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ABR Trails (Winter Wonderland Video)

Molly and I are snowed in ... spending an extra day in the Ironwood, Michigan area at the Black River Crossing Bed and Breakfast (fantastic place) ... which gave me the opportunity to create a video from yesterday's ski at ABR Trails.

2012 American Birkebeiner Photographs (GoPro)

I skied yesterday's Birkie Classic (54 kilometers / 33 miles). I wore my GoPro camera and took timed photographs every 5 seconds while wearing a chest mount. I did not keep the camera turned on for the entire race (storage limitations), but did get some nice sections:

• Moment of Start
• Classic / Skate Split
• Birke Warriors and Inge
• Bi.ch Hill
• My Wipeout on the Last Downhill

In total you will find 55 pictures (edited down from 554). My apologies for some snow smudges in later photos. I fell twice during the race, and some powder got on the lens. I was too tired to notice!

Unfortunately my camera ran out of file storage space 500 meters short of the finish. Bummer!

• Picasa Album
• Slideshow (full screen view)

This post is the first fron Nordic Ski Week which starts with the Birkie and ends with the Wabos Loppet (a 25 kilometer ski in the Lake Superior northern Ontario wilderness which starts with a one hour train ride to the small lumber village of Wabos).

Selected images including Garmin data: click upon to maximize

   
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Nordic Skiing Through America's Northern Forests

Nordic Ski Week!!!

On Saturday, Molly and I will start a week's vacation with the American Birkebeiner (a 54 kilometer race with 9,000+ other skiers through the Wisconsin woods). After a day's recovery from the Birkie we will slowly work our way across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan stopping to ski ABR Trails and the Porcupine Mountains on the shores of Lake Superior (see photos from a Summer solo hike through the Porkies).

We will end Nordic Ski week with the Wabos Loppet which is an Ontario wilderness ski through the forests north of Lake Superior near Lake Superior's eastern end. Here is how Stokely Creek Lodge defines the Wabos Loppet:

"The Wabos Loppet takes place in March and begins with a scenic hour-long train ride from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to the lumbering village of Wabos. At Wabos, skiers begin an uninterrupted 27 KM (16 mile) cross country course that leads through the woods, over two lakes and several beaver ponds to Sheppard Lake, where tea and oranges are served. The rest of the course is on groomed cross country trails leading to Norm's cabin at the edge of Bone Lake. There skiers will enjoy refreshments of tea and cookies. The last part of the trip takes participants to Stokely Creek Lodge for a festive celebratory barbecue."

I promise plenty of updates to this specific blog post with Garmin data and photographs utilizing my GoPro SkiCam, and my Canon 30sxi. Experience Nordic Ski Week through America's Northern Forests via the Northstar Nerd!

Nordic Ski Week Photographs and Garmin Data
(will be updated as Nordic Ski Week progresses) 

• American Birkebeiner Photos and Garmin Data
• ABR Winter Wonderland Video (Upper Peninsula of Michigan)
• Wabos Loppet Musical Slideshow (Stokely Lodge, Ontario)

And one more Nordic Skiing post from a few weeks earlier. It's not part of Nordic Ski Week, but how many of you can imagine skiing across the frozen ice of Lake Superior at night!

• Skiing Through the Boreal Darkness!

Max, the Skiing Accordionist!

Two of my passions in life are cross-country skiing, and playing the accordion. However, never in my wildest dreams did I think of combining the two skills! Perhaps this Saturday while skiing "up" Bitch Hill at the American Birkebeiner, I will need to imitate Max!

Regardless ... Max is way cool!

Skiing Through the Boreal Darkness!

Book Across the Bay! Fantastic is the only word which one may use to describe a night time ski on the frozen ice of Lake Superior (10 kilometer race). Every 10 meters your trail is lit by a luminaria, followed by bonfires at each 1 kilometer point. Welcome to life in the Northland! Last night, along with 2,500 other people, I skied across the largest freshwater lake in the world!

It's hard to document the experience, but here are a few photos. The photos from out on the courseare from my GoPro digital camera. This camera is "not" really up to the task of night time photography. The other five photos were taken at the finish with my Canon. If you would like to get a flavor for the entire experience, watch this video developed by the race organizers.

And a few moments at the finish!