Lack of snow leads to changes

WASILLA — No snow? No problem.

Despite brutal, windy weather conditions that have swept the Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley clean of any usable snow pack, local high school cross country skiers are still out and about, thanks to ample snow pack in Hatcher Pass north of Palmer.

“We’re going to have practice this afternoon,” Wasilla assistant coach Ed Strabel said Monday.

Strabel said local high school teams even got a race in over the past weekend, with Colony, Palmer and Wasilla each holding informal time trials in the pass.

“It was a good way to give our kids some experience,” Strabel said.

The pass is the only area in the Valley that still has usable trails, though Strabel did note that the trails at Colony still have some cover from earlier this season, and only need a couple inches of fresh snow to be ski-able again.

“We got the snow packed in time,” he said.

Recent warm, windy weather has wreaked havoc on cross country trails across Southcentral. On Monday, officials at Dimond High announced that the Lynx Loppet, the largest regular season ski meet of the year, had been canceled.

All four Mat-Su high school programs — Colony, Palmer, Wasilla and Susitna Valley — were scheduled to head to Anchorage, but Strabel said a contingency plan is already in place.

“We’ll go with a race on Friday and Saturday at Hatcher’s if it’s canceled,” he said Monday, before hearing the official word from Dimond.

Strabel said the plan is to hold a modified pursuit race at Hatcher Pass, with skate skiing on Friday and a classic race Saturday. The race may also include middle school skiers as well as members of the Valdez program, who have also been invited. However, Strabel said Valdez has been luckier than most of Southcentral and still has snow to ski on.

Races are set to begin at noon Friday with a 5.5-kilometer freestyle girls race, followed by a 5.5K boys race at 1:30 p.m.

Saturday’s 4.4-kilometer classic races will begin with the boys’ race at 10 a.m., followed by the girls at 11 a.m.

Strabel said Valley skiers are actually pretty fortunate compared to their counterparts in Anchorage, who are pretty much out of luck — while Mat-Su skiers still have the benefit of plenty of snow at Hatcher Pass.

“That’s usually the way it goes,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

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