The Southwest Nordic Ski Club ( www.swnordicski.org) will be hosting its annual ski instructional clinic on Saturday, January 5th, at 10am at the end of the Ski Pajarito parking lot.
This clinic is also in conjuction with the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon ( www.mttaylorquad.org) & Chama Chili Classic ( www.chamaski.com) clinics, both sponsored by Sportz Outdoor in Albuquerque.
The clinics will be run by members of the SWNSC, including PSIA-certified instructors Jessica Kisiel (Kisiel Koaching: http://www.kisielkoaching.com/) and Ken Kisiel.
The clinics will be broken into different ski ability levels and disciplines (skate and/or classic styles).
If you're around on Sunday morning, we might be holding a very informal training time trial (a la Tuesday night time trial format) -- freestyle. We’ll start early…meet at 8:30am at the end of the Ski Pajarito parking lot for a group warmup and course inspection. We’ll try to get going around 9:30am.
Help us spread the word.
Time to get those xc skis out and get used to breathing hard again!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Trail Report 12/28/07
Trail received 1" to 2", depending on where it was measured. It was tough to tell, since the wind blew hard last night. The meadow trails are all drifted from the small amount of snow.
The new snow made for nice skiing in the woods, however, and since the lower road was bladed, it was nice skiing too. The classic track was best there, amazingly.
It was -13*F in the ski area parking lot this morning. Pretty much anything worked for kick (Swix green or blue). Classic track is rough around the edges, but holding; it's all drifted in open areas.
Trails will need to be regroomed soon from lots of skier traffic, but are OK for now.
The new snow made for nice skiing in the woods, however, and since the lower road was bladed, it was nice skiing too. The classic track was best there, amazingly.
It was -13*F in the ski area parking lot this morning. Pretty much anything worked for kick (Swix green or blue). Classic track is rough around the edges, but holding; it's all drifted in open areas.
Trails will need to be regroomed soon from lots of skier traffic, but are OK for now.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Trail Report 12/27/07
I got up to the trails last evening to see for myself what the conditions were. Things were a bit rough from all of the skier, snowshoer, dog and foot traffic, so I ran the snomo with the blades on everything to freshen up the skate lane and grind up some of the considerable tree trash that always seems to be prevalent on these trails.
The classic track seemed to be in surprisingly good condition, albeit a little washed out in spots and with very wide tracks from the skier traffic. It looks like a little bit of blue klister mixed in with a hard wax would would quite well if it doesn't snow much....otherwise just a cold wax would work. They're not glazed over just yet, but quite firm.
It was snowing lightly and cold up there this morning, so we'll have to see if it amounts enough to regroom with the Tidd groomers.
In general it is still quite good in most locations. The meadow is still very bumpy and you need to use caution and keep your eyes peeled for the occasional rock or log hiding just beneath the top surface.
Thanks goes out to Paul Graham, who has tirelessly shoveled the thin spots on the early part of the trail, the bumpy spots on several other areas, and who has continued to trim troublesome branches on many areas of the trail. It is utterly amazing what a difference that has made. Thanks Paul!
The classic track seemed to be in surprisingly good condition, albeit a little washed out in spots and with very wide tracks from the skier traffic. It looks like a little bit of blue klister mixed in with a hard wax would would quite well if it doesn't snow much....otherwise just a cold wax would work. They're not glazed over just yet, but quite firm.
It was snowing lightly and cold up there this morning, so we'll have to see if it amounts enough to regroom with the Tidd groomers.
In general it is still quite good in most locations. The meadow is still very bumpy and you need to use caution and keep your eyes peeled for the occasional rock or log hiding just beneath the top surface.
Thanks goes out to Paul Graham, who has tirelessly shoveled the thin spots on the early part of the trail, the bumpy spots on several other areas, and who has continued to trim troublesome branches on many areas of the trail. It is utterly amazing what a difference that has made. Thanks Paul!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Trail Conditions 12/26/07
Word is that the snow is holding up well in the cool temperatures and things are still good. The trail hasn't been regroomed in several days, but really doesn't need it due to the unchanging status in the past few days. The classical track is a bit washed out in many locations, but is still holding and in good shape for training.
The trail system will mostly likely be regroomed for the weekend, or if it snows tomorrow. We'll hold off on regrooming it until then, to avoid unecessary wear and tear on the equipment.
The meadow trail loop was worked and flattened and a classic track was set there. Snow depth is still not covering everything out there, so be careful.
Remember, the club will be having its clinic on January 5, with perhaps a club "fun" time trial early on the 6th. Stay tuned!
The trail system will mostly likely be regroomed for the weekend, or if it snows tomorrow. We'll hold off on regrooming it until then, to avoid unecessary wear and tear on the equipment.
The meadow trail loop was worked and flattened and a classic track was set there. Snow depth is still not covering everything out there, so be careful.
Remember, the club will be having its clinic on January 5, with perhaps a club "fun" time trial early on the 6th. Stay tuned!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Photos and Trail report 12/22/2007
As of this afternoon (sat 12/22) 2" of powder on top of groomed trails in the woods Very skatable. Meadow in spectacular freshly groomed shape thanks to Ken. Watch out for stumps and rocks buried flush with surface. A beautiful day, should be just as good Sunday.
Donna and me in the lower woods
Lots of folks out on the trails today including the now regular visiting from ABQ nob hill bike contingent. Lots of club members out, Paul, Joe, Jess, Ken, Donna, Me, John, a few others I am forgetting.
Donna? talking to Joe? or other tiny far away people talking
Paul and John talking at the top of the loop
See the rest of my photos from today here
Donna and me in the lower woods
Lots of folks out on the trails today including the now regular visiting from ABQ nob hill bike contingent. Lots of club members out, Paul, Joe, Jess, Ken, Donna, Me, John, a few others I am forgetting.
Donna? talking to Joe? or other tiny far away people talking
Paul and John talking at the top of the loop
See the rest of my photos from today here
Monday, December 17, 2007
Post weekend trail report (12/17/07)
Wow, what a great weekend of skiing on the SWNSC trails! Thanks to everyone who has put in so much time making things get to this point, and thanks to all of the SWNSC supporters. It really can't happen without the support.
Skiing was simply fantastic this weekend. Thanks go out to Ken Kisiel who got up early and despite having some initial machinery setbacks, got out and bladed the whole trail system multiple times to flatten out all of the wobbles that are prevalent this time of the year. It really made things nice and set up the trail for Dave Wykoff, who brought up the revamped Kermit with new tracks and did the final grooming work and set the track. All that work made the trails look completely professionally groomed by much more expensive equipment.
Also, a big thank you goes out to Paul Graham and his peeps, Carl Hagelburg and Joe Baehr, for getting out there and working on resetting the fencing (no small effort, that's for sure) and cutting out literally thousands of aspen shoots and trimming branches in places that were not only hindering skiing, but also grooming. That was awesome work and we all appreciate it. It really looks great and skis great.
And finally, Tom Berg shook off his flu and cold and came up to set up the signs. People are doing a much better job this year in being courteous and following the trail signs. Thanks Tom, and hopefully, we'll do a better job in keeping them a little more organized when we pull them off next spring.
Here are some pics of the trail work crew:
Paul Graham
Joe Baehr hard at work!
Thanks Carl
Skiing was simply fantastic this weekend. Thanks go out to Ken Kisiel who got up early and despite having some initial machinery setbacks, got out and bladed the whole trail system multiple times to flatten out all of the wobbles that are prevalent this time of the year. It really made things nice and set up the trail for Dave Wykoff, who brought up the revamped Kermit with new tracks and did the final grooming work and set the track. All that work made the trails look completely professionally groomed by much more expensive equipment.
Also, a big thank you goes out to Paul Graham and his peeps, Carl Hagelburg and Joe Baehr, for getting out there and working on resetting the fencing (no small effort, that's for sure) and cutting out literally thousands of aspen shoots and trimming branches in places that were not only hindering skiing, but also grooming. That was awesome work and we all appreciate it. It really looks great and skis great.
And finally, Tom Berg shook off his flu and cold and came up to set up the signs. People are doing a much better job this year in being courteous and following the trail signs. Thanks Tom, and hopefully, we'll do a better job in keeping them a little more organized when we pull them off next spring.
Here are some pics of the trail work crew:
Paul Graham
Joe Baehr hard at work!Thanks Carl
Trail Conditions 12/16/07
12" base, 100% open, classic track and skate lane. Some rocks exposed but good conditions for middle December.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Trail Report 12/13/07
Well, the trail reports keep rolling in as we do a little bit each evening to get on top of things. It's been a bit rough so far, with a new machine (see Tom's blog) that needed some tweaking and tuning, and our handy trackster Kermit out with a broken track (!), thus we haven't been able to get in a really good complete session of grooming just yet.
Slowly, but surely, we're getting the bugs ironed out, everything run and hopefully by this weekend, we'll have everything groomed out for both classical and skate to full width.
As of now, the upper trails are somewhat groomed for both skate and classical, and the lower meadow trail to the lower road is groomed for classical only. The lower road still has a lot of work to be done for skating, but it should be nice for classical, unless the foot traffic and pets destroy it before the next go-round.
If you can spare some time this weekend, there are some small trail projects that make a BIG difference and REALLY need to get done:
Slowly, but surely, we're getting the bugs ironed out, everything run and hopefully by this weekend, we'll have everything groomed out for both classical and skate to full width.
As of now, the upper trails are somewhat groomed for both skate and classical, and the lower meadow trail to the lower road is groomed for classical only. The lower road still has a lot of work to be done for skating, but it should be nice for classical, unless the foot traffic and pets destroy it before the next go-round.
If you can spare some time this weekend, there are some small trail projects that make a BIG difference and REALLY need to get done:
- some portions of the front hill shade fence need to be reset. The big storm pulled the whole lower portion down and the posts need to be reset (further into the trail) and the fening restrung. This will keep it from happening again.
- The signs need to be set up
- There are a lot of aspen shoots on the far upper portions of the trail, mainly from the last switchback all the way to the top of the meadow trail. The lower road also has a lot of them. A little set of hand loppers would do the trick...just dig down as deep as possible below the top surface of the snow and snip them off.
That's about it for now. We'll see what we can get done for the weekend. We have to replace Kermit's tracks with some that we had to purchase and have shipped. They were quite expensive, so the club budget took a big hit this week =(
SWNSC New Machine Fund Raiser Drive
Greetings SWNSC Members and supporters.
You may have heard that the club recently purchased another Ski Doo Alpine Snomobile for trail grooming. Our grooming process has always been to do the heavy grooming with the Cushman Tracksters, and the fast cleanup and maintenance grooming with one of our two aging Alpines...
We will be losing access to one of the Green Cushman Tracksters as it belongs to Dave personally and he is putting it on the market now for various reasons, tho the club's "Kermit Trackster" will continue to be available for heavy grooming....in fact "Kermit" was used last night to roll all the trail system.
We have needed a new snomobile for some time now, because the old ones are worn out and quite undependable. The problem for the club has been that a new grooming snomobile costs over $10,000 dollars, money the club just doesn't have, and is unlikely to be able to raise anytime soon.
This Fall Dave Wykoff spotted a 1980 Alpine for sale on Ebay. The remarkable thing about it is that it had been stored in Green Bay WI and not used much for the last 25 years: so it is in incredible shape.
The groomers agreed we should bid on it and Clay, Ken/Jessica and Paul volunteered to provide the funds, and Dave, our Ebay specialist, handled the bidding, which was intense and contested right down to the final minute. Dave prevailed and got the machine for a $2200 bid. It cost another $699 for shipping from Green Bay, so these benefactors have around $2900 tied up in the machine. Here's a photo of it while we were getting it tuned in the Apogen shop in Los Alamos:
The two old alpines will be put on Ebay and should defray around $500 of the cost, as both snomobiles are in running condition, since there is a surprisingly large market out there for old Alpines, regardless of condition.
In the meantime we need to get together and help repay Clay, Ken/Jessica and Paul for some portion of the big bucks they put up for the new Alpine.
So I propose a "REPAY CLAY" [and Ken and Paul] fundraiser. To get things going both John Ullman and I have each put up $200 challenge grants, and we're asking that you members and donors respond with whatever you can spare. It doesn't have to be $200, any amount will help whether it be $25, $50 or whatever.
You can send a check to SWNSC, P O Box 1556, Los Alamos NM 87544.... make it out to Southwest Nordic Ski Club, but do specify that it is for the "REPAY CLAY" fund. Also if you haven't yet joined for the 2007-2008 season, now would be a great time to take care of that.
You can download membership forms from the club website at: http://www.swnordicski.org/
Thanks for your help,
Tom Berg
http://tombergpaintings.com/
You may have heard that the club recently purchased another Ski Doo Alpine Snomobile for trail grooming. Our grooming process has always been to do the heavy grooming with the Cushman Tracksters, and the fast cleanup and maintenance grooming with one of our two aging Alpines...
We will be losing access to one of the Green Cushman Tracksters as it belongs to Dave personally and he is putting it on the market now for various reasons, tho the club's "Kermit Trackster" will continue to be available for heavy grooming....in fact "Kermit" was used last night to roll all the trail system.
We have needed a new snomobile for some time now, because the old ones are worn out and quite undependable. The problem for the club has been that a new grooming snomobile costs over $10,000 dollars, money the club just doesn't have, and is unlikely to be able to raise anytime soon.
This Fall Dave Wykoff spotted a 1980 Alpine for sale on Ebay. The remarkable thing about it is that it had been stored in Green Bay WI and not used much for the last 25 years: so it is in incredible shape.
The groomers agreed we should bid on it and Clay, Ken/Jessica and Paul volunteered to provide the funds, and Dave, our Ebay specialist, handled the bidding, which was intense and contested right down to the final minute. Dave prevailed and got the machine for a $2200 bid. It cost another $699 for shipping from Green Bay, so these benefactors have around $2900 tied up in the machine. Here's a photo of it while we were getting it tuned in the Apogen shop in Los Alamos:
The two old alpines will be put on Ebay and should defray around $500 of the cost, as both snomobiles are in running condition, since there is a surprisingly large market out there for old Alpines, regardless of condition.
In the meantime we need to get together and help repay Clay, Ken/Jessica and Paul for some portion of the big bucks they put up for the new Alpine.
So I propose a "REPAY CLAY" [and Ken and Paul] fundraiser. To get things going both John Ullman and I have each put up $200 challenge grants, and we're asking that you members and donors respond with whatever you can spare. It doesn't have to be $200, any amount will help whether it be $25, $50 or whatever.
You can send a check to SWNSC, P O Box 1556, Los Alamos NM 87544.... make it out to Southwest Nordic Ski Club, but do specify that it is for the "REPAY CLAY" fund. Also if you haven't yet joined for the 2007-2008 season, now would be a great time to take care of that.
You can download membership forms from the club website at: http://www.swnordicski.org/
Thanks for your help,
Tom Berg
http://tombergpaintings.com/
Monday, December 10, 2007
Trail (& machine status) 12/10/07
It has snowed heavily today, both in town and up at the trails...especially up at the trails. There is a lot of new snow on top of what came down over the weekend and was groomed by Ken & Dave.
As posted by Tom B., Kermit, our trackster broke a track and we are short a machine. Luckily, we have the "new" snowmobile to cover while we get it fixed...probably by the weekend, sometime.
With that, it is going to take longer to get on top of the new snow. We'll begin packing it tomorrow with the machine, and hopefully get quite a bit of that done by tomorrow evening with the second session.
Until later in the week, expect soft conditions. I would suggest your classical touring skis until we get the Tidd over it and set a classical track and get the skate lane groomed. Either way, it's great new snow and will be great skiing!
As posted by Tom B., Kermit, our trackster broke a track and we are short a machine. Luckily, we have the "new" snowmobile to cover while we get it fixed...probably by the weekend, sometime.
With that, it is going to take longer to get on top of the new snow. We'll begin packing it tomorrow with the machine, and hopefully get quite a bit of that done by tomorrow evening with the second session.
Until later in the week, expect soft conditions. I would suggest your classical touring skis until we get the Tidd over it and set a classical track and get the skate lane groomed. Either way, it's great new snow and will be great skiing!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
12/9/2007 grooming report
From Tom Berg:
The ski season has officially begun as Ken K and Dave W groomed the entire trail system this morning using Kermit and the new Rambette snomobile. Thanks gentlemen for a beautyful job of grooming.
Quite a bit of this storm fell as rain again, but about 10" did fall as snow after it cooled down up there last night.... enough for the guys to groom everything out to full width for skating.... there really wasn't enough base to put in a classic track... but the base is in great shape now for the next storm on mon/tue. And conditions are good enough that you don't need to use rock skiis anymore..... just be careful looking out for the occasional stump or rock on the front hill.... but you can ski in and out from the base, no problem.
The classic skiing was quite nice even without tracks, and the skating was good. Do try to get up and ski today or 1st thing tomorrow.
Caveat: Los Alamos County still hasn't plowed the road [maybe they don't do it till the downhill area opens?] so it's a bit tricky getting up there, but well worth the trip.
The ski season has officially begun as Ken K and Dave W groomed the entire trail system this morning using Kermit and the new Rambette snomobile. Thanks gentlemen for a beautyful job of grooming.
Quite a bit of this storm fell as rain again, but about 10" did fall as snow after it cooled down up there last night.... enough for the guys to groom everything out to full width for skating.... there really wasn't enough base to put in a classic track... but the base is in great shape now for the next storm on mon/tue. And conditions are good enough that you don't need to use rock skiis anymore..... just be careful looking out for the occasional stump or rock on the front hill.... but you can ski in and out from the base, no problem.
The classic skiing was quite nice even without tracks, and the skating was good. Do try to get up and ski today or 1st thing tomorrow.
Caveat: Los Alamos County still hasn't plowed the road [maybe they don't do it till the downhill area opens?] so it's a bit tricky getting up there, but well worth the trip.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Getting stuck while grooming
http://www.tiddtech.com/articles/So%20you%20got%20stuck%20Article%20D%20Zink.pdf This link is a great example of what the groomers encounter on regular basis. Lesson learned for us groomers, always carry a shovel. I recall last year that Clay and I had about five similar experiences in a single night all in the meadow using Kermit. Hope we get to contend with similar conditions this year. Getting stuck means the skiing is bound to be good.
December 5, 2007 trail report
The snow fence is now up at the big rock. The snow has mostly melted off up to the coat tree. From there it improves with the best base in the usual north aspect sections. Any amount of new snow should get us very close to having skiing. I think 6" will get us there.
Monday, December 3, 2007
I just returned from my evening ski on the trails. It was about what I had expected. Some areas are good for a few strides, but it is thin, at best, and non-existent in some places. I still enjoyed the good stretches a lot on my old rock skis. I knew where to watch out for the rocks and bare ground, but I don't suggest skiing until we get more snow. Most areas are primed for another storm and may be skiable with the right amount of snow, but a couple of burn-out areas exist. Here are some pics:
Looking down TJ's and where I turned around last evening with the trackster -- lots of debris
The tree mess on Dave's, the rock section needs fencing
Good stretch
Aspen shoots on upper section
The meadow is ready for more snow
Turn around at the "Baca" fence...a little rough
The most improved section of trail from this fall's work parties -- looks great, and skis much better than before!
Looking down TJ's and where I turned around last evening with the trackster -- lots of debris
The tree mess on Dave's, the rock section needs fencing
Good stretch
Aspen shoots on upper section
The meadow is ready for more snow
Turn around at the "Baca" fence...a little rough
The most improved section of trail from this fall's work parties -- looks great, and skis much better than before!
12/03/07 Trail Report
Ken Kisiel called me yesterday after hiking the trails and said the previous night's storm blew down a few trees, including one big green one on the front hill, which meant it fell right on the snow fencing =( So, since I had plans to go up and pack the little bit of new snow, we coordinated a late afternoon/early evening work party to go clear out the trees and then send me on up in the trackster to pack down the new snow.
We cleared out the downfall that covered the front hill and early parts of the trail from A to the "coat tree" at B, then we parted ways and he went down the cut-off to clear the lower road downfall while I used the trackster and roller to pack the trails.
I didn't know what to expect; it looked really thin and not so good early, but once I got to pt. C at the intersection at TJ's, it started to look pretty good. The early packing job and the little bit of wet (rainy mixed) snow was starting to amount to something and was setting up in the cold temps (~10*F).
I had to pick my way through the big rocks on the main trail, so that area is not so great, but Dave's Dogleg looks good. There were 5(!) trees down on Dave's, so it took a while to get it cleared out. There's saw dust and limbs all over the place on Dave's, but I ran over with the roller, so it shouldn't be a problem.
On up past Dave's, the main trail is hit and miss with good snow, and "the Rock" below pt. J REALLY needs the fencing installed. It makes a big difference. The snow from the Rock to pt. J is thin, as usual, but then past J, it is actually quite good. It all got rolled (including the meadow) with a pass up and down, so hopefully it set up nicely and will be ready for the next storm.
The last switchback had some pretty thick aspen shoots...if you go up and can spare a few minutes knocking some of those out, it would be great.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the trail, but I plan on going up there tonight with my rockiest of rock touring skis to check it out. I'll try to remember my camera and post tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who made it out this weekend for the incredibly productive work party. The effects of that snow fencing were evident last evening, as the tiny amount of snow was still there and frozen to the ground.
Think snow!
We cleared out the downfall that covered the front hill and early parts of the trail from A to the "coat tree" at B, then we parted ways and he went down the cut-off to clear the lower road downfall while I used the trackster and roller to pack the trails.
I didn't know what to expect; it looked really thin and not so good early, but once I got to pt. C at the intersection at TJ's, it started to look pretty good. The early packing job and the little bit of wet (rainy mixed) snow was starting to amount to something and was setting up in the cold temps (~10*F).
I had to pick my way through the big rocks on the main trail, so that area is not so great, but Dave's Dogleg looks good. There were 5(!) trees down on Dave's, so it took a while to get it cleared out. There's saw dust and limbs all over the place on Dave's, but I ran over with the roller, so it shouldn't be a problem.
On up past Dave's, the main trail is hit and miss with good snow, and "the Rock" below pt. J REALLY needs the fencing installed. It makes a big difference. The snow from the Rock to pt. J is thin, as usual, but then past J, it is actually quite good. It all got rolled (including the meadow) with a pass up and down, so hopefully it set up nicely and will be ready for the next storm.
The last switchback had some pretty thick aspen shoots...if you go up and can spare a few minutes knocking some of those out, it would be great.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the trail, but I plan on going up there tonight with my rockiest of rock touring skis to check it out. I'll try to remember my camera and post tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who made it out this weekend for the incredibly productive work party. The effects of that snow fencing were evident last evening, as the tiny amount of snow was still there and frozen to the ground.
Think snow!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
12/1/2007 Work Party
The promised reams of snow never materialized (damn you weathermen!) but a bunch of us got out and cleared the trail and put up the lower section of snow fencing. Thanks to all that came out (Tom, Donna, John, Joe, Clay, Denny, Ken, Scott, Paul, Dave, Tarik, ah crap I am sure I missed someone...)
Trudging up the meager coverage
click for big
Kermit and crew follow soon
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Paul pounds post, pound paul pound!
The sunshade snowfence is in place for the future snow.
click for big
Trudging up the meager coverage
click for big
Kermit and crew follow soon
click for big
Paul pounds post, pound paul pound!
The sunshade snowfence is in place for the future snow.
click for big
Friday, November 23, 2007
First Day of Los Alamos Skiing 2007-2008
Yep our Thanksgiving night storm gave way to a nice wet clumpy 6 inches or so here in town allowing for golf course skiing with the touring skis and lots of power. Done and done. Welcome to skiing in the new winter all!
Me modeling the new SWNSC hat out at the edge of one of the greens at the Los Alamos Golf Course, 11/23/2007
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Me modeling the new SWNSC hat out at the edge of one of the greens at the Los Alamos Golf Course, 11/23/2007
click for big
Thursday, April 5, 2007
2 more Bob Brewer photos
headlamps make the red line on the right, Image is from our monlight tour, Los Alamos in the distance under the full moon.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Ken's grooming update, 7 March 2007
All trails groomed for skating. No classic track. Some debris and
rocks before Point B. Front hill is still skiable but melting fast.
Next possible snow Thursday.
rocks before Point B. Front hill is still skiable but melting fast.
Next possible snow Thursday.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Chama Chili Classic Recap
The 34th (almost annual) Chama Chili Ski Classic is now in the past and just part of our memory...well, not quite. We have some things to do and lessons learned from this past edition for making plans for next year's race.This year's race was the best one I've seen yet. I did the event WAY back in 1992, when I had first started xc skiing. I had some really old equipment and didn't know what I was doing, but had fun. I don't remember how many people did the event, but it was quite a few...probably almost 100. I do remember crashing a couple of times on the big scary downhill.
This year, as in the past two years, Chama contacted me to groom it, as the event is put on by non-xc skiers that know nothing about course prep or grooming. And, as in the past two editions, it was considerably more work than I had bargained for. Tom Berg has always warned me that this is really "Pisten-Bully" country and requires a substantial machine to get the job done. He should know...he and Elliot Norquist used to groom the area in the old NORSKI days, including a few past editions of the Chili Classic.
Dina and I went up on Friday night (thereby missing this year's Mt. Taylor Quad =( to groom on Saturday. The Chama folks told me that they had some guys run the course with snowmobiles that they laid out by snowshoeing the week before. I told them that the course needed to employ some "moderate" terrain and needed to be run a lot, and very wide. Well, they laid out a great course, but it was a little extreme in spots, and there was over 8 feet of snow to hack through
. The path the snowmobilers ran wasn't very wide either, so we had a lot of work to do. It was really too much...frustrating, aggravating and physically very tiring, but it was awesome country and a labor of love for a good cause. It took probably 12 hours on my part, and an equal amount on Dina's part, plus, I got them to get me a guy (turns out, a young hot-dog snowmobile racer from Antonito) to help me get around the course early on Sunday. He drove too fast, lost one of our 60lb lead track weights, and got buried himself twice! Oh well, we managed, but that meant yet more digging for me on race morning =P Registrations had poured in over Active.com, and they expected about 40 skiers. Over 75 showed up when it was all said and done! That's a success by any measure. I was happy that we spent so much time getting the course groomed. Many racers from Colorado, New Mexico and even Arizona showed up. UNM brought a few skiers, including their still-very-fast coach Fredrik Landstedt, and two of New Mexico's top athletes, regardless of sport: Kristina Strandberg of the Subaru elite team and Martina Stursova of the Rossignol elite team, both came too. This was shaping up to be a great event.
Dina and I had a lot to do race morning. We had to get up early and find something to eat. Luckily, there was a place open just down the road. It was great and we enjoyed the quiet moment.
Soon, we made our way up the pass to get the grooming and course prep finished. I had to get a guy-- a young hot-dog kid from Antonito -- on a snowmobile to help me pull in the parallel track for classical technique, as our machine just didn't have the guts to pull all of that weight and resistance. He didn't do a very good job, as all he knew was snowmobile racing, not slow-paced grooming. He somehow managed to get stuck twice and leave a couple of big holes that I had to go fill in before the race started. Oh well...we managed.
Racers finally showed up and we lined up for the event. The race director and I gave some instructions for the event, and soon we were off. Cross-country ski racing is not very forgiving. It is tough and this course was by far one of the toughest there is. I soon felt all of the effects of the grooming efforts and felt like I was dragging a cinder block around. I was very tired and sluggish. I soon had to let the group of 5 or 6 racers ahead go on without me. I felt 3 or 4 more just behind, but they were waiting until later.
We made it over the first few huge hills and got out onto the Cumbres and Toltec rail grade. It
was there that two more guys went around me, but I caught a couple, to my amazement. I felt awful, with a very tired and sore back. I just settled into a pace that I could sustain for the rest of the event, which included another one of these heinous laps. I didn't lose too much ground to the guys just in front, but I did lose a good amount to Vsevolod. He smoked the course. Not too far behind him were the two women pros, Kristina and Martina.
I finished a belabored 8th. It was just fun to ski. We all finished things up, Dina helped me load all of the equipment, and we made our way down to Chama for post-race celebrations. It was a very fun event and a very fun day.
Look for the event again next year. It should be even bigger and better.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Chama Chili Ski Classic was ...well CLASSIC!
Beautiful weather, great snow, awesome course and over 70 upbeat participants made for a fantastic event! More posts on this to follow, I'm sure. Here is a shot of part of the start line - some UNM team, Kristina Strandberg of Subaru, Martina Stursova of Rossignol and if you look carefully, Tarik Saleh in orange and dark green stripes, with John Ullman behind him in a neon green collar and Gene Dougherty in a white and red KHS jersey pretending to be one of the UNM guys. Good showing for SWNSC!! By the way, you cant see him but they are all watching Clay Moseley (aka master groomer) explain the course and in particular the exciting/epic downhill on it! Check out www.chamaski.com for race results and eventually more race photos.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Grooming Update, 15 Feb 2007
Last night woods were set with a new classic track, road and meadow with a 10-12' skating lane...but it snowed another 5-6" on that 6" of new groomed snow, for a total of 10" according to the Pajarito web site, so it may be more like touring up there today!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Tonight's Tuesday Night Ski
John Bernardin's evening ski is tonight, here are the details:
"We'll meet again tonight for our Tuesday Night Ski. Assemble at the West
end of the ski hill parking lot shortly before 5:30pm. We traditionally
(now that we've done this a few times) classic ski, although skaters are
certainly welcome. It should be snowing this afternoon and evening, so
conditions should be incredible for an evening ski through the woods (like
2 weeks ago). Bring a head lamp as we tend to finish up about 7:00pm. We
will ski some combination of the trail system and travel at an easy pace,
regrouping at several locations. This is a social event, intended to bring
people together, share skiing stories, pass on skiing tips to newbies,
etc. Come on out and tell your friends.
Ken was complaining that there was no food or drink following the last Tue
night ski, so all are encouraged to bring along something to share after
the ski.
John"
"We'll meet again tonight for our Tuesday Night Ski. Assemble at the West
end of the ski hill parking lot shortly before 5:30pm. We traditionally
(now that we've done this a few times) classic ski, although skaters are
certainly welcome. It should be snowing this afternoon and evening, so
conditions should be incredible for an evening ski through the woods (like
2 weeks ago). Bring a head lamp as we tend to finish up about 7:00pm. We
will ski some combination of the trail system and travel at an easy pace,
regrouping at several locations. This is a social event, intended to bring
people together, share skiing stories, pass on skiing tips to newbies,
etc. Come on out and tell your friends.
Ken was complaining that there was no food or drink following the last Tue
night ski, so all are encouraged to bring along something to share after
the ski.
John"
Monday, February 12, 2007
CHAMA CHILE SKI CLASSIC THIS SUNDAY FEB 18TH!!
Yes! Classic all the way - classic only 5k and 10k - beautiful course and great race organization with delicious green chile stew at the awards.
Register now at http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1331725
for details and lodging see race website at http://www.chamaski.com/
There is also a complimentary guided snowshoe trek on Saturday afternoon - so bring your snowshoeing friends.
Come and support the only xc ski event in North NM this year!
Register now at http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1331725
for details and lodging see race website at http://www.chamaski.com/
There is also a complimentary guided snowshoe trek on Saturday afternoon - so bring your snowshoeing friends.
Come and support the only xc ski event in North NM this year!
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Kermit helps recruit & interview trail users.
Pointing to the new Kermit stickers---Dina Pensonsen, Donna Berg and Stephanie Hagelberg [and Jessica Kiesel, not pictured] spent a good part of today interviewing trail users, recruiting a few new members, plying them with cookies and other goodies.
In spie of the overcast weather and intermittent snow flurries it appears that the majority of trail users today drove up from Albuquerque!
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Mt. Taylor Quad and wax clinic this Thursday Feb 8th.
This Thursday Feb 8th at 7pm Sportz Outdoor store in Abluquerque is having a Mt. Taylor Quad clinic hosted by store owner and Mt. Taylor Quad veteran Art Gardenswartz. This will be in conjunction with a wax clinic presented by Clay Moseley and sponsored by Fast Wax. Come get tips on the race and on preparing your skis for it!
Get there a little early if you need to do some shopping - the store closes at 7pm right before the clinic!
Get there a little early if you need to do some shopping - the store closes at 7pm right before the clinic!
Classic track being set in pictures.
Here is Clay setting the beautiful classic track you see on the right. This is Dec 31st 2006. Note how old our trusty snowmo (Rambo) is - yes, we are trying to raise some money for a new one! Let us know if you want to help with that!
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