Cross Country Skiing - Blog Posts

Some gems over the past few days 💙❄️

Grand Mesa National Forest

Snodgrass Mountain

February 20, 2017 (Almost a year ago)

Crested Butte, Colorado

Chad and Kat were visiting us out from Northern Virginia for President’s Day Weekend 2017. We first went to Monarch for them to ski (and I on the Continental Divide trail to snowshoe...another day for that post). So Crested Butte it was, as they had come for the downhill skiing experience of the Western Slope. Glade and I were excommunicated from our family (Nathan) and our friends (Chad and Kat) re: we don’t downhill ski. In the winter wonderland of Crested Butte, however, there is no shortage of nordic sporta dventures to partake in. With an intense need to fill the time with my own exercise, Glade and I headed to Snodgrass Mountain. Snodgrass Mountain is a great trail in multiple seasons. It’s so simple to get to-and I’m directionally challenged. After you pass the ski resort on your right, you’ll see a horse-staging area on your left. Shortly after this is the Snodgrass Mountain Trailhead. This is the about hte last point on the road before it becomes a dirt road. 

I’ve only had the pleasure of doing it once in the winter and another time in the early Spring (mid June. June 17, 2016, actually. So most would consider that summer. Seasons are different in the mountains, lol). It’s a wonderful trail for snowshoeing and cross country skiing alike. The trail is lined with aspen so I’ve heard about the wonders of the hike during the fall (let’s also revisit what this means in the mountains. “Fall”= September 15-September 25. So...again, this is off base from what one generally thinks of Fall). The leaves are changing and what not. Okay and let me get back to the Spring. The wildflowers are pretty insane up on that mountain as well. But if you’re wanting the best wildflowers? Your best bet would be to go some time between late July and mid August. Not that in June there aren’t still flowers. But it’s not the ridiculous show that Crested Butte most certainly will have in store with you if you’re patient enough to wait until the next season (3 weeks tops?). This trail also serves as a mountain biking trail, so just keep that in mind when hiking (off leash most likely--it’s the Western Slope, it’s what we do!) with your furry friends. 

Schwarzwaldpokal!

Finally, as someone who used to watch a lot of it, I've been to a ski jumping event in person! And it wasn't just jumping, it was nordic combined, which sees a jump followed by cross-country skiing; the same people, doing both. It happened today at Schonach, in the Black Forest, next to Triberg and all those cuckoo clocks.

The hill was built in October 1924, and is therefore celebrating its 100th anniversary, hence the big "100" on the knoll. Much younger is the concept of the Womens' Nordic Combined World Cup - it only exists since 2020! Ski jumping has been the final frontier for women in winter sport, so it was great to see men and women compete.

The longest jump of the day was 102 m, twice, for Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber and Austria's Thomas Rettenegger. In the womens' contest, Germany's Maria Gerboth took the lead with 95 m.

The competitions follow the Gundersen format, in which the jump comes first, and the gaps in points after that equate to time handicaps at the start of the cross-country race. Above left are the time penalties for some in the womens' race, and right, the start, with the top three starting almost together, while the others must wait. The race is effectively a pursuit, with the athlete crossing the line first being the winner.

In the end, Norway were unbeatable today. Despite starting with a 25-second handicap, Ida Marie Hagen took the lead of the womens' 4 km race in the middle of the first lap and didn't look back, celebrating her upcoming win in the final corner (left picture)! Nathalie Armbruster got the host nation's only podium of the day, ahead of the Kasai twins from Japan.

The mens' race was longer, at 10 km, and required more effort management. On the final lap, Jarl Magnus Riiber lost his long-held lead to Jens Luras Oftebro (right picture), who would defeat Austria's Johannes Lamparter in the final sprint to the finish.

All in all, a great day. Fresh in the morning, especially with the hill in shade, which also made photos more difficult, nice in the sunshine in the afternoon, the races were easy to follow (it was surprising how much of the cross-country course we could see), the atmosphere was really pleasant, and I wasn't going it alone for a change!