Skiers make most of sparse snow

Now in her second year volunteering for her alma mater Cloquet-Esko-Carlton Nordic ski program, Jazlyn Gunderson reported for practice Jan. 3 to a unique location.

Roughly three dozen team members and supporters appeared in frigid temperatures on a 400-yard field at the Cloquet Forestry Center. First-year head coach Phil Rogers had groomed the field and even set a circuitous classic track around the edges, where grassy spots lurked nearby. Nobody can remember the team ever practicing in that location — one of the only places near Cloquet with snow enough to ski.

“He’s working hard on it, that’s for sure,” Gunderson said of Rogers’ grooming efforts. “But the whole Nordic community is coming together to make it work. We’re making the best of it.”

What appears to be strenuous work above and beyond the call of duty is a labor of love, said Gunderson, also a member of the St. Scholastica women’s Nordic team.

“We’re all of the mindset that we love our sport and we’ll make it work,” Gunderson said.

The Pine Knot attended the practice and talked to adult leaders in the local Nordic skiing community about how their programs were dealing with a second straight wimpy winter with very little snow.

For instance, the CEC team had to forgo using its beloved trails at the Pine Valley Recreation Area for its annual invitational on Tuesday in favor of conducting the meet at Duluth’s Spirit Mountain, where they’re making snow to cover a Nordic loop at the base of the facility off Grand Avenue.

“Everybody loves that meet,” CEC assistant coach Ann Gustafson said of the Pine Valley meet. “Nobody really loves Grand Avenue.”

Indeed, the Grand Avenue course is a rather monotonous loop characterized by a severe uphill.

“It’s a hard place to ski,” Rogers said, describing it as difficult to build up easy-paced kilometers of training.

Still, the first-year coach and longtime Nordic ski authority — who, in good years, keeps trails groomed and open to the public on his farmland in Esko — has been impressed by the team’s resolve despite having only two meets heading into the week.

“I’m surprised at their level of enthusiasm,” Rogers said. “I have never sensed too much downturn due to the conditions.”

During one rare Pine Valley practice, before December rain [editor’s note: December rain?!] wiped out the course there, his team conducted a rousing practice on the back 2 kilometers.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Rogers said. “I was so amazed at their level of expertise skiing and doing turns on that difficult snow. I was thoroughly impressed with the group.”

Roughly 40 strong, two winters without snow have hurt the program’s numbers. At its peak, the program featured nearly 100 members earlier this century.

Ken Ripp is the longtime president of the Cloquet Ski Club, which trains young skiers in Nordic skiing and ski jumping on the 20- and 40-meter jumps at Pine Valley.

The group was off and running earlier this winter, Ripp said. Registration in November was strong and kids had been skiing and jumping.

That all changed with the arrival of Christmas break.

“It was looking good,” Ripp said. “We had enough to ski a little bit and we jumped a few nights. Then the rain just killed it.”

Ripp noted there’s still strong interest among the participants.

“The enthusiasm on the team is still good,” he said.

Organizers worry that if winters become consistently mild, it’ll force them to get more aggressive.

One way to do that would be to make snow at Pine Valley.

Rogers, who once coached collegiately at Bemidji State University, recalled days in the late 1990s, when organizers used snow guns to create a loop a couple hundred meters around.

“We were lucky to have it,” Rogers said.

His assistant, Gustafson, said it’s time to return to snowmaking at Pine Valley.

“We’ve got to get on that, because we can’t keep losing out on our own place,” she said.

Once it snows, the canopy of trees at Pine Valley keeps it from disappearing so fast, she said.

Ripp, too, is an advocate for snowmaking. He said he needs to reach out to Biwabik’s Giants Ridge again about acquiring a used snow gun, because all of theirs were replaced.

“The biggest problem we have is if you have a snow gun and make snow, you need to have some way to move it around and that involves a PistenBully,” Ripp said, referring to a snow groomer used to move snow and set tracks.

“That becomes a sticking point,” Ripp said, for a club that has small budgets.

The city has been hesitant to invest in snowmaking, which would stretch an already thin parks staff and budget.

“I just look around and they spend so much money on other winter sports — maybe dedicate a little portion of that to Pine Valley,” Ripp said. “If we made just a 1.5-km loop, something so the kids don’t have to drive to Duluth to ski.”

Whatever unfolds, the Nordic community won’t go quietly no matter how mild the winter.

“It really does hurt,” Ripp said. “The high school has been lucky to eke out practices at the Forestry Center. And if it wasn’t for Grand Avenue, it’d be really rough.”

The CEC team has skied one meet at Grand Avenue already, but Rogers has tried to keep the team as close to home as possible by grooming the field at the Forestry Center.

“I caved and said we’ll go there one day a week [for practice],” Rogers said of Grand Avenue. “The kids are going to be shocked by how congested it is. Every team in town is practicing there. … But area skiing would be screwed if it didn’t have that.”

For Gunderson, the volunteering college skier, the extreme effort to ensure a season despite the conditions was worth it.

“We’re making the best of what it is,” she said, the sun setting as skiers raced laps in the background.

Of course, new snow would help salve all.

“If we get a foot of snow or even 6 inches of really good snow,” Ripp said, closely monitoring the 10-day forecasts, “we can be back at it.”

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Cloquet Invite Results,

Jan. 7, @Spirit Mountain, Duluth

Varsity Boy-Girl Relay Results

Results by Duluth Timing and Events—duluthtiming.com

School,Skiers,Time

1. Duluth East, August Capps-Tuuli Rova, 23:08

2. Duluth East, Mark Goettel-Kenna Huot, 23:16

3. Brainerd, Silas Osborne-Annelise Baird, 23:31

4. Duluth East, Benjamin Pilate-Sasha Wahman, 23:53

5. Duluth East, Max Fisher-Carolina Arvold, 24:33

6. Duluth East, Nathaniel Bateman-Edie Broadmoore, 24:50

7. Duluth East, Sam Peyer-Anna-Britta Helmer, 25:00

8. Marshall, Kiera Kylander-Johns-Ezra Rude, 25:02

9. Duluth East, Soren Hanhan-Stella Bone, 25:05

10. Brainerd, Gabe Hallgren-Taylor Allen, 25:20

11. Duluth East, Russell Hill-Taylor Wood, 25:25

12. Brainerd, Joe Neumann-Madi Miller, 25:37

13. Brainerd, Alex Lewica-Maev Storbakken, 26:03

14. Duluth East, Gabriel Javaherian-Josephine Ryan, 26:09

15. Proctor/Hermantown, Isaiah Wozniak-Hans Bettendorf, 26:18

16. Marshall, Heidi Weis-Naida Hutchinson, 26:18

17. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, Bodyn Gunderson-Shealee Gunderson, 6:19

18. Brainerd, Owen Robertson-Elizabeth Rademacher, 26:35

19. Ely, Brooks Brenny-Anna Dunn, 26:46

20. Duluth East, Owen Blascyk-Nia Kramer, 26:47

21. Brainerd, Lee Knapp-Ava Capelle, 26:48

22. Brainerd, Patrick Ryan-Audrey Hastings, 26:49

23. Ely, Otto Devine-Elsa Ellerbroek, 26:51

24. Ely, Oliver Hohenstein-June Nelson, 26:53

25. Two Harbors, Mason Linn-Gunny Skadberg, 7:02

26. Proctor/Hermantown, Aden Thorn-Campbell Amundson, 27:04

27. Grand Rapids, Larson Curnow-Zane Peonix, 27:05

28. Duluth East, Will Johnson-Sophia Consie, 27:07

29. Ely, Wyatt Devine-Molly Brophy, 27:08

30. Duluth East, Gaven Greshowak-Kate Schiller, 27:20

31. Ely, Dylan Durkin-Isabella Macho, 27:20

32. Grand Rapids, Bennet Williams-Gavin Johnson, 27:29

33. Ely, Eli Olson-Alison Poppler, 27:35

34. Brainerd, Taite Knapp-Sophia Porter, 27:48

35. Ely, Milo Mcclelland-Rena Johnston, 27:54

36. Marshall, Lizzie Van Hees-Stella Lozano, 27:57

37. Ely, Tory Hughley-Anna Larson, 28:07

38. CEC, Ellynor Barta-Ian Berube, 28:15

39. Ely, Aksel Skustad-Aila Harding, 28:20

40. Ely, Tyde Brecke-Mattie Lindsay, 28:20

41. Two Harbors, Erik Gischia-Steinar Anderson, 28:21

42. Mesabi East, River Galloway-Adrian Rausch, 28:29

43. Brainerd, Triston Kubitsa-Amelia Rademacher, 28:32

44. Mora, Torsten Stenberg-Tirzah Schultz, 28:32

45. Mora, Elin Olson-Dakota Harris, 28:33

46. Mora, Ada Halverson-Paul Kunkel, 28:36

47. Denfeld, Cadel Pohl-Bridger Oestreich, 28:38

48. Brainerd, Jonas Klicker-Sophia Lundy, 29:03

49. Cook County, M J Wharton-Ethan Fish, 29:25

50. Mora, Mnason Schultz-Clara Niskanen, 29:33

51. Mora, Jeremy Kunkel-Mia Olson, 29:45

52. CEC, Ellis Allen-Elsa Winbigler, 30:05

53. Proctor/Hermantown, Ferrah Lalone-Joel Knight, 30:18

54. Mora, Braden Mckinnon-Eleanor Carda, 30:50

55. Mora, Carina Unger-Aksel Olson, 31:23

56. Mesabi East, Kaden Aguilar-Mary Kate Seeber, 32:13

57. Cook County, Emma Crook-Aidan Selin, 33:04

58. Mesabi East, Sam Bartovich-Nora Stark, 33:31

59. Marshall, Brynn Mccourtney-Bianca Jukic, 33:34

60. Denfeld, Sara Mccormick-Autumn Larsen, 34:12

Awards List

Varsity

1. August Capps-Tuuli Rova, Duluth East, 23:08

2. Mark Goettel-Kenna Huot, Duluth East, 23:16

3. Silas Osborne-Annelise Baird, Brainerd, 23:31

Junior Varsity

1. Aidan Tingum-Ayden Chopskie, CEC, 17:23

2. Isaiah Langer-Keaton Gunderson, CEC, 17:23

3. Thomas Carlson-William Bauer, CEC, 17:24

Junior High

1. Laithen Allen-Henry Niskanen, Mora, 11:04

2. Alden Whittaker-Lucia Lozano, Marshall, 11:04

3. Olin Bujold-Gavin Christiansen, Grand Rapids, 11:30