I did the 30km Hog Loppet this year with a couple of the Caley boys, and three or four hundred other friends. Doug and Chuck are old hands at this, having done the tour many times before, but it was all new to me. To make it easier to catch the 6:30am bus up to Mission Ridge, we rode up in Chuck's van Friday night after work and spent the evening in Wenatchee. (We found out later all the wild ones stay in Leavenworth, but hey, we just came over for the skiing so Wenatchee was fine - really.)
We were a little worried about snow conditions, but a couple of small storms during the week brought in enough new snow to cover up all the rocks and we had fine conditions. A little cold and windy at the 6800' summit, so we were bundled up for the first downhill, but it didn't take long before we were working pretty hard and shedding the extra layers.
I'd heard the first part of the trip is difficult so I brought my heavier backcountry skis and plastic boots - that was great for the first 45 minutes of downhill (like the part in the picture) but most of the tour is on fairly easy logging roads so I was about the slowest skier out there. Pretty much everybody on touring or skate skis passed me before the day was over (even the ones I passed in the beginning when they were pasted into the hillside on their flimsy skis) but at least I got a good workout out of the deal. I even saw a few folks that had two pairs of skis - presumably backcountry skis for the off-trail part and touring or skates for the rest of it. I don't think that's the answer for me because I have enough trouble getting on the lift with a backpack and one pair of skis. If I do this again, I'll probably do it on touring skis instead. But still it was fun - good company, good snow and a lot of work. Check out the photo album here:
2009-Hog-Loppet
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