Mike Hanson, the snowcat maintenance supervisor at Mt. Baker Ski Area, has been setting and grooming the Ski to Sea cross-country and downhill courses since 2000. When the ski hill closes in mid-April, his season isn’t even close to over.
The snow is a little softer, a little more difficult to work with this time of year, but grooming after the chairlifts stop spinning for the season is definitely lower pressure and less time-consuming, Hanson said. On a powder day it could take five to eight hours early in the morning for the grooming team to get the mountain ready for operations, but grooming for the Ski to Sea only takes an hour and a half, give or take.
Hanson starts around 6 a.m. when the snow is still firm but soft enough to work with. He usually grooms twice a week in April and May and then daily in the week before the event, although this year he opted to scale that back to every other day because the snow sticks around longer the less it’s driven on.
Hanson has made some minor adjustments to the cross-country track and brought snow in from other spots on the mountain to cover up thin patches. One of his alterations might be appreciated by the several hundred skiers who have to navigate the hilly course. A steep downhill near the end of the race is frequently the scene of carnage as ruts develop in the soft snow and slightly out-of-control skiers crash in the run-out. But because maintaining a steep slope requires a lot of snow, Hanson rerouted the path onto a more gradual pitch. He’s already heard good feedback on the change from cross-country skiers who have gone up to Mount Baker to practice.
“I just drive in circles and try to make it look pretty and smooth so people can enjoy it,” Hanson said. “We’re just trying to put out the best course possible.”
It wasn’t certain until early May whether the Ski to Sea would even have skiing in 2024. Because of a low-snow winter, race organizers started weighing the possibility in February of replacing the cross-country and downhill ski legs with a trail run and mountain bike leg. While this year’s conditions brought a heightened sense of urgency, Ski to Sea board president Mark Lee said it also served as a reminder that with climate change, Whatcom County’s beloved multi-disciplinary event needs to have alternatives in place when ski legs aren’t possible in the future.
“We recognize the need to be able to make that pivot going forward,” Lee said.
The race directing team felt confident about its contingency plan, but the permitting and logistics details still need to be worked out to make the plan more plug-and-play in future years, he added.
Fortunately, thanks to some well-timed early spring storms and cooler temps as well as creative snow-moving by Hanson, the Sunday, May 26 event will include skiing.
“Mike is tremendously talented and cares very much, he works very hard,” Lee said. “We’re lucky to have the whole team up there. The Ski to Sea wouldn’t happen without their contributions and generosity.”
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
