By: Katie Writer – KTNA
As the days are getting longer by 5 minutes and 34 seconds per day, Denali Junior Nordic Ski Program enjoyed the solid snow pack on Wednesday, held at the Talkeetna Lakes Park.
Over 45 participants, including family members and friends, teamed up and set out to fill their punch cards in a unique ski orienteering course.
Coach Aubrey Smith explains,
“Today all the kids have maps with also a punch card. They are going to go around the course on the Talkeetna Lakes Trails with flags and punches..”
The ages range from 5-13 years old, though younger siblings account for a good number of participants. While older kids hone their striding and speed on skis, many younger siblings learn first by watching and trying out their own skis.
This sure helps parents who likely could run into more tears and frustration from teaching their toddlers to ski. Before they know it, those kids will be zipping around.
Michelle Crow says that 3 years ago, starting Junior Nordic gave both she and her family an opportunity to learn how to nordic ski.
“[Junior Nordic] is something we look forward to every week…When Porter started, we were both kind of new to Nordic skiing, so just learning how to get the gear on and get out and not fall down…Kalan is four, and he’s over there on his own skis, now.”
The focus of Junior Nordic is learning the basic skills of nordic skiing. Kids play games that you wouldn’t think would be combined with skiing…which makes the after school practice filled with laughter.
Aubrey is a former elite US Development Ski Team Nordic Racer and has brought her enthusiasm for the sport to Talkeetna. The flags for the orienteering course came from a $1000 grant.
The kids put miles on their skis tracking down the flags and discovering some challenging conditions along the way. Ice skates could have been used for some of the lake sections of the course.
By the end of practice, all participants returned to the parking lot and had smiles on their faces after a very fun afternoon of skiing.
While many ski programs in the lower valley do not have a sufficient snow pack to ski, Talkeetna has surprisingly good conditions despite a long dry spell.
The 2016 Oosik Classic ski race is scheduled for March 19th, which is Spring Equinox.
For KTNA, I’m Katie Writer.
