The Utah trip was awesome. The weather was amazing. The Tuesday night trip to SLC to pick up Jonell and her parents was a little dicey but reminded me of the years we lived in Essex and that would be normal, and no troubles, so all good.

Uncle Tj and tanta Val and nephews Grant and Garrett along with Jonell's parents out to support. Nice for Jake to have the family.

Jake's best race was in the 15km skate where he placed 22nd and top 20 American. There were a few Canadian kids racing I never got the run down on but the competition was the best of the year and a solid week. The courses featured long big climbs and fast descents with a few technical sections. Spring conditions for the most part which meant good hard freeze at night setting up the evening groom and slowly softening as the day went on. The final sprint races got a bit sloppy in the afternoon but everyone was in the same boat and there was tons of man made snow so not worth making a deal about.


Cranking it on the classic. Just being at JR Nationals is a huge accomplishment and we were all proud of Jake and his results. Check out the full coverage on skinnyski.

Near the end of the week, the snowpack outside of the groomed course started to set up nicely for crust cruising. It was a great way to get around the course and see the action. Soldier Hollow was a great venue for spectating. Mid morning the sun would soften the surface making for some very fun skiing. I don't think I saw another person doing this. When I talked to some people about it they said they had race skis and didn't want to risk scratching their skis. Cars are meant to be driven, bikes meant to be ridden and skis meant to be skied on. Just ski.

Bruce is good friends with the Mattie Watts (female Lotvola Cup winner) family and they were staying just up the road from us with some friends of theirs. They told the Watts there was some good backcountry skiing off of a snowmobile trail. We didn't get a chance to check it out until the afternoon before we went home. It took a little exploring but we finally found the trailhead and skied on the snowmobile trail. It was pretty incredible skiing as the trail was bombi groomed with a powertiller and a corduroy finish. I check out snowmobile grooming setups whenever I can and have never seen a snowmobile trail groomed with a powertiller. It doesn't compact like the sled drags but wow, the finish. I wanted to go back up there Sat morning but was cooked from skiing three different times the day before.

There was quite a bit more snow up there with the snowpack 2-4 feet more than 1000' below.
Thursday was a off day from racing so we all went downhill skiing at Park City. I hadn't downhill skied since I went to school in Norway back in 1988-89. The spring of 89 I went up to Trysil, and learned how to tele ski and all lift service skiing since then was with a free heel. I didn't bring the tele gear out so I rented Alpine and having new equipment, I have to say it was a blast. It also made it easier to keep up with Jon, who having not skied alpine in two years, ripped apart the mountain, double blacks and all.


Getting ready to drop in. It was the first time Jon and I have skied together. We didn't look at any maps. We just went were the skis took us and skied most every run. Not stopping much, keeping good flow.

After Friday morning races, went back to PC for some more lift service. Jonell and Val skied together and I went with Uncle TJ, Jon and G2. Didn't rent this time but used the skate skis for some old school tele. It is a bit tricky but with softening snow some good fun.

Good times in the evening.



The cookies at this coffee shop barely the size of the ones at Maplelag. Can't imagine charging even a $1 per cookie.
Big thanks to my mom and dad, the staff and friends who covered and watched Jack and Jens.

Weekend serving up a full plate of kids activities. Ran into a lot of different people this weekend and it was to complicated to explain our schedule and who was going where and when. Jon had Regions in St Cloud. Super exciting game Friday night vs Thief River Falls. Came back from being down 3-0 to tie and go ahead 4-3 with minutes left in the game. At 9 seconds left, TRF ties it up and we go in to OT. After the first OT, no score. After the second OT, no score. In the third OT, TRF scores and advances.Tough loss but like I told Jon, remember how bitter it felt to lose and next time you might be in a situation like that go deeper and do what you can to prevent it happening again. Play Alexandria again on Saturday but some wind out of the sails, loss and season over.


Jens had his final games of the weekend at Breezy point. Jonell running back and forth from St Cloud (thanks to Uncle Ryan and Tanta Mollie for letting us invade their pad) and I was able to catch late game Saturday. It's good having Jens in Mites to remember those days as they go by extremely quick. The enthusiasm of Mite parents is great. Just wait though til Bantams though, you will be sleeping in the car in the parking lot arena at 11pm waiting for your kid in a few years!! All good.

Thursday Jake went out to Utah with the Midwest JR National team for Jr Olympic Nationals which starts off Monday the 5th with sprint racin. Skiing with some good company above.
I flew out Sunday morning and hooked up with Bruce Adelsman and he is spending the week with us. Checking in for media.

Checking out the course and trails Sunday afternoon. Great open vistas and incredible springlike weather. Skiing in the mountains during the springtime is the best time of year to be in the mountains. Thanks to those back home covering so we can come out. Looking forward to a fun week!

Big time snow this past week leading to an awesome winter weekend. Over a foot of snow during 7 days keeping the grooming machines busy.


Jens has been helping out big time, running one of the sleds by himself and always good to double on up on the skate trails.

Saturday we had the Lotvola Cup. Jack and Jens skied along with nephew Grant. They all did the full 12km and super proud of just finishing. Jack with 1km to go.
Jens heading down to twin lakes trail.
Jens and Grant at the start.
Maplelag teamer Denny Barry.

Kris and Kyia Anderson up for the weekend to ski and bike. Always fun having them around and Kris turned up the powder nicely on Sunday, giving tele lessons on Sunday.

Tony Schmitz and Canadian friend Neil Goodridge down to twin lakes. One of the better years conditions wise. February at Maplelag has been pretty much as good as it gets for skiing.


Neil and family waxing up for Saturday. Jonell and her mom doing flowers as part of setting up/decorating for a friend's daughters wedding in town. BUSY Jonell.



Sunday we held our first ever winter bike race. It was snowing good to start and continued on all through the day, dropping about 7". The weather turned away most of the riders but we still sent off the fat tired bikes for some winter riding fun. Carlos was the second lead behind Jake, Jens and I on the snowmobile. I had no idea what to expect with the snow but those guys were flying. Steve Wenzel moved to the front after coming off the lake and never looked back. Could of done two laps, but like I say, didn't know what to expect. From the original planned course, the course changed four times and didn't know how it would go until race morning.
Fun winter riding on the lake. Check out skinnyski for photos, results from the weekend and more bike photos on the Maplelag facebook.
Sunday afternoon spent grooming and Jens back in action, making at least 6 laps (said he lost count) on Skaters Waltz. It is in his blood.
Concordia College president Bill Craft. Next to Steve and Tony, only folk to venture out on the day. He has the enthusiasm and interest of a kid and totally getting in to skiing. Makes me feel good about where I went to college!

Big thanks to Uncle TJ for helping out Jake who got stranded on the interstate Saturday while heading to state gymnastics to watch Jess. Put in new alternator and got the wheels moving again. Big congrats to Jess on state championship crown in vault and runner up in all around.

Jon was up in Roseau over the weekend for VFW. Roseau is the only arena I have never skated in growing up. Just too much stuff going on to go up and bummer to miss that tourney. The VFW tourney is pretty much the old section 8 before hockey went to two classes in high school. After loosing the first game to East Grand Forks, they beat Fergus Falls and than Bemidji for consolation championship.
Regions this weekend for Jon and his team. Nice article in the local paper.

Incredible past week. Jake's second place finish at the State Nordic Ski Championships at Giants Ridge didn't really sink in until a few days later. On paper, I knew he was capable of finishing in second having beat everyone in the state except for defending state champion Ben Saxton. Some people were surprised by that but if you look at the 2010 results, Jake was 8th in the skate as a sophomore second to only Ben Saxton by 7 seconds! Going in to state, is always an unknown as the top skiers only ski against each other a few times in high school and the JO racing involves longer distances of 10 and 15 km where as state is two 5km races.

The way things were going in to the week, I just had a feeling it was going to go well. It was emotional looking back the past 17 years of skiing (photos below) starting when Jake first learned how to ski the years we lived Essex, MT., while working at the Izaak Walton Inn, until, what has been labeled this year as a "non" winter, skiing pretty much daily since November 18th.

Jake was fortunate to have skiable snow in his backyard since November 17th and use that to his advantage. There were days it was sketchy, but the workouts got done with hard work, smart training and focus on the little details. Jake started a weight training class the second semester which turned out to probably be the biggest advantage. Most skiers back off on the strength training during the season. Even though you are fit from training and racing, you lose strength, especially the core muscles and can affect late season racing. The program at school was good and he learned what worked well blending in to racing during the month of January.

The skate race started out the day and being in the middle of the top 10, I would know how things were going early on. I was at the first major hill, about 1.25km in. When he came up and over, he was looking good and I knew he was on with the time checks against other skiers good. At that point Saxton only had 8 seconds on him but Ben would eventually catch up to Jake to put on the 30 but Jake stuck with him until the end, only losing two additional seconds after the initial 30. The effort, which probably pushed Ben as well and those two put time on the field to lock in first and second. Second place after the skate made for excellent position going in to the classical pursuit. The Detroit Lakes coach, Dan Josephson waxed Jake's skis and had them dialed in not only for max speed on skate but perfect kick for the classic and lightning speed descending. Jake was caught early on by Ryan Davis and Jan Ketterson but totally expected that would happen. He let those two skiers do the pacemaking, eventually conceding some seconds near the top but it was the downhill he made his move, using the fast skis to catch both the skiers and put 7 seconds on third and gaining 30 seconds on Saxton from 3km to the finish. It really didn't sink it for all of us initially as Jake approached the event as just another race which is what you have to do to avoid the nerves getting the best of you. Being at the finish line was amazing seeing him across second.

Cranking it in the skate race. Bruce Adelsman/skinnyski.com photo.

Friday found Jon and his Bantam A team in Brainerd for district tournament play. It was a successful weekend as the team advanced to the final by beating Alexandria in the semifinals and a berth to regions. The played the top 10 ranked Moorhead team in the final and just couldn't match their depth and skill level. We lost a couple players to injury along they way but they played the best they could with all their heart. Nothing to hang the heads about with the trip to regions cashed. Possibly the first Bantam A team from DL to do it in a very very long time.

Facing off vs MHD. Jon played with five of the players during the summer and was pumped to play them in the final. I couldn't stand the spuds playing vs them in hs but I have to say they are one of the more classier teams we have faced this year. I am good friends with some of the parents and communicate weekly on hockey related matters. Would not be surprised if they finished top four in the state this year.

In the double ot game with Alex, Jon scored the winning goal. After what happened on Thursday, it was unbelievable. Jon wasn't able to make it to state as he stayed back to practice with the team on Thursday but texted Jake before the classic pursuit telling him to fight for every inch. After the game I asked Jon what he was thinking when he rushed down the ice and he said he was not going to let the defenceman beat him, fighting for every inch to get around him and get the one on one vs the netminder.

State champ Ben Saxton talking to Bruce Adelsman of skinnyski.com post race, giving props for the great work Bruce does.
Jake and Ben post race. Jake is hoping to do well the first races at JO's to be on the same relay team with Ben.
Family and friends showing support. Great memories.
DL coaches Nikki, Jim, and Dan helping take care of the details. Dan totally nailed the wax. Jake said he had the fastest skis on the day. Pretty sweet when you can catch people on the downhills just because you have faster skis.
Super proud parents.
Starting the on snow season, November 18th, 2011. Like every year, Suicide hill up on through the skinny field was the first areas to have skiable snow. I went through photos on my current laptop, which has photos dating back to 2006, reflecting back on the years of skiing. There have been hundreds of photos taken and below are just a handful that highlight just a little bit of the amazing journey.
Easter 2006, April 8th. All the snow was gone, the dirt jump track was rideable but we still had a small strip of snow I had built up with the Pisten Bully leading to a gap jump.


Hitting the gap jump. Mom and Grandma watching in the background.
April 27th, 2008. We had more snow in April of 2008 than the five snow months before, combined! Whenever there was snow, we were skiing no matter the time of year. Three feet of snow made for soft conditions making the driveway good for hard and fast skiing!
Getting ready to hit the trails at Bohart Ranch. West Yellowstone ski trip, Fall 2010.
Jibbing at Mt Maplelag.
Back-country crust cruising with the jibs.


Hill repeats on Suicide October 30th, 2010. Funny how people get picky when the snow gets good but I always say any day there is at least an inch of snow on the ground is a great day to ski. Might just have to make adjustments with skis or wax. The skiing is only bad unless there is no snow at all. Times up Suicide over the years easily in to the 100's.

Riding out to Suicide. I had a great discussion with Pat Lanin the night before Sections this year. He is a supporter of mixing it up during the year and keen on mountain biking in the summer. Skiing has become so competitive in the cities, that the pressure to do well finds kids doing ski specific training year round, which I feel, can be detrimental to some kids, when the season ends.

Even when there is no snow, a hard frost can make for some adequate glide before the snow flies for real. October 13th, 2009.

Intervals on Twin lakes this past December. The skiing was better on Suicide but the hill more gradual on Twin lakes.







Nicely done Jake.

Haven't had many photos posted of Jack. Jack has had a lighter schedule this winter and is loving every minute. He gets out to skate now and then but his big thing for keeping active in the winter is the kicksled.
He's made the mile long trek down the driveway and back a few times and commutes to the lodge with it. When Jonell and I lived in Norway, not having a vehicle, it was a good way to get around. Everyone in Norway had one at the time and somehow we brought one home on the plane when we came back. Conditions on the driveway this year have been perfect for kicksledding. Steering a kick sled is a lot like telemark skiing.

I've had this photo hanging in Picasa, waiting to be posted. This is Punkin. He was at Maplelag a month ago for a day conference.He was my bus driver to head start in White Earth. The goat ranch road back in the 70's was barely passable at times but he always delivered us safe and sound.
Skiing this afternoon on North Loup was almost surreal. No wind, 30 degrees, sunshine and super fun, snappy tracks. Jake and I first skied North Loup this season on Thanksgiving day. At the time of day today, it would of been dark on Thanksgiving. Really, the conditions this winter have been like sweet spot spring skiing. Usually we are lucky to have 5-10 days like this but the whole winter has been Springish.
Big end of week to the weekend with state meet, district hockey and Presidents weekend at the resort!