Deep Freeze, Lake-Effect Snow, and Skiing under a Beautiful Blue Sky

The cold weather continued into this past Tuesday with the day starting out with bright sunshine! After double-digits below zero the previous night, the temperature had climbed up to a balmy (note the sarcasm) -6 degrees by the time I drove into Houghton for the MTEC SmartZone Board of Directors meeting just before the noon hour.

The temperature would stay below zero throughout the day and would drop down to -8 degrees when I would drive in to Hancock for the Hancock Trails Club board meeting.

Overnight the lake-effect snow would start up again and we would start the next day with at least another five inches of snow. The roads were snow-packed, and we had the misfortune of getting behind a snowplow, a semi-truck, and a bus heading to MTU for our swim which cut into our time. As a result, I was only able to put in a 2,300 yard swim.

Since we had not groomed since before the frigid temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, there was plenty of snow to be groomed on the Chassell Classic Ski Trail. I contacted Jim Tervo and determined a strategy which would involve dragging the trails with the 5-foot Ginzu behind the John Deere Gator with the knives up with the Polaris following with the 3-foot Ginzu with the knives up and setting tracks. One twist would involve the Gator going down the big hill by Misslitz Field and then circling the old ice rink and then going back up the hill. This turned out to be a good strategy as the snow was both deep and soft. Steve Spahn would join me at 11:00 a.m. to drive the Gator. It was also a big help to have his strength available to help with getting the Polaris out of the grooming shed as the thin coating of ice on the floor made it a challenge to pull out the 3-foot Ginzu.

You can get a feel for how the snow is piling up in the woods by how high it is accumulating along the trail, recognizing that we are already on top of a decent base.

Later in the afternoon the lake-effect snow would kick-in yet again with big flakes.

That evening Julie and I would get out in the marginal road conditions to attend the Lions Club meeting at the Chassell Township Schools where we saw informative presentations by administrators, teachers, and students.

Snow would continue to fall overnight, and we would find ourselves with another five inches of snow on Thursday morning. Talking to Jim Tervo, we would follow the same grooming strategy as the day before. Steve would join me to help with the grooming effort. As we were starting out, I would make the mistake of not taking a longer run at the big hill going up to Misslitz Field and would bury the Polaris. After un-hitching the Ginzu and digging it out, I would run it up the hill and then come back via the Heritage Center and Hancock Street. Unfortunately, upon my return I would get too close to the edge going around the Ginzu and roll sideways into the soft snow. After Steve and I dug out snow and horsed the Polaris back into a level posture, I was able to drive it out and back it into the Ginzu to be re-hitched. With Steve on the back of the Polaris, I was able to race it up the hill and at the sharp turn at the top I nearly rolled it with both of us falling off and onto the snow.

For the most part, our grooming effort went rather smoothly from there.

At 5:30 p.m. I would attend a Chassell Recreation Committee meeting at the Fire Hall with Brian Waters and Steve Spahn and Dave Mattson calling in where we would discuss the steps we will be taking to engage the state’s Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy agency after the township closes on the land swap to acquire a piece of property that will position us to discuss permitting required to develop the land as a marina site in accordance with our Centennial Park preliminary engineering study.

Friday morning Julie and I would get over MTU to swim and I would get in my planned 2,500 yard swim. It would turn out to be a beautiful day as the sky would clear into a brilliant blue color. I would take Julie to the Portage Lake District Library where she would be doing a reading of her children’s book “The Adventures of Hairy the Hare and the Yooperlites”. After dropping her off, I would take in this awesome view of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge which connects Houghton to Hancock.

I would then head over to the Tomasi Trailhead in Hancock to ski at Maasto Hiihto and Churning Rapids. The blue sky and freshly fallen lake-effect snow made for some incredible images throughout the ski.

I would get in a 6.6-mile ski ahead of getting back over to Houghton to pick Julie up.

You can see my GoPro video from the ski at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

That evening we went to the Orpheum in Hancock for a benefit concert put on by the Qurantunes which is a musical group made up of a number of our running friends. We only stayed for the first set but they were very entertaining, and the evening was a nice opportunity to see quite a number of our friends.

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