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Finding Fridtjof
Exploring the heritage of one of the Midwest's
oldest cross-country ski races
Fridtjof Nansen Ski Races set for January 21, 2006
by David E. Weiss
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Starter Karl Andresen instructs skiers in the women's open race at the first Fridtjof Nansen Classic held February 17, 1974, at the Eau Claire Country Club.
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It was a time when anticipation and wonder electrified the season. It was a period when skiing uphill was an esoteric sport, and the participants wore long stockings and knickers
to the knee. It was an era when cross-country skis were made of wood, and the aroma of pine tar permeated the haunts of eager partisans.
A new sport had emerged in the Midwest a pastime brimming with excitement and primed with challenge; an activity promising fulfillment and fitness. In places such as
Vermont, the sport had flourished for many years. But now, February 17, 1974, Eau Claire was about to hold its first cross-country ski race.
Trim dark-haired Asbjorn Snekkevik stood at the side of the building. Snekkevik's inverted skis, planted firmly in the snow, leaned against the Eau Claire Golf and Country Club's
outer wall. I watched as the fit-looking Norwegian, temporarily living in Wausau, grasped a tube of red klister and deftly squeezed a thin line down one of the skis over the
pine tar base. He used no heat. Using a plastic scraper, drawn firmly over the klister, Snekkevik spread the sticky substance evenly on the ski. To those of us who earlier had
tried to apply the impossible goo, Snekkevik's demonstration smacked of magic.
For several skiers, today's Eau Claire race would serve as a warm-up for another event. In six days the
second American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race, promoted by Tony Wise, would start in Hayward and roll through the woods and deep snow. Here in Eau Claire, sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-30s
had softened the abundant snow blanketing the country club's course.
Grooming machines unavailable, undeveloped and generally unheard of were not used to prepare the golf
course's race route. Instead, early that morning, race creator Dr. Karl Andresen gathered his sons, Eric,
Robert and William, to slog through the loose snow and create the diagonal grooves that would suffice for
racetracks. Just several months earlier, Andresen had organized a cross-country ski club from an offshoot
of the Flying Eagles, a youth ski jumping group. A number of youngsters would compete for the first time in the initial Eau Claire race.
Born in Oslo, Norway, Andresen taught political science at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and had
skied the first American Birkebeiner the previous year. A large proportion of Eau Claire's residents were of
Scandinavian extraction, and Andresen named his newly created race for a renowned Norwegian, Fridtjof Nansen. It was an impeccable choice.
Those of us who were ignorant of Fridtjof Nansen's accomplishments would eventually learn of Nansen's
multifaceted life: steadfast humanitarian, statesman, marine biologist, pioneer oceanographer, athlete and
Polar explorer. A winner of Norway's national cross-country skiing championship, Nansen's skill as a Nordic skier and his application of skis for Polar travel had paved the way for Roald Amundsen's South
Pole conquest. Additionally, Nansen's concept of Norwegian Polar exploration sparked the growth of
skiing. Nansen's tireless work for refugee repatriation and famine-stricken people won him the 1922 Nobel
Peace Prize also left the world in awe of Nansen. Now, Eau Claire was about to embark on an annual commemoration of the eminent Norwegian.
Eleven adults and 33 youths assembled for Eau Claire's first Fridtjof Nansen race. Nine separate classes,
including open men, open women and seven youth categories, would be contested over courses of 6, 3 and 1.5 miles. The sun-glazed snow was single-track, necessitating individual starts.
In addition to Andresen and Asbjorn Snekkevik, a third-generation Norwegian lent ethnic distinction to the
first Fridtjof Nansen Ski Race. Lithe, honey-haired Vigdis Snekkevik resplendent in white wool stockings,
white knickers and a horizontal-striped sweater stood with the other five female competitors at the start of
the women's race. Four of the women, chatting nervously, were last-minute recruits who never before had raced.
Seconds before the start, all six posed for a picture taken by Trygvie Ager, who headed the local chapter of
the Nordmanns-forbundet (League of Norsemen) with headquarters in Oslo. Ager's late father, Waldemar Ager, had been a Knight of the Royal Order of St. Olav, a prestigious Norwegian honor reserved for a
select few. Tryg Ager's photo of the six women would appear in a Norwegian monthly newsletter.
Starter Andresen stood before the six women racers and imparted the instructions: individual starts, 30 seconds apart, would launch each woman onto the 3-mile race course. At Andresen's signal, the race
began. The outcome was never in doubt. Striding gracefully, Vigdis Snekkevik easily outdistanced her competitors to earn the women's crown.
Next came the men. Henrik Hartmann, Rich Prange and I stood with Ernie St. Germaine, who had also
skied in the first Birkie. The four of us watched as Asbjorn Snekkevik started first on the 6-mile course.
After watching Snekkevik's impressive klister demonstration, the psych-out intensified as Snekkevik pushed
off and drove a knee forward, simultaneously reaching ahead with his opposite arm. Rhythmically gliding
over the snow, his extended body created a psalm of fluid power. At regular intervals the rest of us followed, futilely pursuing the flying Norwegian. Asbjorn Snekkevik soon joined his mate, completing a
victorious husband-wife open sweep.
Occupied with his race duties, Andresen did not race, but his youngest son, 13-year-old William,
conquered the Boys Class 3 competition (12-13 years of age) in the fastest 3-mile time of the day. If Norwegian ski supremacy needed a final punctuation, Tony Hartmann, the son of Norwegian-born Henrik
Hartmann, provided it by annihilating all contenders in the Boys 1 (16-18) division. Seventeen-year-old Tony's sensational time was the second fastest 6-mile time of the day and a scant 11 seconds behind
Asbjorn Snekkevik. After the races, all winning classes were awarded trophies provided by the local Nordmanns-forbundet.
Golden rays from the afternoon sun gilded the snow as the participants finally left the country club late in the
day. The departing skiers could not have known that they had just taken part in what would become one of Wisconsin's oldest annual ongoing cross-country ski races.
By the third Fridtjof Nansen race in 1976, Andresen's new ski club had shed its affiliation with the Flying
Eagles and had become the Eau Claire Ski Striders. Vigdis Snekkevik captured the 1976 women's title again, but her husband was edged by another Norsemen, Jorgen Skabo.
The 1977 race date headlined an international skiing extravaganza highlighted by an Epoke cup race in the
morning, featuring five members of the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team, followed by the regular Fridtjof Nansen race in the afternoon. Jim Galanes, America's top-rated Nordic combined skier, won the men's
morning event, and U.S. team member Pat Engberg won the women's title by five seconds over U.S. teammate Joanne Musolf.
Each afternoon skier received a "Fridtjof Nansen Passport," affirming the holder as "an international
ambassador of the sport of cross-country skiing." The award honored a post-World War I certificate
known as the "Nansen Passport," devised by Nansen then the League of Nations' first high commissioner for refugees to recognize stateless people worldwide.
This measure was underscored six weeks before the 1989 race when an earthquake rumbled through three Soviet republics. The quake hit Armenia hardest, killing 25,000 people and leaving 500,000 homeless.
Nansen's extensive work for Armenian famine relief and the plight of 1.3 million Armenian and Russian refugees inspired the Ski Striders to donate half the 1989 Fridtjof Nansen Race proceeds to Armenian
relief.
After Andresen's fifth year as president of the Ski Striders, Joan Angell took the helm. She and her
husband, Dave, were followed by many others who furthered the race's image, including Kine (Rogers)
Torinus, Bill Conway, Arlen Stertz, Lorraine Henning, Scott Wilson, Chris Gorzek, Julie Meyer, Rich Dirks
and Gale Otterholt. Since 1990, the Fridtjof Nansen Ski Race has prospered under the prevailing guidance of Emily Blaskey, who has co-chaired with Cheri Uelmen for the past three years.
Over the years the annual event has attracted some of the Midwest's top cross-country ski racers. A partial
list of additional winners and top placers includes Dale Niggemann, Tom Krenz, Ben Lund, Ryan Hebert, Amy Cichanowski, Dave Landgraf, Laurel Sundberg, Claire Wilson, Charlie Steil, Becky Hanson, Kelly
Kimball, Eileen Kirsch, Mike Paris, Mary Kay Fick, Carolyn Chatterton, Carrie Jones, Dan Kann, Pat Quinn, Norm Hopkins, Nancy Davis and Mitch Mode.
In 1997 the race site was moved from the country club to the present Tower Ridge location, where the
natural woody topography endows a choice setting. The territory, meticulously groomed almost daily by the
county to carpetlike perfection, became a favored locale for skiers. The Ski Striders have supplemented the
county's work as needed at race time. Striders Tod Wanous and Bob Ripple sometimes have worked all night to ensure a safe, well-prepared Fridtjof Nansen race course.
The winter of 2004-05 saw the completion of a spacious new heated chalet, complete with indoor toilets.
Eleven inches of new snow fell the night before the 2005 race, but thanks to Wanous and the county's chief
groomer, Mick Shuts, the course was groomed so the race could proceed as scheduled. January 21, 2006, will mark the 33rd holding of the annual race.
Just as it was in the first season of the Fridtjof Nansen Ski Race, winter remains a time of anticipation and
wonder for skiers. And 81-year-old Andresen remains a devoted skier and an inspiration to the club he founded. However, cross-country racing skis are no longer wood surfaces prepped with pine tar, and
precise grooming equipment has replaced the solitary human track-setters. But the zest for excitement, the investigation of one's unknown inherent strengths and weaknesses, continues.
Fridtjof Nansen once wrote, "The history of polar exploration is simply the expression of power that the unknown exerts on the human spirit."
Why do we ski and why do we race? Perhaps a clue comes from another Nansen writing: "For the greatest happiness is to be capable of the complete fulfillment of one's uniqueness."
The spirit of Fridtjof Nansen permeates the race named for him.
David E. "Dave" Weiss is a veteran of 15 Birkies (and a two-time age group winner), U.S. Canoe
Association Veterans Solo Canoe National Champion (1990 and 1992) and the first Eau Claire, Wisconsin, resident to complete the Boston Marathon (in 1969). He still resides in Eau Claire.
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