Skinnyski.com Team members (left to right) Per Nelson, Dave Nelson and Grant Nelson ski the
2005 Sawtooth in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Photo by Bruce Adelsman.10th anniversary
Happy Birthday, Skinnyski.com
by Joel Patenaude
As the editor of Silent Sports, an indisputably quirky "lifestyle" magazine and a labor of love, I might be expected to jealously guard my territory. Instead, I can't help but praise and promote a fellow publisher of self-propelled sporting news for this very same region.
I'm amazed, actually, that someone else lives and breathes this stuff on a daily basis (in his case, several
times daily). I find it reassuring to know that there is at least one other person catering to "our kind" and expecting only a modest financial payoff for the effort.
Such is the shared mission of Bruce Adelsman, who, with his wife Margaret, is celebrating 10 years as the driving duo behind www.Skinnyski.com. Their website subtitled "Adelsman's Cross-Country Ski Page" is
a grassroots, shoestring, niche enterprise covering much of the same ground as this magazine.
Adelsman, based north of St. Paul in New Brighton, Minnesota, is clearly in his element this time of year. But in the off-season, his site is also the place to go for coverage of cycling (both road and mountain), running and paddling events as well as triathlons held throughout the Midwest. "Its a natural fit because skiers don't stop exercising when the snow melts," Adelsman says.
Skinnyski.com best known for its constant stream of trail conditions is everything a monthly magazine can not be. It's a timely tool for all things Nordic, and then some. The site caters to the obessions of cross-country skiers both hard-core competitive skaters as well as more casual striders just looking for snow.
Greg Marr, the founding editor of this magazine, wrote that a sampling of the site from the pages on trails,
lodging, gear, training and racing was like eating "a multi-course dinner at a fine restaurant, except you won't feel like taking a nap when your done. You'll want to go skiing."
Bruce Slinkman, president of the Minnesota Nordic Ski Association, calls the site "the Midwest skier's bible. In many regards Skinnyski.com is one of the most significant innovations for all of silent sports and especially nordic skiing in the past decade."
And Dean Woodbeck, webmaster for the U.P.-centric website KeweenawTrails.com, says the site has broadened the community of skiers by serving as a regional resource. Skinnyski.com, Woodbeck says, has "allowed local trails to gain more of a regional following. For example, when there are low snow years in the Twin Cities or central Wisconsin, skiers in those locations can check on the condition of their favorite trails in the UP or northern Wisconsin."
A year after the introduction of web browsers brought the Internet to the masses, Adelsman started posting snow conditions for southeast Minnesota ski trails on a Usenet chat forum. He eventually added race results.
Adelsman was taught to skate ski by fellow Bemidji State student Margaret, a competitive Nordic skier in high school and college. They've been married since 1989 a year after registering the domain name Skinnyski and have two sons, ages 8 and 11.
While he's cracked the top 20 at the 35K Mora Vasaloppet a couple times, Bruce Adelsman says he's never won a race and he's now more of "a middle of the pack" skier.
Margaret, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology, helps keep the trail reports and books for the site current. Her husband does tech support on the side for both computer and ski clients. "The website consumes about
80 percent of my time," Bruce Adelsman says. "We wouldn't do the website if we couldn't do the technical aspect ourselves."
Adelsman's also a talented self-taught sports photographer, as is evident on his site. He has also taken video and posted short clips, most recently of the Capitol Square Sprints held in Madison January 15. The videos and photo galleries seem to be posted almost before the races they depict are done. Fans who check the
site several times daily are usually rewarded by frequent updates of the home page.
How does it pay for itself? Adelsman said there isn't an economic model for getting website users to "pay for content." He does offer memberships, with dues paying for exclusive use of the classified ad section. But his 500-some paying members are a small fraction of the more than 7,000 visitors the site sees daily.
Those who wish to place classified ads are asked to subscribe. And resorts and retail outlets pay to be listed. Like public radio, Adelsman says people contribute to the site on a voluntary basis because they believe in it.
Adelsman e-mails a free newsletter to almost 2,000 people. Paying members can specify a region for which they want the trail reports posted within the last 24 to 48 hours. Folks who don't pay have to scroll through
many more and much older trail reports kept on the website. The site included more than 80 trail reports last December 31.
In the late 90s, the site received a lot of feedback from users "thanking us for the service," Adelsman said. "As we became more stable, people got the impression that we were a professional operation. It's not that we're taken for granted, we just don't hear as much."
That's changed some with the visibility of Skinnyski.com Team members who wear the name of the on their race uniforms. Team members are not compensated but they write race reports for the site. They also volunteer at a ski camp at Maplelag Resort in Callaway, Minnesota, every December.
So, fellow Skinnyski.com fans, shake the hand of a Skinnyski.com Team member the next time you see one
at a race. Better yet, congratulate Adelsman on reaching the 10-year milestone. Become a member or just drop him an appreciative line via e-mail at bruce@skinnyski.com the next time you check the site.
Joel Patenaude is the editor of Silent Sports.
|
