Another beautiful snowy weekend. Sunday night seeing another 5-6" of light fluffy snow. School already 2 hours late for Monday morning. They haven't plowed from Goat Ranch road to Richwood. They have plowed it maybe 3 times this winter. Saving money I guess. Hard to believe President's weekend is up next. Busy week on tap grooming out all this snow. We have logged some big time k's on the grooming equipment the past 7 days. All good. Ted J stepping up to the plate nicely and really helping me out.

Kris and Kyia Anderson coming up for the weekend for a full slate of skiing. Hooked up with them Saturday afternoon for Kyia's skate workout. Awesome ski. Always fun having them around. With skiing and mountain bike interests, plenty of good conversation and always lots of laughs and smiles. Top notch people.





The "Finnish Loggers".


Between Sections on Wed at Camp Ripley to Jon's final game in Fergus Falls tournament today, lots of travel time for Jonell and I. Jon had last home game on Thurs with Wadena, game in Moorhead Friday night which they played great but lost 2-3. Then went 2-1 in FF tourney Sat and Sun for third place. Jonell commuted to the games from here and I joined for Sunday's game after knocking out Sunday's morning groom than Ted J punched in for the afternoon groom. Team is playing very nice and look forward to districts in a few weeks. State ski meet on Thursday. We are all pumped. Hoping to update from the Ridge.

Another great day for Sectional racing. In the past 10 years or so of watching races at Camp Ripley, I would have to say the course was in the best shape yesterday for racing I have ever seen it. The night before the groomers had powertilled the little bit of fresh snow from the days before into the crusty base. Overnight the track and skate deck set up bomb proof. I skied on the lap before the races with Jake and Dylan and knew it was going to be super fast. A recreational skier might think it was icy due to the hardness and speeds but for racing it was ideal, in my opinion.



Jake was in the third group out in the classic race with four skiers in front of him. His main rival, Matt Lee, starting as Bemidji's second skier at 2:30 back. Jake caught the four skiers in front of him by the second long hill and was looking great. At the first check point, he had 12 seconds or so on Matt Lee. Once out in front, Jake had to dictate the pace with no skiers in front of him to catch. At the second check point, Matt Lee had gained back the lost time and actually had put some time on Jake. The last stretch, Jake closed down the gap, gaining back some time and ended up posting the second fastest time behind Matt who won by four seconds.
In the pursuit, Jake caught up to Matt early on and stayed with Matt until the first big hill. Jake put in an acceleration and quickly put 4-5 seconds on Matt. Matt hung tough though and stayed with Jake the rest of the race with Jake putting a few more seconds on by the finish to win the skate and pursuit by 8 seconds. Exciting race! Great job Matt and Jake.
I have watched Cody Gustafson from Deer River since he was in 7th grade. Sr this year. He didn't make it to state but he always tried his hardest and put in a solid effort. Nicely done Cody.
We went back up to the top of the big hill to watch the girls race. Jake cheering on Molly Johnson with the megaphone. The Brazilians working at Maplelag this year were using the phone proper and plan on bringing it to state if rules allow! Fellow DL lakers Ramstad-Skoyles siblings making it to state as well.

Summer Ellefson dominated the girls race to take the win.

At the high point at Ripley, there is a nice long gradual hill that is perfect for ripping some turns. The runs that were not recently groomed but had an inch or two of fresh on top of the solid base was perfect for carving it up.

Fellow Maplelag/Paramount mtb team member Denny Barry checking on the racing action on the day.
Brainerd's bison hat.
Jake had a great support crew cheering him on. All very proud. Jens the lucky duck got to miss school and cheer his bro on.
Made it back in time for Jen's in-house game. Jon has his last home game tonight against Wadena and then final district game with Moorhead tomorrow that will determine their seeding for districts. Season is winding down. One thing about the DL arena, if you are a travel weary parent and have been all across the state over the weekend and find yourself in arena and not sure where you are at, all you have to do is look across the ice!

February ranks #2 next to March in best months of the year. Today is about as good as it gets for February.

Grooming the fresh on skaters in the morning.


Skied with Jonell on North Loup early afternoon.
Skied with Jake on Skaters with a dusting of superfluff after school.
Then shoveled the rink and skated with Jon and Jens. The only thing missing was Jack. He was at a friends house and most likely coming up with a exit strategy for Afghanistan. And I probably couldn't share that information with you.
Bjorn Adelsman was at Ripley today for Section racing action and passed along a trail photo. Sounds like new snow on top of a crusty base that wasn't groomed. Going to be a great day tomorrow! Laddies Loppet added to MTB National Calendar.

Wow, what an incredible weekend of skiing. Snow is still hanging nicely on the trees, temps in the single digits after morning lows in negative middle teens, sunshine and light winds. Doesn't get much better. Oh, the full moon, guess it did!!

Looking down Roy's Run Sunday afternoon during ski with Jake.



Saturday we had a full plate of hockey games with Jon having game, Jens a jamboree in Park Rapids and varsity game at home with big section match with Sartell Jon, Jake and I watched. But 11pm Saturday night the whole family got out for some incredible moonlight skiing. Pictures don't even come close to capturing the conditions in the woods. The forest was just glowing with the moonlight bouncing off the snow covered trees. Simply just awesome.

Jake's friend Ethan came out after his game to lycra up and strap on the skinny skis for the first time ever.


Its a good idea to stetch before you ski!

Fun times!

Happy trails!

Winter is moving on by. Kids are at full tilt. Having fun and working hard and Mom and Dad trying to keep up. In service day on Monday had kids at home plus a friend. With blizzardlike conditions outside, all activities canceled. A welcomed day of staying at home. Adventurous weather last weekend kept us on our toes but turned out to be quite the event, leaving the woods solid white and like nothing I have seen before on the Maplelag trails.


Last Friday the dreaded winter rain started to fall. Changed to sleet and a quarter inch had accumulated. I busted home from the lodge cuz I knew it would be fast and wanted to see if Jake was up for a quick ski. We went out for a quick lap on Skaters (turned over to rain) but the conditions were crazy fast. Not icy but the sleet and rain made things quick. Total control with good edging and made more exciting with no head lamps. Figured with the wind at our backs on some of the long downhills we had to be pushing 30mph. Way faster than anything I have done on a bike on the same trail.


Turned out to be a nice snow event with 10" or so falling between Saturday morning and Monday. The rain did a number though on the branches and everything is drooping in the woods right now. There are sections of trail that are not passable without getting knocked in the face/windshield and getting completely covered with snow. I can't ever recall grooming in conditions like this. I doubt the trails will be like they were earlier in the year as far as clearance but the woods are a total wonderland and all worth it. TJ has been clearing nicely and things are slowly improving. Be careful on the downhills!
The sugar base absorbed the rain nicely and once it cooled down, set up rock solid and able to support the Pisten Bully. Always nice to take the PB out when conditions are such. Still prefer to snowmobile groom but when conditions warrant, the PB gets the job done nicely.
Huge congrats to Garrot Kuzzy who was named to the Olympic team yesterday. Kuzzy has never ski raced at Maplelag but did show up for the Maplelag Spring Opener in 2007. From the times I have talked to Garrot, kid just loves to ski, works his tail off and has a great positive attitude. Pretty much the formula. Great to see another MN get the nod for Nordic. I did and interview with Kuzzy back in the Fall of 07. I think the only time I skied race against Garrot was during the Pole Pedal Pant when it used to be held at Giants Ridge. It was the year they had the entire course on the ski trails. Ski on Silver, biking on snowmobile trails and bronze maybe and the running on gold. I remember it well because the conditions were perfect in my book and only time I took the win. Garrott, Grant Nelson and I broke free from the pack on the 10k skate. Having done it in the past, I knew it took too much time to completely switch to bike shoes so I left the ski boots on and ran toe clips. Ski boots are stiff and work nicely anyways and was able to get tight enough to keep things secure. I don't think I ran much before the event but enough to hold the guys charging hard behind me. Good times at the PPP. Every year was different. Could be hard and icy, wet and soft and bunch of fresh snow like one year we camped out and woke up to a collapsed tent!

Jonell playing shiny with the boys and putting the stone on Jens!

Big week coming up with Sections!! The most exciting time of year for HS Nordic skiing! Good luck to everyone!

Tuesday Jake had a race at Spidahl Gard (farm) which is north of Fergus Falls and a little south and east of Pelican Rapids. With things pretty quiet at the lodge during the week, Jonell and I made the short trek take in the action and watch Jake have a nice battle with Matt Lee of Bemidji once again. The drive there is awesome. Rolling terrain with lakes, open fields broken up by clumps of bush(woods) and pretty impressive elevation change from some of the lakes to the high points. Makes you want to take the jibskates out and rip around. Would be awesome crust cruising here in the Spring. Fergus Falls artist and designer of the Maplelag poster, Charlie Beck captures the beauty of this area nicely. Having lived in southern Norway for a year and a half with the half being with Jonell and Jake, the area around Spidhals reminds us where we lived near Hamar.



At the highpoint of Spidahls you can see nicely over the valleys and take in the racing action.

All the times I have been at Spidhahls, it has been sunny adding to the feel of being above treeline like in the Galdhøpiggen area. I know its not the same without the mountains in the background but that's what it reminds me of. Look at that slope though, calling for some turn burnin'!
On the way back we stopped in Pelican Rapids. Small town with some good eats, split by the mighty Pelican River that flows north! Very nice little Mexican store with all good stuff from Mexico. Very clean. No gravel roads I guess like in Sayulita to make things dusty.
Cactus in west central MN middle of January!! Nice!
You know I haven't been out much lately when we get excited about shopping in a Mexican store in a small town but you don't have to go far to have a good adventure I guess and the company was top notch.
River was running good.

Love the pelicano next to the rapids. Brilliant. Fun day. Thanks Jonell.
Yesterday in between running errands in town, I made a quick trip out to the new Mountain View rec area just east of DL. Beautiful day for a ski. The DL ski team is training here and it is really nice. You can see some of the terrain in the picture and hopefully can help develop some of the mountain bike singletrack out here. Right next to the ol' Detroit Mountain. Could have a very fun race linking all these trails together....
The Maplelag/Paramount mountain bike team has added the Oftedahl bros to the team. Very excited about that. Top notch riders and people. Looking forward to a great year with the addition of Eric Thompson.
Huge congrats to Wynn Roberts and making the 2010 Olympic Biathlon team. Wynn raced many times on the Maplelag trails during hs and Lotvola Cup. Fun guy, and a great story coming out of the small town of Battle Lake. He has spent many hours training at Spidahls.
Wynn and Leif Nodgren at West Yellowstone plateau November 08when Bruce and I were skiing back down the road and ran into them.

Saturday I went up to Biwabik for the Mesabi East Invite. It is one of the greatest single day sporting events I have witnessed. Ranks right there with the old single class (now two class of course) opening day of state hockey tourney, the Roseau/Warroad hockey battles, state Nordic ski meet, afternoon short track mtb racing at Maplelag during Laddies Loppet and any day in the Squirt International hockey tourney in Fargo. 1200 skiers from mostly MN racing among four races, Varsity,JR Varsity Boy and Girls skate and classic. Tons of energy, kids skiing their heart outs and a positive environment.

Jake was racing skate again this year and had a goal of top 20. I knew he had a top 10 in him but either way it is a great day to measure yourself against the best in the Midwest with schools from Marquette, MI and ski mecca Hayward, WI. and all the top skiers getting a chance to race against each other for the first time.
I had the start list downloaded on the itouch so I could guage how he was doing against some other top dogs around him, mostly Sam Anderson from St Cloud Tech who Jake has raced against three times already and one of the strongest skaters in the state. When I was waiting for Jake to come, I saw this skier cranking it nicely way off in the distance and when I realized it was Jake....it was amazing. Just about 1km Jake was 2 seconds up on Sam which had things looking good but the hills were to come and a little concerned he maybe was going out to hard.
After he went by I went to the last hill to catch the action. Watched a good chunk of the field come by including Sam who was flying. If Jake was to be keeping pace, he would have to be exactly two minutes from the point on top of the hill where I hit the clock. When I saw the red suit through the woods less than two minutes, I knew he was having a solid race. Jake had some traffic to deal with on the last hill, catching skiers in front of him but it worked out fine and part of racing with 300 plus skiers. Clocked 11 seconds at the mark and that gap pretty much stuck as Jake ended up 5th among 200 skaters.


Sam Anderson unloading the preload!

It is always fun watcing the skiers and different techniques. Ely skiers always strong and rip apart the hill.


Eden Prairie skier Peter Schurke waving the flag nicely en route to a solid top 10 finish after 4 day training camp with his team at Maplelag. Nice job to the boys who took team honors!


Bumped into the mountain biker family Matt and Taylor Horner. Daughter Jordan racing first year for Burnsville
Steve Gromatka has been staying at Maplelag during his Holiday break, doing some lessons, wrapping 'ware etc. Rode over with us. Definitely kills the car time. Steve is a trip. Has blended nicely with the foreign staff. Steve has the right attitude of not taking things too serious and skiing for fun but trains and races hards and the results fall in to place.
After watching high school races and helping/coach other kids for over 10 years, having you son up there is pretty much awesome. Looking forward to the rest of the season!