On Saturday, Joan Hoza skate skied the 10 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in a time of 53:20.
She writes: “It was a very snowy, but beautiful day!
Thanks to all the sonot organizers and groomers.”
Joan Hoza skates 10 km Sonot
Reply
Cathy Donaldson skates virtual 30 km Sonot
Cathy Donaldson skate skied her virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot yesterday in 2:49:25.
Cathy writes: “It was nice and warm but the snow was suction-y and almost caused me to face plant once or twice in the blacks. Glad I have a little bit of structure in my skis or it would have been a bit worse! Didn’t have the full details of the course in my memory before leaving, so I ended up skiing a little extra. Coming out of Relay, I didn’t know whether to go down the ramp and up east ramp to the Tower. I did it just in case:) So my distance is a little closer to an actual 30 km.”
Cathy was an overachiever because she definitely didn’t want to shortcut the course. Actually, Cathy’s longterm memory was spot on because the last time we skied the regular Sonot Kkaazoot course we did the ramp and East Ramp before doing the Tower Loop.
Truffer skis 30 km virtual Sonot
Martin Truffer, a professor of glacialogy, skated the 30 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot yesterday in a total time of 2:28:32. With his intimate knowledge of snow and ice, I trust his expert judgment when he writes: “skiing was slower than I expected from the warm temperatures.”
Congratulations, Martin. I agree that conditions for skate skiing yesterday were not speedy yesterday.
Bill Hibler, 78, finishes his 50 km virtual Sonot today
Bill Hibler meticulously documented the progress of his virtual 50 km Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot that he completed in 8:40.
William D. Hibler III writes:
“Sonot Progress
On a cold day Friday (19 Mar) last day of winter I did the start loop (with some wrong turns) in ~25 minutes. Tried to finish 10K, but stalled out.
On Sat (20 Mar) much better skiing. Sunny and faster. But I got lost on the back 40 so went back to warming hut and did the blue trail, outhouse loop and relay loop. Back to warming hut in 45 minutes.
On Sunday (21 Mar) I did the warm up loop and the North 40/corkscrew (2nd try) to the start of Black hole in 45 minutes.
On Monday. (22 Mar). Great ski conditions. Did the black hole back to the warming hut area in 35 min. Then did the Tower loop and Medevac in 30 minutes. One fall on Medevac going up from an ice block catching a tip.
Tuesday. Good day. Cool but new snow. Late Start. Did Big Bear, Moilanen Meadows, access loop and warm up loop. 2 hrs 10 minutes:
Total 30 K time: 5 hrs 10 minutes.
Wednesday: Did all of 20K to start of Big Bear Portion: 66 min. Great snow.
Friday: Thought I had finished race until all the sign mismatch. Call it 2 hrs 10 min for end of race starting at white bear access. Need two more km!
Saturday: Went back and skied the warm up loop from the 46 km mark to end in 14 min.
Yea: 50K:Total time: 8 hrs 40 minutes”
Thank you for your detailed report and for your generous donation to the trails fund.
Husby skate skis 30 km virtual Sonot
Bill Husby skate skied the 30 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in a time of 2:31:29.
Bill writes:
Started at the beginning of the Blue loop where I had left off yesterday with intentions of adding that portion to today’s efforts. When I got the finished I still had some gel blocks in my pocket and the trail conditions were great, so started the watch headed out to repeat yesterday’s first leg and improve on the time.
19.37Km +9.54Km = 28.91 Km
1h 38m 46sec + 52m 43sec = 2h 31 29sec“
Brophy and Carter ski modified 10+ km virtual Sonot
Margaret Brophy skated and Debbie Carter classical skied a “modified” 10 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in 1:40:40.
Margaret writes: “This morning Debbie Carter and I started out on the 10K course with the firm plan to ‘see how it goes’. Deb was on classic skis and I made the dubious decision to skate, my longest skate this season being less than 10K, I’m pretty sure. In any case, with South Tower behind us, we were feeling pretty cocky. So upon arrival at the Coronary Bypass we decided to extend our ski by completing all of White Bear. It appeared we were the first skiers to descend the hill, although some unrecognized spandex clad racer did pass us before we reached the bottom (21F there, yes, we took the time to look). As mentioned by numerous skiers, the grooming was impeccable and it was a perfect Sonot day. My final distance was 13+K, some of which represents skiing back to my classic buddy on occasion.”
Margaret and Deb are overachievers who probably should have been skiing the 30 km course.
Hemming classic skis 30 km virtual Sonot on JJ’s skis
Carl Hemming managed to classic ski the 30 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot today in 3:06.28 in spite of ski gear incompatiblity.
He writes: “I skied the 30 km sonot on freshly groomed trails that were a joy to ski. When I was getting my skis on I realized my skis were not compatible with the boots I put in my bag. Luckily Jerome Jackson lent me some skis that I used. They performed wonderfully and I finished in 3:06.28.”
Although Eric Buetow mentioned that he and Mike Schmoker provided Carl and Jerome some supervison on the trails, it sounds like Jerome was in charge of outfitting Carl.
Buetow and Schmoker skate ski 30 km virtual Sonot Saturday
Eric Buetow and Mike Schmoker skate skied their virtual 30 km Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot in 2:53.
Eric writes: “Eric Buetow and Mike Schmoker skated their 30K March 27, enjoying the fabulous trail conditions and perfect temperatures. Their time was 2:53, which included a brief visit with a young bull coming out of Black Hole, doing East Ramp (not following directions very well), appropriate stops to reflect on the beautiful day, and occasionally providing supervision to 30K classic skiers Jackson and Hemming.”
I’m glad to see that some SCUM are overachievers by not following directions. Congratulations to Eric and Mike. I’m sure JJ and Carl appreciated your supervision.
JJ classic skis 30 km virtual Sonot faster today
Jerome Jackson skied the 30 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot again today in an official time of 2:58:08.
The new snow and excellent grooming meant that this time JJ wasn’t threatened by any wayward spruce cones in the classical tracks.
After he was nearly killed by the “pine cone” last Sunday, today Jerome made sure that he had his support team waiting for him in the warming hut. Because they are all Senior Citizens, they’ve had both shots of the COVID-19 allowing them to be maskless inside.
See: https://sonotkkaazoot.org/2021/03/21/jj-escapes-death-sunday-on-30-km-classic-sonot/
Stuby skis 10 km virtual Sonot
Lisa Stuby skied the 10 km virtual Denali State Bank Sonot Kkaazoot today in a time of 1:01:16.
Lisa writes: “Feeling a bit tired from a wonderful season of skiing, but wanting that cool face mask, and it IS the Sonot, so I decided to ski the 10 K this morning. The trails could not have been groomed any better and they were Magnificent! On a scale of 1-10 I would give them a 12!”
Thank you, Lisa! I’m sure that our hard-working groomers will appreciate your kudos. An additional contribution to the trail fund (https://tinyurl.com/y93x7b3n) will also make them smile.
Sonot Kkaazoot 