Nordic Week in Sun Valley --Part 1

Over the past several years I’ve been lucky enough to visit some of the iconic XC ski races and destinations in North America. It’s not easy to pick a favorite, but high on my list has to be the week of the Boulder Mountain Tour in Sun Valley, Idaho. There are too many good things to say about Sun Valley in the winter time: an abundance of blue sky, world class trails and grooming, natural beauty--you get the idea.

Until the 2019 season I’d only made brief stops through Sun Valley for the BMT, which quickly became a favorite race, but never fully got a sense of what the place had to offer—it didn’t help that during my first visit in 2017 I drove into the Wood River Valley along with a massive blizzard, never to see much farther than 20 meters in front of my face all weekend. This year however, I decided I would use the week to get acclimatized, and have a solid week of training at altitude just a couple of weeks prior to the Berkie.

I left Portland on Sunday the 27^th of January, which ended up being an unusually pleasant day. Not only did I get to stop by our local annual classic race, the Teacup Classic, and defend my 15k title from 2018, but was treated to a bluebird day in the upper 40’s to low 50’s. One of those freak days on Mt. Hood when a warm wind blows in from the East. My friend and colleague Karl Anderson decided to skip racing that day to be wax tech for his athletes in the Teacup race program, and upon arrival he pointed me toward a pretty simple combination of Vauhti Universal klister and a touch of Vauhti Red klister. 

(Coach Karl at the Teacup Classic)

During my warm up I could tell the tracks would break down quickly as the temperature continued to rise and the sun climbed higher in the sky, so I opted for closer to a 50/50 split between Universal and Red klister. This ended up being a wise choice, as I was happy to have a little extra kick for the last 5k of the race. The skis were a tad grabby at first, but you can’t have it all.

Post-race I hit the road for a solid 9-hour drive to Sun Valley. And the next morning I was treated to one of those days for which that valley is named. It wasn’t easy to reign in the energy. Keeping in mind that the day before I’d done a pretty sizable 15k effort, and was now sleeping above five thousand feet, I thought a 90 minute easy ski would be a good way to ease into the week. And I only went fifteen minutes over, which considering the epic conditions was fairly prudent, I thought. My friend and host Justin Manville showed me some beautiful trails in Hailey practically out his backdoor.

(Hailey, ID)

Tuesday I decided to take complete advantage of the circumstances. Blessed with another day of plentiful sun, temps in the low-20’s and rising, I drove up to the Prairie Creek trailhead on the iconic Harriman Trail. The Harriman Trail begins at Galena Lodge and heads back toward Ketchum for about 30k, parallel to Rte 75 and the Big Wood River. Wide enough for two people to skate side-by-side, with breathtaking views, and stimulating terrain changes, the Harriman lives up to the hype. From Prairie Creek I skied 10k of gradual climbing toward Galena Lodge, where I met up with the Galena trail system, skied another 30k there, and bombed back down to the car for a total of 50 of the most memorable kilometers I’ve ever skied.

Wednesday was my planned full-rest day. Several cups of coffee, a book, sweat pants—ideal. In the afternoon I swung by Ketchum’s legendary thrift shop, the Gold Mine, and got myself a decent $8 hockey stick. The town of Hailey maintains a zambonied outdoor public hockey rink, and being native New Englanders, Justin and I tested each other’s skating and puck handling skills for an hour or two. Of course, with races on the horizon, I skated at half speed, but still managed to crank a few wrist shots into the top of the net.