Week-long ski-a-thon concludes with Sisu celebration on Super Bowl Sunday
A Carbondale cross country skiing tradition dating back 32 years survived the pandemic years with some ingenuity born straight from the meaning of the Finnish word “sisu.”
The result is an extended version of Ski for Sisu’s former self, as the annual fundraising event now stretches over nine days, concluding with the on-snow celebration longtime Sisu-ers have grown to love over three decades.
Starting Feb. 3, skiers can begin racking up as many kilometers at the Mount Sopris Nordic Council’s Spring Gulch trail system west of Carbondale as they can, on as many days as they can, culminating with the Sisu ski day and community celebration on Feb. 11.
Event entry fees and pledges combine for the nonprofit Nordic Council’s biggest fundraiser of the year to support operations and trail maintenance at Spring Gulch.
“This is a critical piece of our overall funding, and we’re really trying to emphasize what it means for Spring Gulch to be operated by a nonprofit, and what it brings to the community — free, public skiing,” said Rachel Bachman Perkins, executive director of the organization.
While the funds raised at the event make up about a third of the Nordic Council’s annual operating budget, it’s an opportunity to engage with the community about the importance of supporting the Spring Gulch area through annual memberships and other giving opportunities.
That includes the organization’s $750,000 capital campaign for the ongoing implementation of a climate resiliency and capital improvements plan, which has brought several new higher-elevation trails and a new trailhead to the system over the past two years.
As for Sisu, it’s a Finnish concept of strength of will, determination and endurance. Little did organizers know heading into the winter of 2020-21 that an extension of that definition — “acting rationally in the face of adversity” — would come into play.
That first Ski for Sisu event, after COVID-19 public health precautions severely limited public gatherings, was all virtual, with skiers self-reporting their distance skied over the course of a week.
On hold was the traditional Super Bowl Sunday celebration, ski-a-thon and barbecue at the Thompson Trailhead.
A scaled-back celebration event returned in 2022 and again in 2023, but so many people liked the idea of being able to accumulate their kilometers over several days, that the lead-up week continued on as a new tradition, Perkins said.
“It is also a return to tradition of having that one day where people can get together and see everyone out on the trails,” she said
A silent auction that is held in conjunction with the event has also moved completely online, with bidding open all next week.
Longtime Nordic Council board member Elliot Norquist has fond memories of Ski for Sisus past, including a heated competition between a pair of Frenchmen one year who were vying to ski the most kilometers.
Norquist taught with legendary French kayaker and climber Roger Paris at Colorado Rocky Mountain School.
In the earlier days of Ski for Sisu, there was an age handicap called “kilometer years,” which combined the number of kilometers skied with a participant’s age.
One year, Paris and another legendary Frenchman, Jacques Houot, known locally as “Frenchy,” both in their late 70s at the time, showed up to try to win the coveted Ski for Sisu title of most kilometer years skied.
“They skied all day long to see who would claim the prize, and Roger was determined that he could not let another Frenchman beat him,” Norquist recalled. Paris ultimately prevailed, but not without a dual for the ages.
“Sisu is just such a great event, because it involves all those generations of people, and it just kind of bonds the community,” Norquist said.
Ski for Sisu registration is $30 for adults and $20 for children, and can be found online at www.springgulch.org Information about how to collect pledges can also be found there. Participants can either create their own personalized pledge page, or share the provided online giving tool with friends and family.
Starting Saturday, Feb. 3, set courses of 3.5K, 10K, 12.5K and 15K will be marked off at Spring Gulch to help skiers track their distances and make their daily reports online.
This Valley Journal archive photo caught Dave Powers taking a break from grooming to watch Jack ONeill test out the track at Sisu ’92.