Race director, Bad Bob Baker and Tom Helmers, head groomer for the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks have been working through the night to make the 37th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot a memorable one for all the skiers.
At 1146 pm, on his first pass of the 5 km marker on White Bear, Tom reported the air temperature was +33 deg F and the snow temperature with infrared thermometer was +15 deg. Their plan was to groom the Sunnyside and Cliffside trails last after freeze-up.
At 6:15 a.m., it is currently +25 deg in the Birch Hill stadium so the trails should be set up and firm.
The National Weather Service is currently predicting warmer than normal temperatures for 8 to 14 days out (including the day of the 37th Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot). They are also predicting higher than normal precipitation outlook so maybe there’ll be some new snow to mix with the ground ice and birch seeds from the past two months.
So, plan to ski or volunteer for the Sonot Kkaazoot. Remember that all registration ends on Thursday, 21 March 2024.
Before there was SCUM, there was Team Brain Dead. In the late 80s, when winter temperatures were colder, Team Brain Dead was formed to celebrate those hardy skiers who would continue their workouts regardless of temperature. They had t-shirts made when they ran the 1990 Midnight Sun Run on skis, extending their ski training range from -48 deg F to +68 F deg, a 110 deg range:
Team Brain Dead at finish of 1990 Midnight Sun Run
Team Brain Dead points are awarded for skis done at temperatures of -30 deg F or colder. One point is awarded for each degree below -30. So today each skier earned 7 points multiplied by the 5 skiers to total 35 TBD points.
We skied Tower Loop, Green Dot, Flat Black, Tommy Knocker Extension, Roller Coaster, White Cub to Zoomer Cutoff, and back to the stadium (or to the Groomer’s garage). Here’s the photo Bill took of the scariest skiers:
Scariest skiers after Roller Coasters--photo by Bill Husby
And here’s Joanna and Mom (whose claustrophobia prevents her from wearing anything over her nose or mouth):
Joanna and Mom after Flat Black–photo by Bill Husby
It was a “strange” day as there was no temperature inversion: it was -37 deg F in the stadium, -40 deg (both F and C) on the top of the Tower Loop, and -31 deg F at the biathlon range.
With the cold temperatures, the corduroy and deep tracks remain pristine except for the abundant birch seed and spruce cones that have been deposited on the trails. Air quality was moderate according to the Purple Air station at Birch Hill, so our workout did more good than harm to our aging carcasses.
After 8 weeks of immobility in a cast from toes to knee, it felt SOOO good to be skiing again. On my second outing of the season, the SCUM waited for me on the Tower loop:
SCUM (everyone was skating today except Poles whose classic skis have skied in the World Cup and Olympic races)–photo by Joanna Fox
Conditions were FAST today but when I fell, I was even faster getting up. However, when Bob fell, he didn’t take time to remove the telltale snow:
Bob after Medevac–photo by Dan Johnson
As I crutched inside for two months, I never expected to be skating in late November in temperatures hovering above freezing. Thanks to the groomers for making the trails skiable for a 74-year-old skier with a fractured 5th metatarsal.
Tommy Knocker Extension with corduroy on May 4, 2023
Thanks to Tom Helmers, Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks head groomer, today I was able to ski Tommy Knocker Extension to the Comp Loop and up the A climb without stopping to rest. Thanks to our late season PistenBully grooming, hero skiing is possible.
The trails and stadium look lovely. At 0800, the sun was out and the temperature was +10 deg F. A lovely day is in store for Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot skiers and volunteers.
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).
SCUM in Blackhawk–photos and grooming by Bill Husby
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.
Groomer caused SCUM pile-up on Chinook corner–photographs by Joanna Fox, who negotiated all the corners in the tracks
However, these skiers didn’t have the quantity of snow on them that others had.
Dermot with evidence of his spectacular face plant on the Chinook trail–photo by Dan Johnsonon Sonot Connector
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.
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:
SCUM mom’s first fall on skis this season —photo by Jerome Jackson
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.
Not enough kick to make it back to White Bear from biathlon cutoff–photo by Joanna Fox
Dermot skiing in his own tracks on the White Bear–Photo by Joanna Fox
White Bear corduroy
Dermot was attempting to do brush hazard removal, but the snow was still sticking to the branch:
Dermot attempting to remove the snow from a branch overhanging the Whitte Bear–video by Joanna Fox
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:
Dermot looking back at the suspended section of tree with leaves on very beginning of Heart Rate Hill–photo by Joanna Fox
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:
Bill’s snow angel at the top of the FWW alpine hill
Bill looking angelic
and our first snowman at Flat Rock:
Snow artist at work on the head
Completed 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.
When the going gets tough, only the bionic SCUM show up for the workout–photo by Bill Husby
Sonot Kkaazoot 