Ketchum: NordicTown USA

Over the last few months, Ed and I have enjoyed many cross-country skiing adventures around Ketchum, Idaho. With over 250 kilometers of ski trails around the Wood River Valley, it’s truly a cross-country mecca. 

We’ve been practicing both types of cross country skiing – skate skiing and classic skiing.

Jan Joins the Vamps

To improve my skills–or lack thereof–in skate skiing, I signed up for an eight-week coaching program in skate-skiing with a group of women called the Vamps, coached by Erin Zell, the proprietor of Galena Lodge. 

Although our group was labeled “intermediate”, I soon learned that this word means different things in different locations. In any sporting activity in Ketchum, “intermediate” means “quite experienced, super fit, and willing to tackle elevation changes with aplomb.”  (We had noticed this fitness level during our gravel biking last summer.) Needless to say, in my group of eight skiers, I was the least fit, especially at the beginning when I had just arrived at 5980 ft elevation from San Francisco. But, I aimed for “most improved”, as I had a long way to go.

We learned various skate skiing techniques – V1, V2, and V2 Alternate. We met at the Lake Creek trailhead, and skied on the same trails that are used for Olympic Qualifying races! (More about that later.) It is quite an aerobic workout! In fact, some commentators have labeled skate skiing as “the toughest outdoor sport in the world, it requires a unique combination of strength, speed, and endurance.” So, I probably deserve a bit of slack here!

Over the season, the temperature ranged from 10 degrees (love the hand warmers) to 50 degrees (pile on the sunscreen). The snow changed according to the temperature, which made the skiing even more challenging!  

Sydney Attacks The Trails

The Wood River Valley offers two beautiful sets of trails–-over 200 kilometers groomed by the Blaine County Recreation District (BCRD) and 40 kilometers groomed by the Sun Valley Resort. Further north there are additional trails at Alturas Lake and Stanley.

When Ed and I ski together, we usually opt for classic skiing – a slightly easier and less demanding style. And, we select trails where dogs are allowed. Sydney is a willing participant in these activities. She pursues a distinctive style of skiing–“the roll”–which we expect will be added shortly to the roster of standard skate-skiing techniques.

The Resort trails offer incredible views of Bald Mountain. 

Olympic Trials

In January, we volunteered at the Sun Valley Nordic International Invitational ski race, held at the same location where Jan practiced her skate skiing (!). Our job, which started at 7 am, was to pass out the numbered bibs to the various race teams.

Each racer was assigned a timing device.

We were excited to see 450 of the best Nordic skiers in the US compete, including Rosie Brennan who won the 5K women’s race. After completing this race, we noticed she wasn’t at all out of breath–unlike Jan’s experience on this course. A couple of weeks later, Rosie came in sixth in the 30K race at the Beijing Olympics. On the downhills, the elite racers reached thirty miles per hour coming into a sharp turn.

More Winter Sports

Ketchum also offers other snow sports, including downhill skiing and snowshoeing. One of the highlights of this winter was our visit from our son Ben and his family. Our granddaughter tried snowshoeing for the first time and loved it!

She also enjoyed walking around the snow in the stroller with her “Nana Jan.”

During Ellie’s time with us, another visitor arrived to enjoy the frozen chokecherries on the tree just in front of our house.

For the first sixty days of 2022, Ketchum has been beautiful, following a plentiful snow dump at the end of last year. The temperature remained below freezing so the snow in town was clean and fluffy; however, there has been almost no new snowfall in the past couple of months. March has brought a succession of very warm days and our snow cover is disappearing rapidly, at least a month before the ski season typically ends.

Winter has almost come to an end, and soon we’ll need to store our skis and snowshoes. But, we look forward to next winter when we can play in the snow again.