their flat rock sculpture
Mom fading on third ascent in the heat while Dermot hauls rock uphill
Robert leading a group of SCUM
TIMBER! (Tall Timber, Robert Hannon posing on the FWW alpine hill)
A dozen SCUM showed up today (with Patricia Baer not shown)–photo by Joanna Fox
Today was Dan Johnson’s and Carl Hemming’s first SCUM workout of the dryland season. Dan has been out because of a back injury while Carl had been in Reno getting altitude training after the Sonot Kkaazoot. Patricia Baer also joined us for the first time.
SCUM heading towards the trails (Patricia is in the red with backpack)
Everyone’s goal today was different, but both Patricia and Carl did three ascents of the FWW chairlift trail on their first SCUM workout. Patricia was out in front of everyone while Carl was behind everyone who bailed at less than 3 ascents.
Where is Carl?–photo by Bill Husby
We waited for Carl and called him on his cell phone. When we got no answer, we decided he was enjoying his tech free time on the FWW alpine hill. After lunch, I checked in with Carl and he had indeed finished his third ascent successfully.
Friday’s sunshine brought out equal gender representation among the SCUM
Today’s sunshine brought out two SCUM who had been MIA because of 1) side effects of cancer treatment and 2) a persistent heel injury. Although both were still suffering from their ailments, they joined us today with the understanding that they could turn back at any time. However, after ascending the Tower Direct trail and Beacon Road to the FWW alpine hill, everyone except Joanna decided to get away from the dusty road and play among the lupines on the FWW alpine hill.
Robert and Bill descend the FWW alpine hill while Sarah plays on remnant manmade snow
We took the more gradual and scenic route to the bottom of the chair lift where the mounds of remnant manmade snow was down to just two. The iron oxides from the local groundwater had been concentrated as the snow melted leaving a rusty surface for Sarah to tuck on. Once we got to the bottom of the ski hill, everyone opted to ski walk up the chairlift trail and everyone made it to the top.
Robert, Bernardo, Bill, and Jeff head up the chairlift trail for their first ascent
The “no Y” SCUM decided to do a second ascent at a leisurely pace (set by the elderly Mom) so we got a chance to encourage our male counterparts as they were well on their way to conquering their first (or second) ascent of the season.
The “no Y” SCUM on Beacon Road after their FWW workout
The sun and breeze kept the mosquitoes away from us on the FWW alpine hill but they found us once we returned to our cars in the south Birch Hill lot. However, it had been a fantastic morning and workout with friends.
A little over a week ago, huge mounds of snow remained on the Fort Wainwright alpine hill, but pasque flowers were blooming as we ski walked on the eastern snowgun trail around the island of trees to avoid the muddy sections of the chairlift trail.
Robert Hannon resting in a field of Pasque flowers on 22 May 2026
By Friday, 29 May, we were able to ski walk the chairlift trail without getting our feet wet. Today we discovered that the Sunnyside, Cliffside, and Sonot Connector trails were all dry and lupines were in full bloom on the Sunnyside.
Norma Haubenstock and lupines on Sunnyside trail on 31 May 2026
So training options are now fully open. On Tuesdays at 10 a.m., we’ll meet at the Ester Dome bike trails parking lot to ski walk up the dome with various turnaround points.
On Friday, we’ll meet at Birch Hill at 10 a.m. and head over to the FWW alpine hill and ski walk the chairlift trail in preparation for the Bill Husby challenge of 4 ascents before the 4th of July. If you don’t like doing the same trail more than once, you can take the Cliffside and Sunnyside trails back.
Be forewarned, it’s now officially summertime. You’ll need to wear bug dope as the mosquitoes are out. Right now they are still the big and slow ones, but the smaller, faster ones will soon join them. Thanks to recent rains, the birch pollen levels have decreased significantly at Birch Hill.
Beautiful tracks on Blackhawk trail set by Bill Husby and captured on video by Dan Johnson
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.
Sarah Conn (all photos by Dan Johnson)
Jeff Conn
Don Pedergrast
Byron Broda
Bill Husby
Bernardo Hernandez
And Mother SCUM, who was going so slow, Dan’s fingers froze:
No falls today with very controlled downhill speed
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.
SCUM joined by gold medal, Owen, on our military transect from Sunnyside to Sonot Connector–all photos by Greg Kahoe (the kid)
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,
Practicing our tucks on the Sonot Connector as we search for Bill’s tracks
where we met up with Bill and Jerome coming from the opposite direction.
Meeting up with groomer, Bill, and his flip up goggles
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.
SCUM adventure: skiing the Classical Bear backwards–photo by Greg Kahoe
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:
SCUM head out Classical Bear from Aurora Run–photo by Greg Kahoe
Don skiing on Classical Bear–photo by Dan Johnson
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.
SCUM at the bottom of the Blue loop descent–photos by Pam Laker
Skiing with glide and on skate skis for the first time since 2 December 2025, meant that the SCUM felt like it was October. It was +35 deg when we headed out today at 10:30 a.m. This was a 56 deg temperature swing from Wednesday when several of us skied at -21 deg with 1″ of snow in the set tracks.
After skiing South Tower and the Blue loop, we had shed even more clothes:
Trying to remember the skate ski pointers from the Thanksgiving Camp
We could hardly recognize Jerome without his mask and walrus-like “snotsickle”. Shedding layers made all of us look thinner than last week.
Hopefully, the NSCF groomers will be able to work their magic and grind up the snow/ice/debris globules that have fallen onto the trails after this storm ends. After having both of our FXC Masters Ski Power Lunch sessions canceled this week due to cold temperatures, it was a novel treat to be overheating even without chemical hand and toe warmers.
On Sunday, we hope to ski enough kilometers to be prepared for next weekend’s Frank Soos Distance Race #2, the Ginger Snap Special, 10 or 20 km freestyle. This is one of the stepping stones to the Sonot Kkaazoot on 21 March 2026.
Sonot Kkaazoot 