The Keweenaw
Youth movement leads the way in the
new hotbed of Nordic skiing By Lee Borowski
A new "model" of an ideal ski destination emerged in the Midwest this past year, and the U.P.'s best kept secret was out of the bag. Most skiers are well aware of ABR's early and late season skiing, but the long season in Houghton and Calumet, Michigan was not well known. Then
came the dry winter of '02-'03. Even much of the U.P. had little snow ... except for the Keweenaw Peninsula. At times it became just about the only place to go. And they were ready.
Snow and Grooming
Year in and year out, the Keweenaw trails usually have the longest ski season in our Silent Sports area. But last season I personally discovered that not only does their snow last for at least a month after the Birkie
(the quitting time for many skiers), it is groomed, on a regular basis right to the end.
Let me give you an example. On the second to last weekend in March, my wife, Betsy, and I, despite an awful weather forecast, headed up to Houghton. They'd had rain for several days and temperatures were rising, with a prediction of 40 for Saturday and 50 on Sunday.
We expected slogging in slush at best, but were we surprised. What we
found was the best skiing of the year. Even though we got a late start, Swedetown was smooth and fast, and it didn't get slow going until 2 p.m.
We were expecting nothing for Sunday, as the snow had gotten exceptionally soft in the late afternoon; slush or refrozen ice looked like the only options. But what a surprise! When we arrived at the Tech Trails at 9 a.m., they had just finished grooming with the big equipment. The trails were fast and perfect. And even though the temperature
quickly rose into the 50s, the surface held up.
Then, talking to local skiers, we discovered that (conditions permitting) they groom these trails on a daily basis. Quite frankly, it was on a par with the meticulous grooming I experienced at Soldier Hollow during the last Olympics; both venues have both light and heavy equipment and both know which one to select on a given day.
While we were skiing, Wayne Fish and I lamented that the USSA
International Spring Series (scheduled the next weekend for Marquette and ABR) should really be held on the Tech Trails. This is not to fault the grooming at either of the two other places, but it's hard to groom when there isn't much snow. Tech had the snow and sure knew what to do with it.
When I arrived back home, one of the first e-mails I opened announced that the Spring Series had been moved to Houghton. It almost seems
serendipity that the year that Tech spent $175,000 upgrading their trail system the fates of the weather had them in place to host, and rescue, one of America's major ski events.
So at the last minute, Betsy and I decided to head up for one last weekend, the 29-30 of March. Of course, because of the high profile races, the Tech Trails were immaculate but the Swedetown system was easily its equal. In fact, although Swedetown was closed for the season
after that Sunday, we decided to stay Monday for one last day of skiing. And guess what? Even though the trails were officially closed, they had been groomed that Monday morning. Enough said.
More Upgrades
This ski community is not one to rest on its laurels; the improvement continues. According to Mike Abbot, Swedetown has just spent about $10,000 this year on trail improvements. They hired the same people who did the work on the Michigan Tech trails and rerouted some of
their trails to get them out of the wind. They also repaired several areas where early season water has been a problem.
An additional $17,000 was spent on trail improvements at Tech. These include a warming shed on skids and changing the flow of the trail system to make it even better for quality racing; there will now be a kilometer of gradual climb out of the start area (to spread out the field) before hitting the first significant downhill. In addition, future plans
include lighted trails in the next year or two and a real chalet as funding allows.
The Big Four of the Keweenaw
What I especially enjoy when I'm in the Keweenaw, is that Swedetown and Tech are a perfect compliment to each other; Tech provides screaming downhills and long climbs, whereas Swedetown features rolling terrain. (Both have sections that are ideal for beginners.) It's a natural to alternate for harder and easier days. I prefer to just ski, have
fun and let the terrain dictate the intensity for the day. But these two trails are only half of the "Big Four" trail systems of the Keweenaw.
In the words of Mike Abbott, "... there are the Chassel trails, located just 5 miles south of Houghton, ... a striding-only system that features immaculate grooming with an intimate, old-style feel. No 20-foot-wide trails here, just many kilometers of tight, fun tracks set by a YTS Ginzu.
Jim Tervo, a local ski support legend, operates the trails and does most of the grooming. In fact, the trails run right up into his back yard so he can get up to groom at 4 a.m. before he goes to work each morning."
Finally, there is the Maasto Hiihto, Finnish for cross country ski trail. As it stands, this trail is eminently skiable and offers some very challenging terrain. In addition, they've added some striding-only trails, which are
beginner to intermediate. Maasto has also purchased a Ginzu groomer to do a better job of track-setting this year.
According to Dean Woodbeck, "The Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club (which operates Maasto) and the Keweenaw Land Trust have a $333,000 grant from the Michigan DNR to try to purchase the land along Swedetown Creek, which forms the heart of the Maasto system. We are in the process of raising an $87,000 local match for the grant,
plus negotiating with the five landowners who this affects."
So the area go-getters are now in the process of upgrading Maasto to the grooming standards they've set at the other three trails. According to Mike Abbott, "We believe the keys to great skiing are snow, guaranteed trail access and consistent, quality grooming. We have the snow part whipped. Once we gain guaranteed access for Maasto (instead of the annual easements we've been getting for 20 years), we
can start working on making the necessary improvements that will allow us to have quality grooming."
But even without the upgrades, many areas would kill to have the Maasto Hiihto trails in their back yard. And in the Keweenaw, it occupies the terrain gap between Swedetown's rolling system and the long hills of the Tech Trails. I haven't been to Maasto for years, but am looking forward to tackling their hilly and winding terrain this winter.
The Ski Tigers
And, finally, the Keweenaw has produced a "model" junior ski program, The Copper Country Ski Tigers. I'd been hearing about this young group of skiers off and on, but they really caught my attention in Minocqua last season at the Howard Young Cup. It actually was one young, 8-year-old who did the trick. He raced the junior 2K race at about 3.5 minutes per kilometer. That's about 35 minutes for 10K not bad for an adult and he's only 8 years old! Talk about feeling inadequate
on the trail when a peewee passes you in a cloud of snow.
John Crittenden had been keeping me posted, so I knew the club was more than just a one-man gang. When I delved further, was I surprised. This wasn't just a junior racing program, but a total community effort to introduce cross country skiing to the local youngsters, who'd ordinarily be trapped indoors by the long cold winters.
According to Shawn Oppliger (and everyone else I spoke with) the Ski
Tigers were founded by Olympic speed skating star, Beth (Heiden) Reid (see sidebar). Presently, there are 110 young Ski Tigers. While some are extraordinarily fast skiers, that is not the only focus of this club. Their main goal is to educate these kids (some as young as 3 and 4) to the joy of skiing and to promote a family activity, especially important in an area where "actual winter" lasts five to six months. Bored youngsters certainly can get into trouble in much less time than
that.
Four seemingly small things that have increased the probability of success for the Ski Tigers program:
1. Every parent must somehow be involved with the Tigers in some volunteer activity, from coaching to working races to making phone calls. This makes sure those running the program get the help they need and reduces the chance of burnout. It also keeps the parents involved, increasing the chances that this will be a family activity, not just a babysitting service.
The next three points give young Ski Tigers an incentive to ski and improve:
2. Kids are divided into groups by age and ability. As they progress, a Tiger is promoted to the next group. This also ensures that the groups stay together on the trail, rather than having faster skiers somewhere way off in the boondocks.
3. Awards are given for kilometers skied, so youngsters are encouraged to get out on the trails on their own, not just on official Tiger days.
4. Each year registration includes a different piece of equipment or apparel, featuring the Ski Tiger logo. This year's item is a Ski Tiger ski hat.
A low-key approach allows all kids the option to continue to ski recreationally or to join the racing program. The Ski Tigers themselves host several junior races during the season. For more in-depth information on the Tigers, see sidebar and visit: http://www.keweenawtrails.com/skitigers.
Conclusion
Now that all is said and done, if you love to ski, give yourself a break head for Da U.P. and give the Big Four of the Keweenaw a try. And before you go, you can check for up-to-date information on all the trail systems and related events at: http://www.keweenawtrails.com.
Whatever happened to Beth Heiden?
Beth Heiden: Most know that she was a world champion in speed skating and biking, but few are aware that she was also an NCAA collegiate XC ski champion ironically back in the days of striding-only races. She is undoubtedly one of America's greatest female athletes right
up there with the likes of Babe Didricksen Zaharias. So, what ever happened to Beth Heiden?
The answer is simple: Beth got married to Russell Reid and is now a full-time mom raising her three children (ages 11 through 16). She also got her masters in civil engineering along the way. Beth now resides in Palo Alto, Calif. But before leaving the U.P., she founded the Copper Country Ski Tigers.
Back in 1991, Beth decided to start the Tigers. There were 30 kids that
first year, and not much adult help. And there was Beth (Olympic medalist, world champion in both biking and speed skating, and NCAA cross country ski champion) trudging around with her 2-year-old in a poke and her 4-year-old at her side trying to get the program going in the backwoods of Swedetown.
She remembers fondly the "wonderful grandfather," Karl Parks, who came to the rescue on weekdays to help keep the Ski Tiger program
going. Beth also mentioned "another gentleman who was really helpful in the early success of the program, Dave Heikkila. Dave's kids were all grown by the time I started the Ski Tigers, but Dave was a stalwart Ski Tiger coach. He was very knowledgeable and great at working with kids and he always showed up to help no matter what the weather. He knew the area inside and out, he led the kids on off-track tours, and he knew the fun spots to take the kids to mess around and play games."
Beth (in my telephone conversation with her) did mention three other things. At first, the program floundered and attendance was sporadic. The turn-around came when they introduced some races into the program. It gave the kids a goal and something to work for. After that, attendance for the pre-junior high skiers never became a problem again.
The second thing she mentioned was that "The great facilities at Swedetown are the reason Ski Tigers exists. The grooming at
Swedetown is dependable and awesome. It's a lot of work to get a small child out the door and ready to ski, and you can't have families showing up at a trail that is not groomed. They won't likely return for a second or third try. When the Copper Island Ski Club built the Swedetown chalet, we started the Ski Tigers program with seed money solicited from all the local ski clubs the prior couple years. I knew that finally there would be a place for the kids to get out of the cold if
someone got tired and a place to hang out with friends after skiing."
Third, Beth mentioned quite a few volunteers, too many to name here, who were very instrumental in the first decade of the program. Two were already familiar to me, Chris and Michael Young. Chris was president of the Tigers the last few seasons. That's a stretch of over a decade.
Beth's last comment was that the Tigers were actually helped when her
husband got a sabbatical to Madison and they were forced to leave for a year. At that time, one of the people who stepped forward was Cindy Harrison, who really gave the touring side of the Ski Tigers a shot in the arm. Before that, it was difficult to keep the older kids in the program. But Cindy instituted some changes, like making them coaches for the younger skiers. This not only kept up the interest for many high schoolers, it helped alleviate a volunteer program.
As to Beth today? She's is still in pretty decent shape; she was top woman in the Fisher Cup Series, a cross country event on the West Coast. And her own sons, Carl and Garrett, represented the Far West at last year's Junior Olympics and, of course, carried the flag in some small way for their former home, the Keweenaw. So what happened to Beth (Heiden) Reid? She just moved on, but not without leaving something of value behind.
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