Jan 26, Classic? Relay? Classic Relay?

Sorry about the confusion, everyone!  I guess we were sending out mixed messages, and when we finally got there, it seemed easiest to just call it a classic night, no relay.

The parking lot was a little emptier, the sign-up sheet a little shorter, the people on the trail a little fewer.  Don't give up yet, skiers!  It was 48 freakin' degrees and sunny at the pass yesterday and the friendly little creeks running alongside the road are graduating into full riverhood, but there is plenty of good snow cover.   The temps were still near 40 when racing started; with no moon, the sky was very dark and the stars were very bright.  The course was nicely groomed, and the snow itself was a little soft, but still pretty fast, kind of like a former college football player.  It's still a fresh and fun way to spend a Wednesday evening, so come on up before it's gone!

Next week: skating.  Good luck to everyone heading for the Bavarian Cup, the Teacup, and the Marcialonga!

Masters, 5k classic

Jon Fewster, 14:10 (all double pole)
Brian Dumais, 14:12
Kyle Nagle, 14:50
Peter Boveng, 14:58
Alex Horner-Devine, 16:38 (all double pole)
Chris Fast, 16:51
Jeremy Littell, 17:10
Joy Cordell, 19:00
Jim Slyfield, 20:30
Di Houta (sorry; I have no idea what this says!), 23:38
Debbie Kolp, 25:58
Elizabeth Bailey, 29:15
Ian Whyte, 29:40

Skating

Tim Melbourne, 14:15 (5k)
Magnus Melbourne, 8:23 (2.5k)
Nils Melbourne, 9:10 (2.5k)

Classic/Skating Relay IronMan (two laps classic, two laps skating)

Robert Gordon, 51:06 (yay for you!)

Just Skiin'

Michael Wenger
Ben Corwin (didn't want to embarrass anyone)
Ellensburg junior team (skating)
Anita Campbell, Jason Paur, and 12 Bush kids
Four bike racers, all in a peloton
Lots of other people who prefer to remain anonymous headlamps passing in the dark

Jan 19, Skate

Knee-deep slush last week, heavy heavy rain over the weekend, then temperatures dipping down just below freezing ... you know what that means!  Very firm and fast conditions, especially as Robert was there grooming when we arrived.  He did his best with the rock-solid conditions, and as more and more skiers circled the course, the snow turned into a layer of sugar over a hard crunchy base, kind of like your favorite dessert.  He also did his best to repair the washout that required a re-route of the Gunnar Hagen race last weekend, but we really need some substantial snow before that can be fixed, so we left that little leg out of the race course.  Your times may vary.   Jon brought a gigantic bag of new no-wax Madshus skis to test, and even though conditions were not conducive to classic skiing AT ALL, he found plenty of willing testers.  It was a great night of skiing -- the temp was near freezing, the highway was bare and dry, and a ghostly full moon rose silently behind a fuzzy little cloud cover. What a pleasure, to be out here skiing on a Wednesday night, in the dark!

Next week: relay!  Meet at 6:30 to form two-person classic/skate teams, three sprint laps per person.  Good luck to everyone heading to the Methow for the Pursuit, or to Austria for the Dolomitenlauf, or staying here for the Jente Loppet!

Masters, 5k
Brian Dumais, 53, 12:58
Jon Fewster, 40, 13:08
Doug Reid, 42, 13:10
Jeff McGrew, 51, 13:36
Jordan Goldwarg, 29, 14:15
Alex Horner-Devine, 38, 14:15
Jim Cahill, 48, 14:30
Tim Melbourne, 42, 14:32
John Outterson, 40, 14:40
Jim Wood, 28, 14:49
Bryan Schaeffer, 34, 14:54
Jason Paur, 40, 15:04
Eric Kamila, 37, 15:20
Craig Fowler, 39, 15:38
Spider Burbank, 56, 15:46
Rolf Sunnerup, 45, 16:50
Emily Rimas, 31, 16:55
Jim Slyfield, 53, 17:41
Brad Weed, 45, 18:19
Heidi Fischer, 25, 21:40
Jessica Kleiss, 33, 20:02
Jennifer Wagner, 20:22
Michael Black, 42, 22:10
Ian Whyte, 48, 22:10
Marketa Eisner, 33, 22:58
Kris Gordon, 12, 29:21
Debbie Kolp, 57, 40:04 (lonesome classic skier)

Just Skiin'
Elise Stacey
Robert Gordon
Karen Gordon
10 Bush School kids

Jan 12, Classic

Hey, guess what!  Some people did make it up to the pass for headlamp racing this week, notwithstanding the flooding roads, the slushy parking lot, the crusty trails.  I'm impressed!  Here are two stories; if anyone else made it up, let us know so we can admire you.

Jeremy Littel's story:

At 4:34 pm when you wrote the entry on the headlamp blog, I was headed up the highway with two others in the car to go skiing in the rain. There was impressive standing water on the highway, and I too got temporarily stuck in the parking lot, but nothing 5 minutes of shoveling couldn't fix. There were a handful of other cars.

We skied from about 6:20 to 7:30, and got pretty wet. There was skate lane set, but no classic tracks, so we had to make do. Skating would actually have been okay, if a little soft.

I skied a 22:23 5k classic on the standard course, maybe my slowest ever? Anyway, good to be skiing, but good to be home and dry too.

Rolf Sonnerup's story:

Ingrid Tohver, Jeremy Littel and I must've really needed to get out.



Raining HARD at the summit, deep water on the highway, and anyway we've driven this far, why not?  At 6:15, freshly groomed but no classic tracks. Light rain. Ingrid (3rd time on skis) did the road and declared 'this is so beautiful!' JL and I did the TT, Jeremy came in at 22:22 and I was, amazingly, done in 2:25. Amazing because we did not ski together. Later we discovered that my skis (rilled very coarse) were running substantially faster than Jeremy's. I would stand and scratch myself on slight downhills [ed. note: he means adjust his headlamp] with Jeremy double poling the same pace. this explains the near coincidence as JL > RS in reality world.


Pity there weren't more folks - the skiing wasn't as bad as it looked. Yes, we got stuck in the parking lot. yes, it was raining. anyway it was nice.

Masters, 5k

Jeremy Littel, 22:23
Rolf Sonnerup, 22:25

Next week: skating.  This weekend: Gunnar Hagen, come hell or high water!  Pre-register and get all the info you need at http://www.kongsgergers.org/.

Jan 12, Update

Ozzie went home early (which NEVER happens).  He said there was freezing rain forming an icy crust on top of a ton of new snow, although Robert was grooming, and the parking lot is a deep slushy mess.  Scott also emailed and said he got stuck in the parking lot until someone with a truck pulled him out.  Given that, plus the fact that the pass is currently closed for avalanche control, Peter and I are pulling the plug.  Color me disappointed but resigned.  If you do go, please send me a report, and kudos to you!

This Sunday: Gunnar Hagen!  In the rain!

Jan 12, Conditions Preview

Early report from Ozzie at 11:30: 28 degrees, snowing hard.  No cars in the parking lot; no grooming yet.  Ozzie ran the track sled around Ozbaldy, but the tracks filled in as fast as he could set them.

It's gonna be a fun one -- see you there!

Jan 5, Skate

We're back! Another season of headlamp skiing started this week, with, guess what, freezing rain. It looked so pretty, sparkling in the beam of our super-bright headlamps. Even with areas of standing water on the freeway and temps in the mid-30's, the parking lot was half-full and there were plenty of eager skiers ready to start the new year skiing in the dark.  The course had been groomed in the morning, but then it snowed a couple inches and then it rained. That left us with some pretty choppy slop when we arrived, but when you send a bunch of skiers around a short course over and over, it starts to pack down into something skiable. The downhills turned into slickety luge runs carved into the heavy wet snow, and got faster and more exciting with each lap. For classic skiers, striding out of the tracks to try to get some traction was a great workout for all those little tiny balance muscles.  It was a fun evening of skiing, and so cool to see my favorite guys in the cabin again afterward!

Next week: classic. Good luck to anyone (that would be Martin) heading to the Czech Republic for the 50k Jizurska!

Masters 5k
Brian Dumais, 53, 14:11
Brent Turner, 56, 14:19
Jon Fewster, 40, 14:24
Peter Boveng, 52, 14:51
Jeremy Littell, 37, 15:35
Seth Davis, 34, 15:37
Bryan Schaeffer, 34, 16:39
Gareth Hardwick, 15, 16:55
Jonathan Sirois, 36, 17:15
Jim Wood, 28, 17:21
Alex Horner-Devine, 38, 17:28
Craig Fowler, 39, 17:36
Rolf Sunnerup, 45, 17:43
Spider Burbank, 56, 17:58
Owen Burbank, 21, 17:58 (home from college)
Eric Kamila, 37, 18:45
Jim Slyfield, 53, 20:15
Richard Rice, 60, 23:00
Peter Turcan, 53, 23:20
Jessica Kleiss, 33, 23:54
Martina Widman, 33, 25:00
Markita Eisner, 33, 26:00
Kent Robarge, 46, 28:30 ("setting low expectations for the next race")
Debbie Kolp, 57, 30:58 (classic)
Elizabth Bailey, 50, 34:15 (classic)

Juniors, 2.5k
Elise Stacey, 14, 10:23

Just Skiin'
Brian Palm
10 kids from Bush School