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!

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!

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!

Lake Superior and Minnesota is known as "flyover land". However, it seems whenever my Danish relatives or English friends come here for the first time, they exclaim … Wow! This is much better than the Big Apple, Florida or Hollywood. While obviously this is personal choice, it you enjoy nature and the opportunity to appreciate the outdoors without hordes of other people … stop in Northern Minnesota!

Here are a few of my favorite blogs which will give you a taste of the Northland and Lake Superior (other than my own!).

Northland / Lake Superior Blogs:

• Mortimer on Lake Superior (Michipicoten, Ontario area)
• The Lake is the Boss (Minnesota Northshore and Wisconsin Southshore)
• Gary of the North’s Photosteam (Eastern Upper Peninsula)
• Universal Klister (outdoor enthusiast blog)

Thus, the next time you're flying from the East to the West Coast, and look down … this is flyover land!

Slide show: Gary of the North

Created with flickrSLiDR.

And a photo of my own: Fire and Ice at Sunset!

One of the advantages of living in Northern Minnesota is the ability to view the Northern Lights. I have the advantage of being able to easily get away from city lights, and Minnesota is nearer the magnetic north pole that the real north pole. You may wonder what your own chances are to view a beautiful display. Like all things it depends. However, there are ways to use the web to increase your chances, or at least understand what is your liklihood to see the Aurora Borealis.

The first tool you should familarize yourself with is Ovation Aurora from NOAA and Johns Hopkins University. The image given below shows that if it were not snowing tonight, I would have a pretty good chance around 11:00 p.m. (hint: when you hear there has been large sunspot activity, the liklihood of better Northern Lights displays increases). By using Ovation you can determine whether the displays are already large (and pushing south) in parts of the world where it is already night. Just imagine the world rotating, and pay attention to the red line and lines of latitude in the image given below (or on Ovation Aurora)

(click upon the image to view at full size … post continues below)

Here are some other web sites worthy of your review:

• Tips on Viewing the Auroroa (figure our your relation to magnetic north)
• How to Photograph the Northern Lights
• The Northern Lights as Viewed from Outer Space!

Some of my favorite experiences in life include viewing the Aurora Borealis. Here is just one example … Two Winters ago I saw a phenomenal display while driving from Marcell to Duluth, Minnesota at 4 am on a cold Winter's night. Although I was on a major US highway, I stopped the car and enjoyed the reds and greens as they danced across the sky. For ten minutes not another car came by. In the distance I could hear the water of a babbling brook. It was magic!

Here are a few photos from Wikipedia. Good luck!

(click upon the image to view full sized)