Bags of clothes and ski items found at the start/finish line of the Sonot Kkazoot on Saturday plus items left in the Doyon Ltd building at 4 p.m. Saturday were left at the “lost and found” area upstairs in the Birch Hill Recreation Bldg
Lost neck gaiter: Kristen Rozell lost a red-striped neck gaiter on the white bear during the Sonot. If found, please contact her at: kbrozell@gmail.com
2014 Sonot Kkaazoot 50 km CL finisher--photo by Bad Bob Baker
Thank you to all the volunteers at the Sonot Kkaazoot race. I have never enjoyed pain as much as enduring the Black Hole. The teenagers at the stadium had zest and encouraged me to turn right at the 40k-50k intersection. I feared the reality of the BLACKHOLE, already spent on my 190 cm skis with scales. Repeating over and over on the climbs, the letters: sonot,kk,aa, zoot. More loops with climbs between 30k -35K. Thankfully I did not know my first 50K was the hardest in our country.The volunteers and Bob Baker all standing alone at their stations with beautiful energy as I came slugging by. I promise to buy faster skis for my caboose role next year. Hooray! Thank, Thank You, Thank you for an inspiring event to celebrate another Alaskan winter. Thank you girls by the stadium, and mom with cookies.
Sincerely,
Barb Baysinger
Six hardy volunteers (aged 56 to 71) moved large quantities of snow last night to prevent Sonot Kkaazoot skiers from damaging their ski bottoms on highway gravel embedded into the icy surface of the Chena River underneath highway bridges. Huge thanks go out to Bill Husby, Chris Puchner, Donovan Granger, Mike Schmoker, Owen Hanley, and Carol Kleckner, who worked for three hours to make the river even better skiing.
As of 6 p.m. on 3/27/14, Bad Bob (chief of course) is now 99% sure the race will be on the river!
From Bad Bob Baker:
I just skied the entire 20 km, and the river is in great shape. Even with these warm afternoons, the condition is pretty much the same at it was last Friday. I’m guessing a 95-100% chance of the Sonot starting and finishing on the River this year. But, we’ll know for sure on Saturday Morning!
If the Sonot Kkaazoot were to be held today, river ski conditions would be awesome. The Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks groomers were out today with drags and Ginzu. After their work, skiing on the river is fantastic:
Unfortunately, there is a narrow spot on the river near Fort Wainwright in the center of the river channel, which the groomers will monitor on a day-to-day basis. Thus, the Sonot Kkaazoot organizers still hope to safely conduct the race on Saturday using the Chena River. However, we cannot control the weather. So, as indicated on the entry form, if the race is unsafe on Saturday morning, we will move to Birch Hill and delay the start until 10:30 a.m.
Groomers will go out again Wednesday morning and if the river still appears solid, we will have a snow shoveling work party Wednesday evening to put snow under the highway bridges where there is currently ice and gravel.
The groomers have dragged the ditch on Fort Wainwright, and it’s ready if the river is:
Sorry that we can’t control the weather and river break-up. However, skiers are a resilient bunch. The 2014 Sonot Kkaazoot will take place this Saturday, however, the course will need to remain in the “to be determined” status until Saturday morning around 6:30 a.m. when groomers set the classical tracks on the river.
The Arctic Winter Games are over and the secret is out: the best skiing of the season at Birch Hill Recreation Area is now. Today at 11:00 a.m. ADT, it was 24 deg F and sunny at Birch Hill but air temperatures had risen above freezing by 1:00 p.m. However, with low temperatures near zero predicted for the river this week, the Sonot Kkaazoot should be able to safely start and finish on the Chena River near the Cushman Street bridge. The plan is for the groomers to head out on Tuesday to look over the length of the river and ditch course sections, and then if they deem the course safe, will groom on Wednesday. Thus, a final decision on the course will be made before bib pick-up, to be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, 27 March 2014 at the Doyon, Ltd., Headquarters Building in downtown Fairbanks.
Look at these happy skiers who had already skied about 10 km before they were planning to ski down the Black Hole:
All 50 km of trails will look this wonderful on Saturday, too.
Registration via the U.S. mail or via drop-off at Beaver Sports, Goldstream Sports, and Raven Cross Country will end on Friday, 21 March 2014 at 5 p.m. Electronic registration prices will go up to “late registration” levels at 12:00 a.m. on 22 March 2014 and will close at 11:59.59 p.m. on Wednesday, 26 March 2014.
Bib pick-up will be 27 March 2014 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Doyon Limited Building, and late registrations will be taken then.
Save by registering for the Sonot Kkaazoot now. We have a great snow pack and it will cost you more to decide at bib pick-up or a lot more on the day-of-the-race.
Enjoy the snow off the well-groomed tracks:
especially if a trail groomer is doing to pushing.
Warning: there is more than one way to train for the Sonot Kkaazoot, and these guys are usually ahead of me. However, they still have fully intact bodies. Do not attempt this with bionic parts or if you still have work responsibilities.
March is marathon month for Alaskan nordic skiers with the Tour of Anchorage taking place today, the Kachemak Marathon in Homer on March 8, followed by the Oosik in Talkeetna on March 15, and normally, the Sonot Kkaazoot the weekend after the Oosik. Because of the Arctic Winter Games being held in Fairbanks during the traditional Sonot Kkaazoot week, we’ve got an extra week to prepare for the Sonot Kkaazoot, which this year will be held on March 29.
So the SCUM who were not on the travel team to the Tour of Anchorage this Sunday, embarked on their own Grand Tour–of Birch Hill. The trails had all been groomed within the past few days, and temperatures were 17 deg F when we started at 11 a.m and rose to about 26 deg F. This made for no excuses when it came to the completing the Grand Tour of Birch Hill. With no official clock running, there were rests for self-service feeds, fatigue, or general SCUM principles as we see here:
and here:
Groups of two or more skiers formed led by M9 skiers, here Bob Moloney:
and here, Owen Hanley, who skied at World Masters in Austria last month:
When I finished, some of the SCUM were already home enjoying a beer for their efforts. However, a significant number of SCUM were still resting in the warm-up hut with coffee and sticky buns as their rewards for skiing the Grand Tour. Conditions were great as even the red lantern (yours truly) finished in just over 3 hours. Thanks to our awesome groomers, no excuses were needed. Having skied the Grand Tour, we felt a little more prepared for the 2014 Sonot Kkaazoot.
Don’t forget, you can register online until 26 March at:
at:https://sonotkkaazoot.wordpress.com/register/
or at Beaver Sports, Goldstream Sports, or Raven Cross Country until 21 March 2014.
Sonot Kkaazoot 