Birkie Report

Start line at the Birkie. Photo by DonC

Nine wonderful trip reports today, and a Backcountry report with meteors!  Thanks, everyone for the prose, poetry, and photos.

It’s been quite a few years since I participated in the Canadian Birkebeiner near Edmonton but I remember how much fun it was(and the utter chaos at Ukrainian Village trying to get ready for the start).

A total of 1,136 skiers signed up for the eight competitive cross-country ski races today, including 131 participants for the flagship 55-km race while carrying a 12-pound pack.

I saw the names of some SkierBob readers in the results including DonC who sent the photos and this report…

“I drove up to the Birkenbeiner Festival this weekend and skied the 55 km course with pack.   It was -8 C at the start and sunny skies most of the day.   The groomed tracks were perfect and VR40 worked like a dream all day.   A very well organized event with fantastic volunteers all along the way.   I would encourage more Calgary skiers to mark this one on their calendar for next year.”

Fond memories of the Birkie

The Ribbon Creek snowcat and tracksetting team of Jeff and Alex are instrumental in creating the perfectly groomed tracks. They’ll be back on the Ribbon Creek trails next week. 

I was looking at my results from the six times I participated in the Birkie and am wondering how I was ever able to ski so fast. In 2005 I squeeked out a silver medal in the 31K. There were 84 skiers in my age group. I remember a bunch of us in the basement of the hotel applying klister the night before the race. 

On the event schedule for next weekend is the Nordic Yoho Challenge. 

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The West Bragg Creek groomers sent this update at 7 pm: “The gift that keeps on giving! Big Pow today in WBC. The groomers have been hard at work getting on top of things with roller packing underway and new track setting shortly.”

Shaganappi golf course grooming

Lake Louise received 5 cm of snow last night. Tracksetting today included Moraine Lake road and the Great Divide. 

Shaganappi golf course is being groomed this evening under the light of a full moon. 

Has anyone been out to Sandy McNabb lately? I’m surprised that we haven’t seen any grooming there since Jan 3.