| SKI THE KEWEENAW
New trails, a new chalet, moderate temperatures, lots of snow it's a skier's paradise By Greg Marr Up in the
Keweenaw one October a few years ago, the leaves were still on the trees and the scenery was stunning. It's like that every October in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula but that particular October, something happened that I'd never experience in any October before or after. The Lake Superior snow machine kicked in and the skies opened. Over 20 inches of snow fell overnight. The leaves on the trees held the snow; branches cracked and fell off across the peninsula. The Copper Harbor | Skiers along the Maasto Hiihto Trails.
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resort I was at for a tourism conference lost power, as did thousands of homes and business across the peninsula. I loved it! not that people were without power; no, I loved the fact that I was snowed in, in the U.P., in October. I took a drive in the late afternoon before we lost daylight and the roads became almost impassable, as they would by morning. Giant flakes
drifting down to join others as the accumulation built. I was grinning like the village idiot, like someone from the tropics who had never seen snow. I drove slowly down to Calumet then decided to head back on Hwy. 26, along the shore of Gitchi Gummi, to see the snow machine in action. Much to my surprise, the lake that was causing all the snow left its shoreline untouched. Within a mile or two of the lake, there was absolutely no
snow on the ground; the relatively moderate lake temperature simply would not allow it. From heavily accumulating snow to no snow in a matter of mere miles. Amazing, but then, that's the Keweenaw. If you're not familiar with the Keweenaw, pull out a map and look at Michigan's Upper Peninsula. See that finger of land pointing to the east atop the western U.P.? That's the Keweenaw.
"What's nice about skiing in the Keweenaw," says Craig Hughes, a Research engineer at Michigan Technological University in Hancock, "is that it's in the middle of Lake Superior. The lake moderates the temperatures. Even in mid February, we wake up, it's 15 degrees and we ski at 25 degrees. It's like that almost every day. I don't think it went below zero once last year. One thing I don't like about skiing in Wisconsin is you can wake up and it's below zero and it might barely
crawl above zero some days. That almost never happens here."
A skier's dream; a place where almost every day is a blue wax day. And a place where snowfall averages over 200 inches a year, a place where you can ski 120 days out of the year.
Amazing, but then, that's the Keweenaw.
If that doesn't make you go all twitchy, you're not a cross country skier. If, on the hand, you're about to drop this magazine and go online
searching job listings for the Keweenaw, read on; it gets even better.
In the Keweenaw, you'll find a total of 61 kilometers of trail groomed daily for both skating and striding, with an additional 10K of classic only also groomed daily. There are another 60 plus kilometers groomed occasionally for striding and backcountry and, speaking of backcountry, you're limited only by your imagination, ability and comfort skiing in the wilds.
Used to be, skiing, real skiing, began in mid November in the Keweenaw, but those days seem to be history. Now, skiers can reasonably expect to be on the snow, skiing groomed trails, in mid December, and keep skiing through March. Depending on the season, there'll be some November skiing on golf courses and spring skiing well into April. And there was one year when skiers hit the snow on the last day of summer.
The best skiing in the Keweenaw is spread over four different ski
centers, the Big Four, each offering something unique.
"There are no for profit grooming operations in the Keweenaw," says Hughes. "All are club/government, government only or private individuals. The most successful of these (the Big Four) are all club/government relationships. This is generally played out with the government providing the grooming equipment and personnel."
While the goverment agencies do the actual grooming, the "clubs have
considerable say in grooming quality, frequency, timing and equipment," adds Hughes, noting that in return, "the clubs reimburse the government agencies for grooming, ranging from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars per year."
"The ski clubs operate the ski centers, provide thousands of hours of volunteer labor signs, manning chalets, brushing, chalet maintenance, etc. In this way, a healthy working relationship is developed between the
clubs and governments."
Hughes, like many skiers in the Keweenaw, is active with several ski centers but most involved in the Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club, whose primary focus is the Maasto Hiihto Ski Trails at Hancock, just a stone's through from Hughes' house. While he admits he might be biased, Hughes feels Maasto Hiihto has the "most scenic trails system of the Big Four."
"It has a beautiful creek ravine and great terrain with lots of big climbs
and big descents, including the famous Railroad Ravine and anaerobic descents. The ravine cuts through a beautiful area, passing exposed outcroppings in the river, waterfalls it's spectacular."
Skiers will find 21K of daily groomed (with a Tucker and snowmobiles) trail for both skating and striding, and another 10K for striding and backcountry.
Hughes says the system is also known for its "great signage" and
convenience, as its located close to population center, perched on the northern edge of the city of Hancock.
What has Hughes most excited, however, is a sparkling new chalet which will greet skiers this coming season.
"It was a three or four year process to get the chalet. Twice a year grants were submitted to the DNR and finally, in spring of 2001, we received a $70,000 grant that called for a $30,000 local match. There were design
meetings with the city and club, we sent out for bids and began construction this summer."
The city used in kind services things like putting in water, sewer and site prep as their match, and the ski club kicked in help as well.
Hughes says the chalet is 32 by 32 feet with separate, large men's and women's bathrooms (with racks and benches for changing), handicapped access, storage, mechanical room, a small kitchen with a pantry, a large
gathering room with a table, couches and chairs, and a wax bench in the main hallway.
"It's a very beautiful building," Hughes says. "We sacrificed some floor space for design. It has a nice brick exterior with lots of windows."
The trail is located in the city of Hancock and can be accessed from many points but the main trailhead, and the chalet, is located at the Houghton County Arena.
Just across the Portage Canal in Houghton, there is some equally
impressive development at the Michigan Technological University Ski Trails. Shocked into action by budget cuts that nearly cut the MTU ski program last year, skiers rallied to not only save the program, but initiate a massive overhaul of the ski trail system. What was an 8K system that "existed through benign neglect," in the words of Mike Abbott, manager of Recreation and Auxillary Services at MTU, is now a 15K "wonderfully challeging course packed in 550 acres."
"The trails were the same as they were 20 years ago," adds Abbott, "and groomed with a Skandia and Tidd Tech."
Abbott relates a story of an Alaskan collegiate team coming to MTU for a competition. The Alaskans refused to ski because the trail wasn't challenging or well groomed. The Alaskans packed up and headed for Marquette, with the MTU team following, tails between their legs from embarrassment.
With the budgetary axe hanging over their heads, MTU could either bail out on the ski program or fix it.
"The idea was to improve the product, to make it a real nordic system," Abbott says, "so we got together a group, and advisory board of faculty, staff, skiers and mountain bikers, and came up with a plan to improve the trail."
Through donations from various governmental agencies and individuals
$7,500 from one person alone and hours of volunteer labor, the dream became a reality.
"We've been on it for nine months and will work until snow flies," Abbott says. "There've been over 700 voluneer hours put in so far, and several thousand hours pledged. I've worked here for over 20 years, and this is the best project I've ever seen."
"We received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service for the
nondestructive testing of various forest bridges," Abbott continued. "We are going to build six bridges for the trails out of various treated materials (different species of trees) and monitor them over a 10 year period to see how they hold up. The forest service gets a lot of data on which species make the best bridges and we get great bridges for the trail. The match is an in kind match of time and labor, etc., so it doesn't cost us any money out the door."
"U.P. Concrete Pipe Company out of Escanaba has donated approximately 90 tons of concrete culverts for our trail system. They also donated the shipping, sending us three semis loaded with concrete pipe. This lets us put new culverts in throughout the new trails and it lets us remediate problem sections of the old trails."
The new trail has truly been designed by skiers, points out the MTU ski coach, Gary Nichols.
"The team went out and walked the area, looking for the best places to put the new trail. They used all the experience they have and found the best places for trail. I'm really proud of them."
"They picked the terrain," adds Abbott, "and Ted Benson did a superb job of selectively logging it, leaving huge oaks and white pine along the trail." Abbott describes it as a "selective clearcut 20 feet wide and 15K long."
Not only will there be approximately 7K of new trail, the old trail is getting a facelift as well. "The entire system will be 20 feet wide," says Abbott, "and there will be a stadium area that's FIS legal. We meet the guidelines of FIS and the NCAA and hope to be FIS certified. I believe we could host an NCAA championship." If that happens, MTU will be one of fewer than five or six ski trails in the entire nation that have earned such recognition.
Once the snow does fall, MTU is ready with an Alpine type groomer, a Bombardier, that should handle all Lake Superior can throw their way.
In addition to the new system, Abbott says there's a 4K Recreation Trail across the road.
"It's stride only across the road from the main trails. There's skijoring back there and snowshoeing. Snowshoers and skiers really don't coexist so we have dedicated snowshoe trails."
When the trail is unveiled this winter, Abbott hopes it will provide more than excellent skiing he sees it as a recruitment tool to attract more students to MTU. "There are over 2,000 high school skiers in Minnesota alone. If they want a degree in science or engineering, we can get them here for races and a look around. Few campuses offer a skier/athlete what we have."
Hughes, who knew the system in its pre rehab days, is impressed with what's going on.
"It's going to be a super racing trail. Very good terrain, with a good mixture of excellent advanced trails, intermediate trails, and beginner trails with top of the line grooming equipment."
Another of the Big Four reporting some changes for the upcoming season as well as the future is up the road in Calumet. The Swedetown Trails, host of the Great Bear Chase in March, has a small, new trail section for the coming season but, more importantly, has secured the
future. While some of the land that held the 25K system is owned by the township or other governmental units, some was private and frequently eyed by developers or other non ski users.
"This year a combination of governmental units and the ski club bought another 500 acres," points out Dr. Jon Neufeld, who is active in the organization that oversees Swedetown, the Copper Island Cross Country Ski Club. "Most of the area already had trail. What we've done
is protect what we have."
Swedetown now sits on 1,400 acres with room to grow. In fact, toward that goal, Neufeld said the club has already planted trees that will eventually protect what will be new trail. For this year, there's a small section of new rolling trail off the Red Trail, and bulldozing has been going on for a 4K addition next season.
Like all the ski areas in the Keweenaw, Swedetown is blessed by an
army of volunteers who make sure there is not only great skiing but a warm atmosphere.
"We have a very strong ski community involved at Swedetown," says Neufeld. "We're having a day to brush the trail, and we'll get 20 to 30 people. In 2001, we restained the outside of the chalet, revarnished the floor and repainted walls. It was all volunteer work."
The chalet usually receives rave reviews. The downstairs, where the
bathrooms are located, is "open all the time," Neufeld says. "The upstairs, where we have a snack bar, hot chocolate and a fire going, we try to keep open from noon to 5 p.m. daily and most days until 9 p.m."
If 9 p.m. seems rather late to keep a ski chalet open when it gets dark late in the afteroon you guessed it; lighted trails.
"It's a lighted 4K figure eight loop," says Neufeld. "Because of the way
it's set up, you can ski four laps without doing everthing the same. You ski out right from chalet." For the kids and the kid in the adults there's also a lighted sledding hill.
Hughes says the chalet is "great," but adds that the real draw is the grooming, handled with a Pisten Bully 100. "They have the best groomed trials in the U.P., perhaps Midwest, and lots of snow. They're great beginner/intermediate trails, a few advanced trails, and they have around
7K of striding/backcountry."
The last of the Big Four is jewel of a place groomed exclusively for the traditional skier, the Chassell Ski Trails south of Houghton at the town of Chassell. Host of the Copper Island Classic race in January, Hughes sites the grooming as one of Chassell's strengths. Unlike the other trails in the Keweenaw, Chassell is privately groomed by Jim Tervo.
"He does an incredible job," says Hughes, "and he's been doing it for a
long time."
The 10K system offers one large loop then a connecting trail to a smaller loop.
"It's that traditional, close to the trees feeling when you ski there. And there are some great views," according to Hughes.
The Lower Trail offers 4.3K of easy to intermediate sloping terrain through a varied stand of trees, interspersed with clearings. The Paradise Loop, 4.4K, is also easy to intermediate, with gently rolling hills past a
pond and through woods. A warming hut is located at an ice rink next to the trail head.
While these, the Big Four, attract most of the skiers to the Keweenaw, there are other trails but groomed to lesser degree: McClain State Park, the Copper Harbor Pathway at Fort Wilkins State Park and Twin Lakes State Park, to name a few. And, of course, there are near countless miles of backcountry and old logging roads.
Helping to keep all this skiing going in the Keweenaw is the Keweenaw
Cross Country Skiing Endowment Committee.
"It's an advisory committee of the Keweenaw Community Foundations," says Hughes. "The committee consists of members of each of the boards of the ski clubs and other local skiers. Its goal is to promote the sport of cross country skiing in the Keweenaw in perpetuity through an endowment. The community and the ski clubs have warmly supported the endowment. The initial goal of $10,000 was reached in less than two years."
Making sure skiing isn't being protect for nothing, another organization is assuring that there will be future Yoopers out enjoying what their parents have now. The Ski Tigers, a nonprofit corporation, promotes youth skiing.
"They have between 75 and 100 children, ages 5 to 18, signed up each year," Hughes says. "They meet twice weekly for instruction, fun on the snow and at the end, snacks. The emphasis for the lower age groups is
fun on the snow. The middle groups learn more about technique, while the older kids either get into racing or exploration/back country."
The Ski Tigers have been meeting in Swedetown, using the chalet there, but with a new chalet at Maasto Hiihto, the Tigers might split time at each or even see separate groups at each. The future looks bright for skiing in the Keweenaw.
All this exquisite skiing, great snow, moderate temperatures, active
organizations amazing, isn't it? But then, that's the Keweenaw.
CONTACT AND FEES
By the time you read this, there should be an active Web site with complete Keweenaw skiing information: www.keweenawtrails.com
For the individual trails:
Copper Island Cross Country Ski Club, Swedetown Ski Trails, Calumet, Mich.
www.keweenaw.org/swedetownxc.htm
John Neufeld 906/337 5603
Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club, Primary: Maasto Hiihto Ski Trails, Hancock, Mich.
www.xmatic.com/knsc/y_top.htm
www.keweenaw.org/maastoxc.htm
Craig Hughes 906/482 2784
Chassell Recreation Club, Chassell Ski Trails, Chassell, Mich.
www.keweenaw.org/chassellxc.htm
Jim Tervo 906/523 4884
Michigan Tech, MTU Ski Trails, Houghton, Mich.
www.keweenaw.org/mtuxc.htm
www.aux.mtu.edu/rec/ccski/
Mike Abbott 906/487 2578
For lodging and general information:
Keweenaw Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, Keweenaw Tourism Council, 326 Shelden Ave., Houghton, MI 49931; 800/338 7982; 906/482 5240; 906/482 5241 fax.
keweenaw@usa.net
www.keweenaw.org/
Fees
Skiers will be able to purchase a single pass that allows them to ski at Swedetown, Maasto Hiihto and MTU. The cost for an annual pass is a very reasonable: $100 families, $65 individuals. Daily fees are in the $3 to $5 range.
RACING IN THE KEWEENAW
There's ski racing every month, all winter in the Keweenaw Peninsula. (See the Calendar of Events section of this magazine for more details.)
December
21 Christmas Classic Stride Race, 10K at MTU, Houghton, Mich., gnichols@mtu.edu; www.keweenawtrails.com
22 Christmas Classic Skate Race, 10K at MTU, Houghton, Mich., gnichols@mtu.edu; www.keweenawtrails.com
January
18 Heikinpaiva Hiihto, 15K, 5K, 2.5K, 1K, Maasto Hiihto Ski Trails, Hancock, Mich.; chughes@mtu.edu; www.keweenawtrails.com
19 Copper Island Classic, 5K and 10K classic style only, Chassell Ski Trails, Chassell, Mich., James Tervo, 906/523 4884, tervoj@ccisd.k12.mi.us; www.keweenawtrails.com
February
15 Brockway Mountain Challenge, 15K, ski the crest of Brockway Mountain in northern Keweenaw County, 906/289 4637; www.keweenawtrails.com
March
8 Junior Bear Chase Stride and Skate, stride 2.5, 1K, skate 5K, 2.5, 1K, Swedetown Trails, Calumet, Mich., 906/482 1308; www.keweenawtrails.com.
9 Great Bear Chase, 26K classic, 50K freestyle, 26K freestyle,
Swedetown Trails, Calumet, MI 49913; 906/337 4520; www.keweenawtrails.com
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