These skis are barely capable of locomotion when they are on my feet, so how could they leave my loyal RCS’s helplessly bound in the basement and make their way upstairs?  Usually when I am perplexed (i.e. most of the time) I go to my lovely wife Rebecca, for answers.  She just gave me the look she saves for times when I am being an imbecile, (i.e. most of the time).

Then I realized: I am in denial.  I might as well campaign for Ron Paul because I just could not face reality.  But it all came flooding back: the endless rollerskiing, the canoeing in December,  the ridiculous buds on my Magnolia…and sliding across the grassy slopes of Odana on nearly one whole inch of snow.  But that was a good day.  Marginal skiing is much better than not skiing in the same way that Blatz is better than no beer at all if you are truly thirsty.

So drag out your oldest, roughest skis.  Don’t bother to put wax on them, it won’t matter.  go ski on whatever we get.  And give your rock skis the admiration they deserve for sacrificing their bases to extend our season.

Rob getting out with the kids on some real snow at ABR in Ironwood, Michigan.

Good snow, decent tracks and a good, young crowd to share the trail with make for a great day out as the Co-President cruises the green trails at ABR.

The lack of winter has put the damper on many a Mad NorSki’s plans.  After three great early snowfall seasons, this year’s beginning has a caravan of  MadNorSkis travelling north to find snow.  Even Ironwood Michigan has had lower than “normal” amounts of snow, with less than great conditions. These conditions have finally changed in the last few days with a foot of snow in the UP.  Reports across the world show a snow drought; Minnesota, Maine, Sweden, and Russia all with too much brown and not enough of the white.  Club member Nicole Bathe is out in Rumsford Maine at Junior National Championships waiting for the rain to cease so the races can be held on artificial snow.  The Juniors are hoping to travel to Iola and Rhinelander for the first races of the season this weekend. Around Madison there has been enough ice to mess up rollersking- we just can’t seem to catch a break.

The board continues to meet to negotiate an agreement with the City of Madison to make and groom snow- details will follow as agreements are worked out. This is still at the planning stage and start-up looks to be in 2013.  If successful, it will provide an opportunity for the club to fill in the present gaps in city grooming and allow the club to make a difference. Current grooming levels of service by the city would be maintained.  Insurance requirements and costs will be a factor as well as the need to acquire equipment and recruit & train volunteers to groom trails.  At this time, even what locations to groom have not yet been determined. If you’d like to be part of this initiative, contact Brock Woods of the trails committee or any other board member.

Clothing order: Last report from Dick Steinle our clothing project manager was that the design proofs had been approved and delivery was anticipated in late January.  Future orders should be able to have a quicker turnaround as we will have our designs on file with Mount Borah.

Ned Zuelsdorf, Director of the Birkenbiner,  will be the featured speaker at the January meeting.  He should have some updates as to the race preparations as well as the purchase of land for a new trail-head just south of Cable, WI, off highway 63 and Leonard School Road. The Birkie Board has decided to continue use of the Cable Airport for the start of the Birkie ski races as long as possible.

Ever the optimist, John Dee’s long-range forecast shows snow in the forecast for next week, so get out there, do your snowdance, stop by the club meeting to commiserate with your tribe and soon we’ll be on snow!  Best of the New Year to you from the MadNorSki board.  Rob

Reg Bruskewitz

Muddy middle section of Door Creek Park's return trail (at cut-off from the upper trail).

I recently visited Door Creek Park to check the trails, so here are more precise directions: Drive to the east end of Milwaukee Street, turn right (south) on Wind Stone, then left on Littlemore to the main parking lot. Or you can park on top of the drumlin by the middle of the high striding trail by going east on Cottage Grove Rd. past the Interstate and a four-way stop, then left on Amnicon, and right on High Cliff to park on the street where it joins Bluff Point.

I walked the two existing trails and they are completely in. However, a quarter of the new high trail (the newest section) is covered with a rope mat to prevent erosion and we must have a good foot of snow before any grooming will be done there to ensure that the mat does not get disturbed. Grass has barely begun to grow through the mat. There is also a section about half way to the end (by High Cliff and Bluff Pt.) that has no grass on it yet; it’s all mud. Hopefully, the soil will freeze hard and allow grooming, but be careful on these sections if you ski there this winter.

Again, from the parking lot, ski over or along the black-topped bike trail to the bottom of the drumlin where the ski trail heads up the hill ahead of you. Or simply ski across the flats in front of you past the conical spill pile, cross the little feeder creek if it is frozen and/or covered with lots of snow, and head up the hill to the right. The trails are all marked with brown ski signs indicating the correct direction to ski. (Consider checking the park out before the snow so you see what I’m talking about!)

New classic-only trail at Door Creek Park with its protective rope mat.

As alluded to above, there may be no grooming this year, but if there is, both trails will likely be classic only since that is what the high trail is, the only trail going southwest to the other end of the park. The return trail will be both skate and classic next year after the freestyle loop is put in next summer, but at present there is no way for skaters to get to its start unless they were to blaze a temporary trail over the soccer and corn fields. Those fields offer room to play on skis (as they do at Elver), and could be used for this, but once snow gets deep most skaters will want to stay on packed trails. (We’ll ask Parks to consider packing such a temporary skate trail for just this year!)

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions about skiing this new park, contact me or anyone else in the Trails Committee. We also hope to have a Parks representative at one of the club meetings to answer questions.

Brock Woods, Trails Committee

The Kidski program looks filled to capacity (50) and needs volunteer instructors to commit to Sunday afternoons at Blackhawk Ski Club. The Middle School program has over twenty skiers registered and everyone is looking forward to the coming race season. The High School team has twenty-seven skiers registered and with a few late joiners should meet the programs goal of thirty high school skiers. They do have a lot of fun and their potlucks are the best!

Greg Jones is still looking for race committee members and has a new major sponsor for the Elver Park race series. T-shirts have been ordered so be sure to check them out and talk to Greg if you can help out. Jane Schmieding is coordinating adaptive ski volunteers for adaptive skiing in the area, so let her know if you can help.

Future agenda items on the club list include: Fundraising to support research for Multiple Sclerosis. There is also momentum to raise money for grooming equipment and find volunteer groomers- the club may be working with the city to provide trail grooming. It is one way to make sure we continue to have groomed trails to ski on. Talk is in the air of having a club ski day at various venues. We hope to post on the club website and Facebook page so that members are in the loop and included in the “where to go”. Door Creek, Governor Nelson and Nordic trails are possible gatherings. points. January 21 is the date for the McCarthy Park festival so put that on your calendars. McCarthy park has the potential to be a great East Side venue as it is larger than Elver and has an active “Friends” group committed to cross-country skiing. The Mad Nor Ski board recently authorized some funds to help provide rolling of the trails.

Be sure to put Winterfest on your calendars, February 18th & 19th, the club has always had a great presence at this marquee event. It is awesome to ski around the capitol at night! The board continues to look for a event/publicity chair, so speak up and tell a board member if you want to join up. All we need now is some snow! Keep your skis pointed downhill! Rob & Bill

As many of you who are on the Nordic list-serve “xc@lists.danenet.org” may remember from this summer, Madison Parks took action to re-visit an unworkable agreement with adjacent landowners that had stymied building the west, classic-only trail for several years. The result of this effort, as well as adequate funding, is that this beautiful, wooded, winding trail has finally been built. The central trail had been brushed out a couple years ago.

Unfortunately, the east trail for skaters cannot be completed until the city gets new culverts in place to cross Door Creek. Funds for installing these next summer are in the city’s budget (to be voted on mid-November).

This season the two current trails only will be groomed for striding when enough snow permits equipment to move safely over the new trail beds, which may be somewhat erratic. But that shouldn’t stop us from skiing them anytime!

So, if you are in the mood for a little adventure this winter, drive to the east end of Milwaukee St. and find the new north end parking lot off of Littlemore Drive. To find the trails, ski south across the adjacent field. Cross the small feeder creek over the large road culvert, or with adequate snow, just ski over it. The classic route to the south winds up the hill into the woods to the right. There should be small signs at both that trail head and the center return trail so you know where they are, but feel free to explore in the park wherever you dare!

Brock Woods

There is no extra fee for registering a team, but all the skiers on a team must be entered as season skiers.

Additionally, we are looking for people with interest in helping out with the ski races at Elver this year.  We will have our one and only meeting of the year for planning this Tuesday night. Come join us at the meeting, if you can’t come to that you can still sign up to help us.  Respond to me (Greg) at 7771jones@gmail.com

For those of you looking for casual wear, we are ordering general club T-shirts for the first time in memory. It’s a great way to let everyone know you’re a Madison Nordic Skier! The high-quality synthetic shirts will be available for $25 at club meetings in limited quantities. Wear it as a base layer or on its own. Perfect for roller skiing or waxing! Bring your checkbook to the January meeting or to Elver Race nights. 

The board has been busy preparing for the start of the season. Swagmeister “Gym” Stevens has nine vendors committed to show up for the first Club meeting November 14th. Social begins at 6:30PM Meeting around 7:45PM We’ll have Bike Doc, Yuriy/CXC, Dale Niggemann/Catski, Erehwon, Gear West, Rutabga, Fontana, MadNorSki logo clothing/Dick Steinle, and Brent Wesolek, Performance Enhancement Specialist-Mercy Acceleration.

Greg Jones has some exciting news about the Elver Park Race series to share- along with the good news he has found a major sponsor of the race series. Greg (along with our own designer Ben Neff) has also been working on some T-shirts for both the club and race series participants.

Dick Steinle has been organizing a MadNorSKi clothing order (yes the famous “clown suit” ) and will need to place the club’s order by mid November in order to get it in by the January meeting in time for the race season! Its been a couple of years since the last order so hopefully we’ll hit all the minimums. (Bring your checkbook as custom orders require cash in advance).

Vice-President Tom Woody has been hard at work setting up the annual MadNorSki – resale which is is scheduled for Sunday, November 13, 2011 at the Shorewood Community Center, 901 Swarthmore Ct. We can also use some volunteer help during the swap. Come for an hour or two (or whatever you can do). We need help taking in items as well as selling and fitting equipment. If you can help us out or have any questions, please contact Tom Woody at 608-628-8204 or skiswap@madnorski.org

Change has taken place on the board. Chris Lawn has graciously agreed to fill the youth programs chair recently vacated by Louise Jones. Yes, this ensures continued strong linkage with Blackhawk, and yes, Chris and Sarah do a fantastic job with the Kidski program, but probably more importantly this will save the board from a dangerous drop in our youth and attractiveness quotients. I could not imagine a better candidate for this post and we are very fortunate to have him on our board. If you are interested in serving on the board or getting involved in any aspect of club activities, please talk to Bill or Rob or shoot an email to president@madnorski.org.

Bill and I will be beginning the fourth year of our two-year term. We stand behind our record of not messing stuff up too badly and having fun. This year promises to be a good year to enjoy the growth of the club’s outreach and of its programs. Already this fall we’ve had a trail day at Elver Park, instructors clinic at Blackhawk and a masters ski training clinic with Murray Banks.
The High School team has already seen snow at one of their practices!

One task that the MadNorSki board undertakes at the end of the season is to balance the budget and look for ways to support Cross Country Skiing. (dues cover meeting expense, insurance, groomers clinics). The philanthropy is funded by fundraising, racing and the income from the ski swap, and, prior club savings). At the end of last year (March 2010) we allocated money to buy eighteen sets of skis, poles and boots to replace the decrepit equipment at Elver Park. It is hard to teach lessons to newbies when the skis won’t slide down a hill. They showed up last December 2011 and made a noticeable difference for all those trying cross-country skiing.

Last December at the start of the ski season, we were able to leverage a donation from the club to get some matching funds which along with some timely fundraising to help purchase a new Ginzu Groomer for Governor Nelson State Park. It showed up as a Great New Year’s Eve present for area skiers. Brock and the trails committee later ran a “groomers clinic” at the park.

At the March 2011 Board meeting, the board voted to authorize $2000.00 of club funds to be coupled with $3000.00 in fundraising from Wisconsin Nordic Network to create a $5000.00 matching grant that with a financial match from the City of Middleton would fund the purchase of a new snowmobile to be used for grooming at Pleasant View Golf course. (the present snowmobile is eleven years old and wearing out).

So, this season check out the trails at these two venues with the thought that your club has helped provide the equipment to keep these trails groomed. Take someone new skiing, volunteer at kidski or with the free club lessons, enjoy talking about skiing at a club meeting. Bill and I are looking forward to the best season yet!

We’ve had a great winter with above average snowfall again (reminder this administration delivers-3rd year in a row)! Hopefully, you’ve had ample opportunity to enjoy the area trails and chances to ski with friends.

Greg Jones will be giving out the Elver Park Race Series awards. This is a new set of awards and has generated a new focus for participants at the races. Always popular, the races also provide a nice revenue stream to the club as well as great publicity and a chance duel with your buddies.

The Klister Klub will also be spending some time at the podium to honor new inductees. (see blog article). This is a rare opportunity to acknowledge some of the extraordinary efforts of club members have accomplished. It is one way for the club to say thank-you.
So plan what to bring for the potluck, show up ready to wrap-up the season with some good cheer and fellowship. Visitors have remarked on the quality and quantity of the feast. Perhaps we’ll even have enough snow to ski around Lake Farm trails in the increasing sunlight.