A local ski pal just emailed me wondering if we should get more official and PR-like about our Backcountry Big Day outings. All the organized stuff is about racing, with its grooming and expense. It seems like it might be fun to put up another Front, a Fifth Column project, where we give a name and props to a string of Big Day outings or even just for the trail/route-systems themselves.
I see these as self-supported, no fee, no grooming events that get announced and folks show up who want in. Afterward everyone heads off to the bar — and/or we build a bonfire and have our own warm-up fun.
Here’s a possible line-up:
*the Potto Raid — 17 miles on the famous SE Michigan trail
*the Stinchfield Rally — 20km at the gloriously hilly SE Michigan forested area
*the Full Waterloo — 35 miles of hiking trail thru the lower peninsula’s biggest park
*the Mason Tract — 22 miles
*the High Country Pathway thru Shinglemill
*the Chandlers
*the Jordan River Pathway
*the North Country Trail along the Manistee
If we get a huge dump and need the assist maybe we could find a snowmobiler to do a pre-run of the course. But, ya know what? I don’t think there’s a blizzard that could stop 6 Big Skiers. So fergit the sled! We’d just take turns at the front. We could make 30 miles in a day in anything. OK, maybe bring a couple sets of Alaskan snowshoes, too, if it’s that deep and have the first 2 skiers wear em then pass em to the next person to take a half hour (say) pull. For the downhills you could strap the shoes to your pack and put the skis back on and glide!
Yeah, these events would be done on any-ole touring skis. Skiers would bring daypacks with snacks, water, map/compass/gps, some dry stuff.
I like to reflect on the Women’s Ski Tour explosion that happened on the VASA trail. This was the only non-race big ski event that I’ve heard about lately. The ladies paid like, what, $50 ea for a pre-party in TC and a post-party and then tents for food, drink, chocolate and such along the whole trail system. They had, what, 1000 women turn out. …When a race will only get 20 women. Man, I wanted in on that! I was out there skiing one day near the end of when it was happening. I missed the food. It’s too bad that the guys have to be segregated. Guys like food and partying, too. We know that a ski event doesn’t always have to be competitive. It’s just that I haven’t heard of any. There has to be an inclusive model there somewhere.
I think a sign of success would be if women and broke college kids show up to our SuperTour event. No entry fee, man! No fancy equipment needed, no crazy waxing. I’m all for racing, but I think the sport has to start from the roots with inclusive/accessible events. It needs to start as a ‘do it anywhere with yer pals’ type of thing. At least that level of sport needs to be out there, too, as a complement to the other modes.
Just think of the Canada Ski Marathon. It’s a huge, old tour. We could do our own version of that and go hog-wild and bring along hay-bales and have some/one of these events start on state land — then we encourage folks to camp out before and after, whatever. Spread the hay-bales on the ground for insulation. C’mon, people, we can’t let the Canucks have all the fun! Then we’d have bonfires and a cook-out. BYO.
What’s more, since these sorts of events are self-supported, folks could join in wherever along the route. They could do part of the trail. They could use the same Base Camp that we do. It’s a free-for-all.
Just like the attention to the VASA race gets attention for the VASA trail — that’s what we could do for a buncha other trail systems.
Like the HCP in the Pigeon River area is now an “Epic Trail” — that raises its profile nationwide for MTB.
Maybe to do this kind of PR we could focus on a string of planned Big Day outings over the season in both upper and lower Michigan.
The Potto isn’t known as a ski trail but the Potto Raid could be one event that helps raise the ski profile of the trail.
Then we could have a Stinchfield Rally.
If we get snow-lucky we could have a posse go for a Full Waterloo again on that 35-mile system.
Then there’s the Jordan River spring day ski — that would probably be the season-capper — that’s when they usually ski it, forsome reason. Probably coz it’s kinda extreme otherwise.
Maybe a Chandler Hills Big Day would be an idea?
Can you think of other Massively Majestic Trail areas that would love to be home to a Big Day of touring?
Here are a few I can think of: The Mason Tract, the Chandler Hills, the Big M, the NCP along the Manistee River.
The idea would be Events which aren’t races. Sure, on these routes there might be a string of big hills where, if it’s not too un-wise, some nuts might take off and push the pace then wait up at some rest-stop.
We’ve started calling these “stages” on the Potto Raid. The first stage there is Neutral — for socializing. Then after a stop we pick up the pace and have maybe 2 other stops at natural re-grouping areas. But as the day goes along for the Potto we have fewer skiers catching back up in a short time. It’s kinda neat. Like in the last 5 miles there is usually just 2-3 skiers but we still stop at an overlook and have a snack. No need to have the last hour be lonely.
However, on Bigger days — like the 10-hr Waterloo — the
pushes would be mellower and all skiers would regroup since probably only 6 might start. And tossing in hard jams in the middle of such a day would just mess things up and maybe result in bonks and people not finishing.
I’d think that a hilly day of 30 miles of trailbreaking and such would keep plenty of challenge yet purge the impulse to drop yer pals.
Anyway, some of the shorter events might turn frisky but the long ones would be group fun the whole way, I’d think. Like, the Stinchfield event would probably be a race from the start — it’s a 10-miler where everyone knows all the trails already — it’s not a tour-challenge — and it only takes 2 hrs. The Potto takes a more intense 3 hrs with some actual dangerous conditions so we have the 3 stops.
Anyway, it seems like there are some famous trails on the regular ski-buff line-up but which don’t have races associated with them. (Valley Spur? Dunes?) I think it would be neat to give some attention to less-known sweet spots or put a different kind of more intense attention on some faves.
Thinking of the Big M and the NCP along the Manistee River — how many ski events happen along the north-central-west side of the state these days? None that I know about. How many MILLION gorgeous park acres and trails are over there? Let’s start playing up the places that are overlooked, why not.
We could have a Big Day at the Corsair Trails. That used to be the oldest race in the state. Now there’s just the greatest classic-tracked system around over there. It deserves a party.
Don Kane is one of the two dudes (along with Big Ernie Brumbaugh) who started the Michigan Cup race series in about 1980 — when xc was last really hot. I believe that he thinks the scene has lost its way and has lost contact with the general public. He has long liked the idea of a big tour marathon between Grayling and Gaylord. I recall that he thought we could lay out a point-to-point 50km right there. Or maybe 50 *miles*?! It used to be that the VASA had 100 racers and 500 tourists. Now it’s, say, 200 racers, pretty much, and that’s it. He laments the loss of the touring side. (I hear the Mason Tract by Roscommon is a superfine place to ski.)
The whole shebang could be blog-based. We could even have a flex-schedule. If one weekend the Potto doesn’t look good but the Mason Tract does, just head thataway!
Maybe we could even get a sponsorship and have some kind of plaque or prize for finishing an event or a certain number of events. Yep, we’re all winners — if ya can ski 30 miles of boony trail, yer in! Or maybe we’d just be Closers, Finishers. It’s good to finish. It’s not a bell-curve. We go for all A’s around here.
Heck, we could even just have a check-off list of known glorious trails that folks could do in a season.
