It’s official, from the National Weather Service:
The Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks groomers have been doing their magic without new snow to dilute the birch seed and other vegetative debris.
Record Snow Drought in January
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Category Archives: Weather and snow conditions
Merry Christmas from Santa & his SCUMmy reindeer
Today Santa and his SCUMmy reindeer did the grand tour of all the skate trails at UAF, which were being combed as we arrived before dawn today. (Thank you, Jason!)
With temperatures in the mid-20s, snow was packing under our ski boots making it impossible to get into our ski bindings. Here are two SCUM with advanced degrees are assisting Mom get into her bindings in the predawn darkness:
And here are the eager skiers ready to chase the sun:
With no other skiers in sight, we bellowed out Christmas songs that were successful in drawing one cow moose near the socially distanced line of skiers.
Because of travel quarantines caused by COVID-19, Santa had to recruit very SCUMmy reindeer this year. On Smith Lake, Santa was tried to convince the reindeer to skate without poles, this was their response:
By then, Santa’s sore back had loosened up so he skated off ahead of the reindeer:
Happy Holidays from all the SCUM. Enjoy getting outside on the ski trails. This week we’ve enjoyed groomed tracks at the golf course (thank you, Stan) as well as the perfectly groomed skate trails at UAF (the classical tracks were are great, too). We’ll be back at Birch Hill soon, but enjoying the winter solstice on a variety of trails is a real treat.
If you are able to help contribute to the maintenance of the UAF ski trails, please consider a tax-deductible donation through UA Foundation. You can make the donation online at this URL:
After you enter the dollar amount that you wish to donate, specify “other” in the designation box. A new box will appear under “other” for you to enter: UAF XC Ski Trail Maintenance. These funds will go to grooming and maintenance of UAF crosscountry ski trails. With declining state support for UAF and the rising costs of dealing with COVID-19, please consider helping to maintain the wonderful UAF XC ski trails. These trails are even more important during the pandemic as they provide us a place to safely exercise and socialize.
Winter solstice on the north side classical trails
With temperatures at -5 deg F and about an inch of new snow, the remedial SCUM headed out toward the north side classical trails to do trail grooming the way it was done 40 years ago (i.e. skiing in the tracks). Here Mom, who remembers skiing in tracks, skis a more direct route than Ken had set before the snow.
It was almost sunrise as we skied through the birch and aspen:
Some trail sections were total spruce forests:
These spruce made us think of Christmas trees, which we’d later find totally trimmed for Santa’s visit.
Before seeing the decorated Christmas trees, we saw the bear skull on the trail:
and we got to the Really Steep Down HIll Bypass. But given the conditions, we could head straight down the RSDH:
Here is a clip of Dan Johnson on the RSDH:
And here is one of the two Christmas trees we found with cookies and candy canes decorating the branches:
We all agreed that skiing the Classical Bear, North Star, and Aurora Run was a great choice for a chilly, snowy morning near winter solstice.
Here’s a few parting shots:
Until the groomers get back out to the North Classical trails, we’ve skied them in for your enjoyment.
What La Nina means for winter in Alaska
NOAA has indicated that the winter of 2020 to 2021 will be influenced by a mild La Nina, which usually means colder temperatures for Alaska. So although we’re still not skiing, you should start acclimating to colder temperatures by ski walking with poles if you want to enjoy the snow when it has covered the ski trails.
Ask a Climatologist: What to expect when you’re expecting La Niña
Rocky II: the SCUM workout
With the prediction of yet another wet weather system engulfing the Fairbanks area this weekend, the SCUM had less than their normal enthusiasm for Friday’s Fort Wainwright hill climb. Thoughtfully, Dan decided to wear his rain jacket to appease the weather gods. By contrast, Dermot wore a classy sombrero in an attempt to confuse the weather gods.
The prescribed workout was for 3 repeats of the hill and it was Carl’s turn to do it with the rock. He arrived with a camo backpack as he hadn’t taken his turn hauling the rock back in mid June when Bill and Robert carried the rock uphill on their shoulders:
https://sonotkkaazoot.org/2020/06/17/scum-hill-training-rocks/
After a warm-up hill climb without the rock, Carl did his hauling duty that slowed his hill climb time by 4 minutes.
and gave him reason to celebrate: with a V for victory. Dan provided moral support as he’s still in PT after his shoulder surgery:
Bill Husby (aka Poles) also had reason to celebrate as he set a new hill climb PR on his second ascent with a time of 10:48:28. I took a photo of his Apple watch but it was blurred by the aura still surrounding him. He made a special reference to his time as a challenge for Joanna, “the kid” to beat next Friday.
Having used a backpack, Carl told us, “I am not 70 yet!” by hefting the rock without pack assist:
Back in the Birch Hill parking lot after the workout, “Rocky” kept repeating the same 5 words: “I am not 70 yet.” That will have to wait until March 2021.
Enjoy the ski trails, Spring is coming soon
From the National Weather Service Fairbanks, Fairbanks should be warming up by the weekend with our first 40 deg F day of 2020:
If you venture out in the mornings, expect rocket fast tracks on the downhills! Free speed!
Yes, Tom, March 2020 was snowy
Groomer Tom Helmers was correct in thinking March is usually a low snow month in Fairbanks.
As this National Weather Service Fairbanks graphic shows, March 2020 was snowy:
Thus, the Virtual Sonot skiers, who bemoaned the shoveling and scooping toll, were not being whiners. We did exert considerable effort removing this snow from driveways and paths.
The clouds that gave us all that snow kept the temperatures within normal lows but without the daytime sunshine, our highs were cooler than normal:
So enjoy skiing on that ample snow pack in April as the average temperatures rise dramatically. Remember to keep social distancing on the trails and ski within your abilities. Now is not the time for injuries that will increase the health care burden needlessly.
End of Virtual 20 km on Chena River
From Sonot Kkaazoot race director, Bad Bob Baker:
I just got off the River ….. not good…All of these pictures are of different bad spots on the Chena RIVER.. There is no way to avoid getting wet. This overflow extends from one side of the trail to the other. It’s 3 to 6 inches deep.
The section near the Ft. Wainwright bridge is very narrow now, with moving water on each side of the trail. There is no way I can pull my groomer thru most of these areas without getting trapped in the overflow. I took my snowmachine all the way around the 20 km course. Most of the worse areas begin beyond the Hamilton Acres area.
Tonight’s forecast is to stay quite warm, with more snow possible. My experience with these conditions on the Chena River over the past 33 years…is that I will not be groomable until a major weather change..which is not forecast until Thursday at the earliest! SO…at this point, the VIRTUAL SONOT has all moved up to BIRCH HILL.
For those of you who got your virtual SONOT KKAAZOOT in early, good job!!! I think everyone from this point on, can ski whatever VIRTUAL SONOT KKAAZOOT course they can dream up. You just CANNOT include any part of the CHENA RIVER..
THERE WILL BE NO GROOMING OR SKIING ON THE CHENA RIVER……. UNSAFE CONDITIONS!!!
Bad BOB Sonot Kkaazoot Race Director..
Chena River UNSAFE for skiing!!
THERE WILL BE NO GROOMING OR SKIING ON THE CHENA RIVER……. UNSAFE CONDITIONS
Race Director Bob Baker has deemed the Chena River to be ungroomable so the VIRTUAL SONOT KKAAZOOT has been moved up to Birch Hill.
So get out there and ski any trails or multiple trails on different days. It’s a virtual Sonot Kkaazoot.
Bad Bob Baker, who has 33 years experience grooming the Chena River, warns that the Sonot Kkaaoot course on the Chena River is no longer safe. (Photos will be posted shortly)
Ski trails at Birch Hill Recreation Area until you reach 20, 40, or 50 km (or any other distance). Send us a screen shot of the display from your GPS route, date, and time to us at: contact@sonotkkaazoot.org . We’ll post the virtual 33rd Sonot Kkaazoot times for all three distances. If you ski low tech, send us your time, date, and detailed course description. The main goal is to get out and ski while we can.
Grooming always depends upon Mother Nature.
A plea for help from Virtual Sonot skiers
If you haven’t already signed up for the Sonot Kkaaoot and would like to ski the Virtual Sonot Kkaaoot on groomed trails, please sign up for the Sonot at:
https://register.chronotrack.com/reg/form?kioskID=54564
Proceeds will go to the grooming efforts at Birch Hill and on the Chena River. If you are struggling financially because the coronavirus, go ahead and just ski. But if you can, please donate to the Sonot or the NSCF trails fund.
https://nordicskicluboffairbanks.wildapricot.org/Donate/
Here’s the latest grooming report from Tom Helmers, head NSCF groomer:
Bottom line is the Trail Fund is at its lowest amount. The Board of Directors of the ski club has asked all programs including Grooming to watch expense till this virus thing is straightened out. Word on the street is a fair number of skiers are planning to ski the Virtual Sonot Saturday, so my plan is to do a single pass of the entire trail system in the morning starting with the White Bear. The forecast is calling for some amount of snow pretty much every day for the next week to 10 days.
So please help us out if you possibly can. If not, please enjoy the groomed trails while you can.
Stay healthy!
Sonot Kkaazoot 