Jeff Russell/Courtesy Photo
As February draws to a close, we can feel hints of March in the warm air, the days getting longer, and the crunch underfoot.
Winter, throughout the major winter months, has been fairly mild, if not generous. There haven’t been any big storms to bury us under feet of snow, rumbling through traffic and shutting down businesses for any reason other than a pandemic. The cool temperatures kept the snow in decent condition, with occasional small patches from passing small storms.
Deep frosts that seemed like relics of the past came and went without lingering. We got away with no January thaw to decimate the snowpack, as happened a few years ago. And while we didn’t really get started until the holidays were over, the season of Nordic winter fun was a season that created and continues to add great memories to the mental albums of ski seasons past.
One of those scrapbook-worthy memories includes creating a champion, as junior Sylvia Brower led the girls’ classic 5k mass start race from start to finish to become the overall champion. 2022 state of cross-country skiing in classic technique.
In a season that started with snow so light that a 15-20 minute walk through dry grass and mud was needed just to get on the snow and practice; a season that had the specter of a virus hanging in the air, waiting to knock skiers off their bindings and off the roster of active racers; a season when employees to do the work we all take for granted, like driving buses and maintaining trails, were hard to come by; during this season, with these challenges, our local skiers persevered.
Having a champion in the ranks does not place a ski team on the podium. All of the skiers on the Middle Park High School Cross-Country Team deserve recognition for working hard through a season of adversity, for all the reasons listed above and more. And although the teams did not find the scores to place Middle Park at the top of the boys’ or girls’ team standings, they took 3rd position in the league for boys and girls after a recalculation of the relay scores .
Additionally, when all of the men’s and women’s team scores are combined, first place is where we stand, showing a range of skill across all disciplines and genders.
Another race will wrap up the season as teams head to Steamboat for one last competition – a sprint race for the Tour De Northern Colorado series finale – on Saturday at the Steamboat Touring Center.
Runners will sprint over a 1.5 kilometer course and the top two winners will advance to the next round. Sprints are very exciting from a spectator perspective, as you can see more action and multiple finishes, as riders race against each other, advancing to the climax of a final.
As for our local weather, we unfortunately missed this last big storm, as major accumulations in the southwest, central, and northern mountains made us wonder where the depth was and why it wasn’t. not here. While the media announced great events in “the mountains”, these generalized predictions apparently did not apply to us.
Looking at the radar maps, we found ourselves in no-man’s land, with snow all around but never quite falling under the advancing white spots on the screen. Models showed a steady pattern of snow up and down the Front Range east of the Continental Divide and a large mass in the Southwest Mountains, but our county remained clear as the mass of We missed cold air coming down from higher latitudes for the northeast, and the humidity from the south favored the San Juans.
Don’t lose hope, though, as March is known to be one of the snowiest months in Colorado. Hope it is good!
