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Column: Adventurous group attempts to conquer Larch Hills in 24 hours

Trail Tales by Marcia Beckner
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Jabin Zuidof, Frankie Ayotte, Simon Bakker and Jacob Hepburn attempted to traverse the 200-kilometres of groomed and ungroomed cross-country ski trails at Larch Hills in a 24-hour period. (Contributed)

Marcia Beckner

Contributor

When skiing the 30-kilometre virtual loppet last Saturday, we stopped at Cec’s Cabin for a snack.

I looked in the cabin out of interest’s sake, and found a note on the counter from “Laura” to the “Boys” re: food and drink left for them in the cabin, and a cheerful “Good Luck.”

On the counter was a cooler, a drink jug and a couple of backpacks. So this was for the group of young guys I had heard were going to attempt skiing all the trails, groomed and ungroomed, in the Larch Hills – 200 kilometres in a 24-hour period. What an undertaking!

A couple of days later, I was in contact with one of the guys and he told me their adventurous story. Four of them had been dropped off at the chalet at 6:30 a.m. Saturday. They skied up to Cec’s Cabin, on to North Hub and into the backcountry trails.

Jabin Zuidof, Frankie Ayotte, Simon Bakker and Jacob Hepburn, the four intrepid travellers, skied a total of 70 km – most of it in the backcountry. No small feat considering much of it was in the dark! They were indeed thankful for headlamps, and each other for company through the dark hours. In total, their moving time was around 16.5 hours, but they were on the trip for 20 hours – stationary time spent reading maps, determining routes, eating (remember Cec’s Cabin?) and dealing with gear. By midnight, they pretty much realized finishing their lofty goal was not in the cards this time. Sleep deprived, their legs exhausted, they were a bit disappointed they had not finished the challenge, but at the same time content they had given it their best try. With the gumption of true adventurers, they plan to continue on another day where they left off. This time it will be on predominately groomed and set track so it should be easier to attain the goal.

Read more: Trail Tales: Larch Hills’ ‘Mr. Fix It’ ready to focus on skiing

Read more: Column: New lighting makes for magical cross-country skiing at Larch Hills

Kudos from the “boys” to the support team - groomers, parents who brought food up to Cec’s Cabin, and folks who supported them by donating towards a new LHNS snowmobile through a Go Fund Me campaign. A whopping $1,300! With a huge ski challenge like this, it was great to hear they enjoyed hot soup and pizza for supper at the cabin! Hats off to this foursome for their initiative! And best of luck in completing their quest!

Many of us are glued to the TV these days watching the Beijing Olympics. For me, speed skating this week, cross-country next week, Paralympics next. Lots of wonderful Canadian athletes to follow. Go Canada!!

The virtual Reino Keski-Salmi Loppet attracted 285 skiers ages four to 88, doing distances of one to 34 kilometres. A number of folks took this opportunity to do it a few times – a variety of distances, something one cannot do during the in-person event! In our case, we skied it with my sister Betty who usually works with the food in the chalet, and Jan Naylor who is traditionally on the finish line timing team. Both have been thankful over the past two years to have had the opportunity to actually ski the 30-km loppet. The 285 loppet skiers includes 52 kids from the Skool Ski program who skied the 5-km loppet distance so were eligible for the draw for 53 prizes donated by the many generous sponsors. Thanks to the track setting crew for keeping the loppet route tracked for the two weeks of the virtual loppet.

Lots of backcountry happening - Bog Route, Great Circle, Summit. Lots to enjoy!

BC Cup #2 this weekend hosted by LHNS. Promises to be two wonderful days of racing - and volunteering!

Think Snow!



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