(Scroll down to results that we uploaded on 3/11/22)
A large group of SCUM and friends headed out on their Virtual Skiathon today at 10 a.m.
All photos (except where noted otherwise) were taken by Eric Troyer, who warmed up for the Virtual Skiathon by skiing the 26 mile Chena River to Ridge Endurance Race on Saturday. Corrine Leistikow also skied the 26 mile Chena River to Ridge Race.
Virtual Skiathon group at 10 a.m. — photo taken by a wise skier who did not want to be associated with the SCUM
Although “the graveyard” (aka Miller Hill) section of the Skarland Trail hadn’t been groomed, most of the SCUM and others managed to negotiate the ungroomed sections, but none as skillfully as Sam Bishop.
Sam Bishop (on right) stands upright on his skis like he did even on the ungroomed sections of the Skarland Trail
SCUM returning to the official start line of the Skiathon to regroup (a typical SCUM move)
Because this blogger was the course sweep, I am unable to provide captions for the Skiathon photographs so I’ve invented something to cover the Olympus digital camera advertisement that accompanied Eric’s photos.
Skiers pause briefly so Eric can take a photograph
Greg Kahoe skis without groomed tracks
Byron Broda relaxing on Vitual Skiathon Tour —photo by Bill Husby
Corrine Leistikow skis down the Skarland Trail
Don Pendergrast upright before rest stop —photo by Dan Johnson
Don’s reverse squat after rest break—photo by Dan Johnson
Happy Virtual Skiathon finishers
Joanna greets Mike Schmoker as he slows down to finish his virtual Skiathon
Early SCUM finishers celebrate with beer—photo by Dan Johnson
Bill Husby (aka Poles) is back skiing after his ladder accident
During the Frank Soos Distance Race #3, The Unpleasantry, I was passed by Thomas St. Clair holding a broken pole in one hand and skiing outside the tracks with just one pole. I mentioned to our group of skiers that Bill was perhaps part of a growing trend.
Then today, Bill headed out to Smith Lake to keep him at the top of our Creme de la SCUM team in miles earned for our 2000-mile relay on the Race Across Alaska Winter Challenge. I hope that this didn’t jar any of his fractured ribs and that he will soon join our workouts again.
Are you getting tired of skiing the same trails here in the Fairbanks area? Scott Brucker would like folks to come try out his ski trails in Minto in hopes that we’ll help promote his trails for future ski events.
He emailed:
I’d like to invite you and some folks for a personalized ski session of my trails. It was about 3 weeks ago I had a ‘jib’ ski and skate skied 14 miles of my trails, it was absolutely glorious. I’m trying to obtain/build better drags and figure out a way to put corduroy in the trail. I exploded my snow drag the other day, which really pissed me off when the hitch failed and caught a tree. I figure if I show people it is a good trail, they will pass that on by word of mouth and might be able to help host a race or get school ski programs to come out this way.
Here’s updated google earth Imagery of my trail system.
Roughly 400+ cords of wood now cut and stacked in the past 7 years. So exciting to see the scars I’ve let on the planet. I added about 1.5 miles to the trail from last year. Here is an image of a 9.5 mi route.
They can be combined with other trails for 24 miles of skiing if I really wanted to, but I’ve found maintaining that much trail is exhausting, time consuming, and costly. Right now I’m maintaining 14.5 mi trail as my longest, and a total of 17 miles of trail.
A trip to Minto might make a perfect spring break trip.
Contact Scott if you’re interested: email: sbrucker@yksd.com
The groomers have been busy and the weather has cooperated. The biggest uncertainty regarding tomorrow’s 10 or 20 km freestyle event is whether the moose will be foraging along the classical tracks on the Sunnyside after the groomers set the racecourse. This might be a good reason to skate ski.
However, our easy ski today on the Black loops revealed something else on the ski trails that we haven’t seen in a while: amazing glide. Three of us crashed because our skis got away from us. Byron went down on the Corkscrew, I crashed on the Black Baron, and Joanna took a headfirst tumble on the Black Abyss. Byron was wearing teflon pants so he didn’t carry any evidence of his fall like Joanna and I did:
Photo by Bill Husby
Join us tomorrow, starting at 11:00 a.m. (unless you are Bad Bob Baker) for the Frank Soos Distance Race #2. Homemade gingersnap cookies (Frank’s favorite) at the finish.
After a week of shoveling out from the two recent storms that dowsed the area with snow and rain, the SCUM were delighted to ski in firm PistenBully tracks today. However, the only photos taken were when they ventured off into the ungroomed snow.
Here the SCUM set “old school” tracks on the Old Tower:
Photo by Dan Johnson
And here’s what the White Bear trail beyond Sonot Junction looks like:
Mom, Joanna, and Norma decide against skiing WB--photo by Dan Johnson
Joanna and Norma were feeling adventuresome so took off and skied Moilanen Meadows following these set tracks:
Moilanen Meadow tracks–photo by Joanna Fox
In addition to finding two downed trees on the trail, they found a Winter Trails sign:
Joanna and Norma with Winter Trails sign–photo by Joanna Fox
Norma led them out of the Meadows and back to the Birch Hill stadium but the chilled SCUM had already headed home.
Norma enjoying Moilanen Meadows–photo by Joanna Fox
They’d return for their first ski of 2022 as part of the Ski Your Age in Kilometers event on Saturday.
Today Dan Johnson led the SCUM up Moose Mountain following the trails the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks tour took on Saturday. Once again, Bad Bob Baker had newly groomed their course.
Trees and moon along the trail:
SCUM on Bad Bob’s Moose Mountain trail—photos by Bill Husbyunless noted otherwise
SCUM before sunrise:
Tim Woster--photo by Dan Johnson
Bill Husby–photo by Dan Johnson
Eric Buetow--photo by Dan Johnson
Sunrise on Moose Mountain–photo by Dan Johnson
Sunrise poses from on top:
Eric Buetow
Bill Husby
Dan Johnson
Tim Woster
Moose Mountain SCUM–photo by Dan Johnson
Our leader, Dan raises the SCUM flag (his hat) above Mastodon Rock. He wished he’d had Frank’s poles to raise it higher:
The tour finished with a well-deserved toast, thanks to Eric and his highly fortified and aged eggnog.
The amazing Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks groomers had packed and tracked all the major trails at Birch Hill recreation area on Saturday so we had infinite choices today. However, first Santa had to decorate a tree with edible ornaments:
Santa decorates his tree–all photos and videos by Joanna Fox
Brightly-lit Santa and Eric decorate the tree
As we were skiing in a winter storm warning, Santa came prepared. Brightly colored lights adorned his hat so that he didn’t need Rudolph or any reindeer for that matter. After skiing the Blue loop (where Dan momentarily lost his “Ho Ho” baseball cap), we skied Outhouse to midway and headed down the Sunnyside trail. At Powerline cutoff, we encountered a mother moose and calf above us:
Mama Moose above Mama Fox
B- SCUM arrive at Powerline cutoff
We chased Eric and Dan down the Sunnyside and Cliffside to the Fort Wainwright alpine hut. Then we headed up the Sonot Connector, where we found amazing glide even on the uphill sections.
We took a break in our climb when the seven SCUM found LOL ornament #7:
Seven SCUM at LOL ornament #7
However, this feat wasn’t encountered without mishap. Afterall, seven SCUM were involved. See video of how the incident played out:
One SCUM (Dr. Eric Buetow) down at LOL ornament #7
Pointing out our second of the LOL ornaments this week
When we got to the top of the Sonot Connector, we headed back toward the stadium with five of us doing Moilanen Meadows chasing Santa. When we got back to the Santa tree, we encountered the A SCUM.
All of us wish you a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. Plan to celebrate 2022 by skiing the 35th annual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot:
SCUM celebrating the warm weather and new snow around the decorated tree
If I recall correctly, it was mid-20s below both at the top of the tower and at the biathlon range. The thermometer on the red building said about -15 deg F.
If you dress properly, even -31 deg F, you can enjoy beautiful trails and scenic lakes without leaving Fairbanks. Being part of the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks grooming crew, Bill Husby enjoys skiing on trails maintained by others. So, on Monday, Bill headed out on the Rat Ponds tour that had been groomed and marked by Stan Justice. These photos show what he found:
And here is Bill’s documentation of the tour:
Fortunately, for us wimpy skiers, a strong temperature inversion has now set up, so we can avoid the cold temperatures Bill endured by skiing high. However, this post shows, with some advanced planning, enjoyable skiing is possible regardless of the temperature.
Sonot Kkaazoot 