Ski Report for Wed. Jan. 28 

By Mossy

Minus 12 degrees at Birch Hill today.  Lots of bright sun, blue skies, and white frosting

on the trees.  Gail, Cathy, and I (Mossy) skied the higher ups:  Relay, Tower, Blue Loop,

and then over to the Warm Up loop.  We noted the temperature was still minus 12 degrees

on top of Tower even though it was higher than the stadium.  But, at least we were warmed 

up internally by then.  We had a nice visit afterwards with two types of fresh home baked

goods that only had to be split between 3 people.  (Hee Hee)

I hope to be back next week.  Chris

Thanks to Cathy E. for the LOL SKI REPORT 

Jan. 21, 2015

I arrived early since I had to wax my skis for this cooler weather.  I got 4 layers of green on and headed upstairs.  12:50pm and no one around.  I changed into my ski clothes and then checked to see if anyone showed.  There was Sandy! She was wondering if she was in the right building and I assured her she was.  I didn't visit long with her because I was starting to overheat and wanted to get outside to cool down a little.

I skied Relay and stopped at the top of the Stadium and here comes Nan.  She reported that Peg B., Aurora and Betsy S. were upstairs w/ Sandy when she headed out.  We decided to ski the Relay thinking we would see the others soon.  We got back to the Stadium & chatted about what trails we wanted to ski, decided on White Bear and after a few more minutes decided the others would be skiing together so we headed down the Stadium to White Cub.  We had a fresh dusting of snow that made conditions very s-l-o-w...better to look around and take in the beautiful frost on the trees!

Nan & I decided that it was such a beautiful day that we should do the whole White Bear.  Skiing WB reminded me of an old fashioned Christmas card picture taken in a forest of gray trees lightly covered in white sparkly frost w/ a small dab of brightness from our ski jackets.  It made us so happy to see just how beautiful and quiet White Bear is AND to have it all to ourselves!  We had a lovely ski and were so happy just to be out enjoying the day and very thankful for the new slight covering of snow!

Meanwhile Peg, Aurora, Sandy and Betsy were enjoying the upper trails of Relay, Outhouse and Blue Loop and catching up on their winter adventures.

Note from Chris--we are slowly making our way north to colder weather.  Went to Vale and Breckenridge today. Got to wear a hat, jacket, and gloves.  Still not sure if we will be ready for the -40 we are seeing in the forecast for Fairbanks next week when we return.  Burr!  See you soon.  Chris

Looking forward to someone sending me a LOL ski report for this week so I can post it.  Come on ladies you know you had a good time skiing and would love to share it.  Email me a short note about Monday and Wednesday ski for this week.  Thanks so much, Chris

Monday Ski Fun by Peggy

Last night I arrived at Birch Hill at 5:45pm and there were only 4 cars there... None of them were LOL...
I checked the Big building... No one... I checked the little building, no one.... :-(
I had checked the temp just prior to leaving work and it read -9.4F so I figured at least Some of the LOL's would
be there?!  (it was Really Cold down here in town, like -25F or -19F depending where you were) I was not really too
enthusiastic to be out skiing in the cold, but when it read Above -16F, I felt obligated to go.  I asked a few strangers who drove up, if they were there for LOL
and they looked at me weirdly and just said no....  there were several folks who drove up ... all said No.... ???

I called Kim and she was on her way up, but she was not very enthusiastic either.... we were talking ourselves out of
it as she was driving up... I had not even has a chance to change yet and my skis needed to be waxed, as did hers...
As we were talking, Carol K and her husband Don drove up.  I asked Carol if she was there for LOL and she said Yes.

Kim showed up and so there were 3 of us... we all went to the little building and I went to change and when I came out
there was Karri !  So we all waxed our skis and talked about how maybe we didn't
really want to be there and how the -7F sign was lying and how it felt much colder... both Karri and Kim said their cars
showed it to be -13 and -19 respectively.....

Sooooooooo, grumble, laugh, sigh..... off the 3 of us went....  Carol K suggested we go UP Tower to get warm, so we did!
But somewhere before the final big downhill, I lost control of my right leg and wiped Carol K out of the tracks.... but she jumped back up and off we went again!
At the bottom of Tower, we turned and did Roller Coaster/ Medivac (Carol and Karri did Medivac and Kim and I did Roller Coaster)....  Next we did the two little tiny loops off the stadium (names??) and then did then went down the tiny hill that
leads to White Bear extension?  ..... we skied down that and went right...  which led back up to the stadium.

We were going to then do the Roller Coaster/Medivac again (switching places) but Carol K noticed her head lamp was gone??!  We decided it must be up where she fell, so we took off up Tower Direct then went backwards on Tower and found her head lamp, sitting in the middle of trail!  YEA!!! :-)   We continued down the wrong way on Tower and ended up
near Roller Coaster again, so we switched it up and did it!  :-)  

By then we were at 4.5 miles.... we decided to make it 5, so we did the two tiny loops off the stadium again and then went
down the tiny hill to that leads to the White Bear extension and somehow we ended up doing a loop that completed the WBE and brought us back up to the stadium! We got back to the warm up hut and it was 5.16 miles total!!
Plus we were ALL HAPPY we had stuck it out and skied!!! :-)


So there you have it in a Nut shell (emphasis on NUT!) ;-)

--Peggy :-)

WEDNESDAY SKI FUN
Nan, Diane O.,Cathy E. Carol K., Gail, Mossy, Betsy, Lynn and Kayiu classic skied.  Johnna
skated.

CONGRATS a to Carol K., for completing ALL the trails at Birch Hill January 2 ,2015😃

Remember it's usually warmer up in the hills.  Be sure to come up out of the cold and SKI.  LOL meet and ski to -15.

Put another layer on and have FUN.  Chris

WELCOME TO 2105

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Check back next week for the LOL Ski Happenings report.

Chris

Ski for Women 2015

Mark you calendars for the 2015 Ski for Women. 12:00 pm, Sunday, April 12 at Birch Hill Recreation Area. Like our Facebook page 13th Annual Ski for Women and check out the fun at previous Ski for Women events here:
 

Join Us

WHEN: Mondays 6:00 pm, Wednesdays 1:00 pm

WHERE: Birch Hill cross country ski center 

WHO: LOL is a women’s group of cross -country skiers.  The members are women with different nationalities, varying fitness levels, different careers and are between the ages of 19-76+.

WHAT: The LOL group encourages women to get more out of winter. We’re opposed to cursing the season, minimal activity, gaining weight, feeling sick and falling into the winter blues. The LOL celebrate winter with fun, fitness, and friendship. LOL allows women to lead a more active, healthy, and productive life.

The group skis at a relaxed pace, is non-competitive, and offers a supportive environment all while having a blast. Beginners as well as advanced skiers are most welcome.  Faster and stronger skiers are encouraged to double-pole or no-pole so they can ski with a group, still get a workout, and socialize.

WHY: The LOL philosophy is: Fun, Fitness, Friendship, and Food.  Knowing it can be hard to keep a balance of work, family and fitness, the LOL provides a constant during the long winter season.  It gives women  a vacation from their regular lives, and provides an opportunity  to enjoy the beauty and peace that comes from a combination of physical exercise, splendid surroundings and companionship.

The LOL encourages and supports women to push themselves a little beyond their individual expectations, try new things, ski new trails, improve their ski skills, and meet other women skiers.

A golden LOL rule is: No one skis alone.  Women don’t come to a group ski to ski alone.  This fosters social interaction and allows women to ski with others of similar abilities.  The group always starts together while deciding trails and ski groups.  The ski typically lasts 90 minutes.  After skiing, the group gets together for hot drinks, snacks, and gab.

There are 5 criteria for being in the LOL ski group:
1. You must be a current NSCF member. Register online at Nordic Ski Club.

2.  You must make a TRAIL USER Donation to NSCF. The Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks needs to raise $35,000 in funds to pay the costs of trail construction, year-round trail maintenance and GROOMING. Your donations make it possible to continue to provide the high quality trails we ski on. Trail donations are tax deductible (NSCF 501(c)(3) Tax ID # 92-0096061. (Membership dues are not tax deductible).

3. You must know how to stop on skis. (Don’t know how? Let one of us teach you: You know we’d love to).

4. You must show up and ski with the LOL group. If you don’t, the dreaded happens ….you get deleted from the email list. However, you only have to show up and ski to get back on.

5. You must ski with someone. One doesn’t show up at a group ski to ski alone.

The cut-off temperature for LOL cancelation  is -16 at Birch Hill, 2 hours prior to start. Check the Birch Hill Weather website.  It can be 15-20 degrees warmer up at Birch Hill.  Another weather station to check that reads close to Birch Hill temperature is Weather Underground. Or download the free  Birch Hill Temperature and trail conditions app from iTunes.

The NSC Trails link can keep you informed of which trails have been recently groomed.

WEEKLY LOL NOTE- I try to send out a weekly LOL SKI HAPPENINGS note. Sort of a, “ what happened” and “what is happening.”

Hope to see you Monday on the snow ready to go at 6pm.  Or Wednesday’s at 1:00.  Drop your bag upstairs by the tables first.  We meet at the top of the Stadium Hill approx.1:10 Wed. or  6:10, Mon.  You may or may not have time to ski around Relay Loop for a warm-up. Bring a mug and join us after the ski for hot drinks, gab and snack.

Feel free to email Chris with any concerns or questions at lolskibike@gmail.com