Recently, I was paging through Tom Kelly’s Birkie Fever, a chronicle of the first 10 years of the American Birkebeiner from 1973 to 1982. The pictures, most in black and white, look outdated, even older than they actually are. On display are skiers in knickers and knee-high wool socks and using three-pin boots and bindings, bamboo poles and lots of wooden skis. Everyone is classic skiing, with the exception of Howie Bean, a U.S. Ski Team member at the time, pictured leading a pack through County Trunk OO in 1982. He looks like he is marathon skating while leading five skiers, all of whom are double poling. Bean may have simply been step turning but he finished the race in third place, a few seconds behind Ola Hassis, of Sweden, and Jan Bjorkheim, of Norway.

Things changed rapidly when the skating revolution arrived a few years later in the mid- to late ‘80s. Skis got shorter, and poles got longer. Boots and binding systems morphed into the designs we know today. Lycra arrived in those ghastly fluorescent colors. Ski technique got turned on its head, and for a while many Birkie skiers abandoned classic skiing, particularly those in the higher waves who wanted to remain competitive. Recreational skiers were slower to jump on the bandwagon and get rid of their classic skis. When the races on the Worldloppet circuit were categorized, the Birkie was designated a freestyle race, which meant that skiers could choose their technique, but skating became the de facto technique for competitive skiers.

Classic skiing didn’t pass away into obscurity like a few pundits predicted, however. Tradition dies hard. Imagine, if you will, the Birkebeiner warriors Shervald Skrukka and Torstein Skevla on skate skis. Classic survived, and 35 years later, skiers can still choose their technique: skate or classic.

The choice is easier now that classic skiers have been gifted a new 27K trail to separate them from the skate skiers for the first half of the race. For years, classic skiers skied off to the side of the trail, often on tracks freestyle skiers had obliterated, occasionally causing a rift between the disciplines. In the heat of a race, it is understandable why the skate skiers used every inch of the trail and skied over the classic tracks. Then again, it’s aggravating to see a skier up ahead pulverizing your track. The new segregated trails eliminates this, enhancing the experience of the classic skiers. Skate skiers also benefit from the new trail because the traffic on their trail is thinned, giving their wider stance even more room. Everyone wins.

Choice is good. Skating continues to dominate the Birkie and the event still has that freestyle designation. But the American Birkebeiner now gives out awards to traditional skiers as well. Last year, 2,701 men and 531 women skated the Birkie while 798 men and 189 women classic skied it. In the Kortelopet, the numbers were more even, with 624 men and 523 women skating the shorter race, compared to 422 men and 328 women who classic skied. The numbers of classic skiers will continue to grow, especially when people start skiing and experiencing the new trail.

For years, we’ve pictured classic skiing as a slow and contemplative activity for skiers in sweaters toting backpacks; a technique for the early Birkies of the ‘70s and ‘80s. We think that skating is so much faster, but it isn’t really. In the first World Cup race this past November in Kuusamo, Finland, Martin Johnsrud Sundby won the 15K classic race in 37 minutes 52.5 seconds. The Norwegian’s pace was 2:31 per kilometer. Compare that to Ivan Babikov’s winning, but slightly slower, 2008 American Birkebeiner pace of 2:32 per kilometer. Now, snow and course conditions can definitely affect pace, and Sundby’s race was only a third the distance of the Birkie. But it’s conceivable that a top-tier World Cup skier would be competitive in the Birkie on classic skis. In other words, an elite skier using classic technique can ski faster than most of us can skate ski. The assumption that skate skiing is two or three times faster is simply bunk. Nevertheless, Sundby would likely skate ski if he hoped to win the Birkie.

I’m convinced that a skier’s body type, age and fitness should factor into choosing a technique. Skating requires powerful legs and arms, more so than classic skiing. People without exceptional strength or fitness might do better classic skiing. When I get new people started skiing, I rarely suggest skating since the technique requires both finesse and fitness. A few of my friends, especially cyclists with powerful legs, take to skate skiing immediately. In fact, some of them have taken to it so well that they never classic ski, which is a shame.

Classic skiing’s rhythmic and fluid technique is one reason why Nordic combined and biathlon skiers, whose races are all freestyle, continue to classic ski. In an e-mail, Piotr Bednarski, director of athlete development for the U.S. Biathlon Association, told me that the Scandinavian biathletes in particular continue to classic ski even though none of their races use this technique.

“On training days during the Biathlon World Cup, you will see lots of classic skiing (done by) easily 50 percent of the athletes,” Bednarski wrote. “Athletes like to classic on the training days between races to let their legs recover better. I’d say that classic makes up approximately 30 percent of the skiing/roller skiing by the U.S. Biathlon Team, though the athletes do very little intensity with classic technique.”

We sometimes see classic versus skate as a dilemma, but I see the two disciplines as a chance to enhance our cross-country skiing experience. They’re like pie and coffee. Individually, each is good, but they’re even better together. A similar rift has occurred in cycling between road riders and mountain bikers. There, too, I’d hate to make a choice and give one up because they complement each other so well.

Classic skiing does seem easier on my body, and its fluid motion helps me recover from the pounding of skate skiing. On the other hand, I love the speed of skating, especially on transformed snow. Not much beats a spring skate ski on freshly tilled corn snow. It seems like I could glide to Oz with each skate. When I want to do some bushwhacking, I grab my waxless skis and set off into the deep snow of the woods, something that would be impossible on skate skis. In a year of poor snow, I spend a lot of time skating on frozen lakes, thankful for the few inches of snow covering the ice. When it’s below zero and the snow crystals are sharp and the snow sounds like Styrofoam underfoot, I leave my skate skis at home until the mercury rises into positive numbers. I’m glad that I have a choice, often choosing skis as the weather and conditions dictate.

In a perfect world, I would decide which technique to use the morning of the Birkie. (The nightmare that this would create for the race organization rules out such a scenario.) If the snow was icy and transformed, I’d go with the skate skis. But if the snow was fresh and cold – an Extra Blue day – I’d go with the longer skis and the shorter poles and stride my way to the finish in downtown Hayward.

Mark Parman lives in Wausau, wisconsin, where he teaches English and journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County.

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