2002-2003 Season Nordic 
American Birkebeiner  February 22, 2003  Cable/Hayward, WI
Temp 10F at start, light snow
Some Fast Wax racers were racing on HS-0 White, some on HSF-10 Green, and some on HS-10 Teal;
all reported excellent skis!
53K Freestyle place finishes:
Josie Nelson 23; Katie Campbell 33; Dave Nelson 43; Grant Nelson 58; Ross Dreger 69; Randy Larson 232
53K Classic:
Katherine Himes 3rd overall, 2nd age group
23K Freestyle:
Deb Diggins 40th

Snowflake 10K, February 15,  Elm Creek Park, Osseo Mn.
Temp 5 to 7 F,  Light wind from the North East
Dave Nelson Up Front  HS-O White Fisher
John Stamm 2nd Age Group HS-0 White Fisher 
Fine Grind
Dan Meyer 4th Age Group HS-10 Teal Atomic RS-10 
Universal Grind
The light snow predicted for Friday Night did not happen. This left for clearing skies and a lower than predicted temperature at race time.
The snow pack was dry and powdery

Mora Vasaloppet   Feb. 9  Mora, MN  Run on Knife Lake
Temps -1F at start; strong Northwest wind
We appreciate all the kind words and notes we have received from citizen racers who used our advice to ski on HS-0 White (and soft flex skis in the freestyle) for this race.  Your reports of excellent skis and a fun race make our job a pleasure!
42K classic (actually 30K on the lake track)
Josie Nelson 1st Age Group, 
3rd overall		 HS-0 White Fischer
Katherine Himes 3rd Age Group, 
7th overall		 HS-0 White Fischer 
 
Dave Nelson 1st Age Group, 
7th overall		 HS-0 White Fischer
Grant Nelson 1st Age Group, 
8th overall		 HS-0 White Fischer
Dan Cruser 3rd Age Group HS-0 White Madshus
58K Freestyle (actually 45K on the lake track)
Kati Campbell 1st Age Group HS-0 White Fischer
13K Freestyle (actually 15K on the lake track)
Deb Diggins 2nd Age Group, 
7th overall		 HS-0 White Atomic RS-10
Jessie Diggins 2nd Age Group HS-0 White Rossignol
White rules in these conditions...everyone had excellent skis.


Minnesota High School Section 2 Championships  Feb. 5  Giant's Ridge
Stillwater High School reported on their results (both teams on HS-0 White for both classic and freestyle): the Girls won the team title, and the Boys did also in the closest race in memory at a MN High School sectional meet...tied with Forest Lake, Stillwater Boys ended up 6 points ahead after the tie-breaker.
By the time the Boys freestyle race was starting, the air temp had warmed to 8 to 10F, the sun was out, and there was no wind.  The Stillwater boys team was in second place after the classical race. Was HS-0 White still the wax of choice, or would HS-10 Teal be better?  They decided to stay with HS-0 White based on the snow conditions which remained very cold and dry.  Their skis were excellent.
Congratulations, Stillwater, and thank you for sharing an educational example of how snow conditions rule when the air temperature is changing.

Ely Wilderness Trek  Feb. 1 & 2  Ely, MN  15K Classic, 15K Freestyle Pursuit
Temp. 30F both days, snow falling on 2/1
Classic 2/1
Grant Nelson 3rd overall Tan/Salmon/Flite 
Freestyle/Pursuit 2/2
Grant Nelson 3rd overall freestyle and combined Salmon/Flite
Grant's skis were very good for the freestyle race.  His classic skis were good, but he felt they would have been even better on the same Salmon/Flite combo used for the freestyle.

City of Lakes Loppet   Saturday,  February 1, Minneapolis "Lake Race"
Temp 33 F overcast, foggy and humid 1 to 2 inches wet new snow
Dave Herbert 2nd age group HSF-30 Salmon/Flite Atomic RS10 
Heavy Rill
John Stamm 4th age group HSF-40 Bronze/Flite Atomic RS10 
Heavy Rill
Dan Meyer 8th age group HSF-40 Bronze/Flite Atomic RS10 
"Finn" Grind
Kati Campbell 1st age group HSF-20 Tan/Flite Fischer
The key to the race was the rilling. With multiple laps on the wet snow the moisture pushed to the surface making for wetter conditions in the 2nd and 3rd laps.
Tough, competitive race with over 800 racers

Gear West Women's Only Race  Feb. 2  Long Lake, MN  8K Freestyle
Temp. 31F, overcast & humid; rain was predicted but didn't happen
Kati Campbell 1st age group 
4th overall		 HSF-30 Salmon/Flite Atomic Betas/light rill
Katherine Himes 2nd age group 
6th overall		 HSF-20 Tan Fischer
Deb Diggins 4th age group 
11th overall		 HS-40 Yellow Rossi Xium
Jessie Diggins 3rd age group HSF-40 Bronze/Flite Rossignol/rill
The course conditions (very humid snow, hard packed by skiers and uneven with a few icy patches and a few soft patches) led to ski selection heavily weighted to ski flex and stability. Everything felt fast in these conditions, and each skier had good skis and a fun race.

Alley Loop  Feb 1  Crested Butte, CO  42K freestyle
Temp. 22F at start with rapid warming. Dirty, abrasive snow.
Pat O'Neill 2nd age group 
7th overall		 HSF-20 Tan Fischer 
 
Pat faced the well-known waxing dilemma of mountain conditions, where the finish of a race can easily be more than 10F warmer than the start.  He decided to go with HSF-20 Tan (generally for snow temps of 12-28) because it would counter the dirty, abrasive snow conditions better than the softer HSF-30 (temps 22-32)  The gamble paid off- Pat felt that his skis never slowed down even as temps rose, and had his best finish ever in this race.

Mt. Hood Meadows  Jan. 25  10K Freestyle
Temp. warm with rain
Dennis Feeney 2nd overall Tan/Salmon Fischer RCS with lots of structure
Very Fast Skis

Crested Butte Nordic Council Race Series  Jan. 25  20K Freestyle Crested Butte, CO
Temp. 31F, an inch of new wet snow
Pat O'Neill 2nd age group 
 		 HSF-30 Salmon with Flite #11 Fischer
"the skis were like rockets!"

Irondale High School  Jan. 24 Conference championships at Giant's Ridge, MN
Irondale reported on their success in temps about 2F, with 6 All-Conference skiers.
Skiing on HS-10 Teal:  Girls, 1st place and 7th place; boys, 6th and 13th place
Skiing on HS-0 White: Boys, 3rd and 9th place
Irondale had a number of additional excellent results...Congratulations to the Irondale team.

Pepsi Challenge  January 18th  Giants Ridge
Cold and Blustery, Temperature -2 to 0 F, Wind NW 15 to 25 MPH, 2 inches of new snow
48 K Classic
Josie Nelson  1st Overall Winner HS-0 White Fischer
Grant Nelson 3rd Overall HS-0 White Fischer
Dave Nelson 4th Overall HS-0 White Fischer
24K Classic
Dan Cruser 1st Age Group HSF-10 Green Madshus
48K Freestyle
Katie Cambell 1st Age Group HS-0 White Fischer
24K Freestyle
John Stamm 3rd Age Group HS-0 White Fischer Fine Grind
Dan Meyer 4th Age Group HS-0 White Atomic RS-10 
Universal Grind
Great day at the Ridge, it was really great to race on a trail longer than 3K. The course was laid out well, once you were out of the start gate the trail was really protected from the wind except for the final 2K at the finish. Dan

24 Hours of Telemark  Jan 11-12  Telemark Resort  Cable, WI
Very cold, ranging from -5 to 5F  Mixture of man-made and natural snow; fairly dirty with occasional ice chunks
Josie Nelson winner, 6 hour women's division (on classic skis!) HS-0 White glide with Start Blue Klister/VF20 kicker
Dave Nelson winner, 24 hour large team division HS-0 White
Grant Nelson winner, 24 hour large team division HS-0 White
Grant says, "Extreme White was the perfect wax for the race!"  Josie did not have to rewax her skis during her 6 hours on cold snow.  She even had enough energy left over to rewax Dave and Grant's skis for them at midnight (after they had skied 10 of the 24 hours in rotation with 4 teammates.)  Dave and Grant were on the Skinnyski.com team.

Great Nordeen Race  Jan. 11  37K Freestyle  Bend, Oregon
Temp. 24F, overcast, old snow, fast conditions
Dennis Feeney 2nd age group, 
9th overall		 HSF-30 Salmon/ 
Flite #11		 Fischer RCS
"Super Fast Skis"

Crested Butte Nordic Council Race Series  Jan. 11  20K Classic Crested Butte, CO
Temp. 20F, new snow
Pat O'Neill 1st age group, 
3rd overall		 HSF-20 Tan Germania
Very good skis; these are prime conditions for Tan

Blue Hills Ascent  January 5, 2003 Bruce, WI  12K Freestyle
 Due to lack of snow the race was moved to Audie Flowage, results are pending....
Temperature 25 F, 1 inch of new dry snow, overcast and cloudy
 
Randy Larson Unknown but fast HSF-30 Salmon/Flite Madshus
Vickie Larson Unknown but faster HSF-30 Salmon/Flite
John Stamm Ahead of Dan HSF-20 Tan 
Medium Flex		 Atomic RS-10 
Universal Grind
Dan Meyer -------Usual HSF-20 Tan 
Stiff Flex		 Atomic RS-10 
Universal Grind
Katie Campbell Tired arms
Katherine Himes Just behind Katie HSF-20 Tan 
Stiff Flex		 Fischer RCS Skatecut
With the new snow the HSF -20 Tan felt faster than the HSF-30 Salmon; however, Randy and Vickie had excellent skis with the Flite over HSF 30 - Salmon.
This race also has 10 person wave starts, so it is difficult to know actual race performance

The Ridgenator  January 5, 2003 Giant's Ridge  Biwabik, MN  Duathlon classic/skate
 Temperature 26 F, very humid
Grant Nelson 1st in classic leg; 3rd overall HSF-20 Tan on both skis; classic kicker Toko Orang/Dk Red Fischer classic, older Fisher skate skis using classic boots
Josie Nelson 3rd overall HSF-20 Tan on both skis; classic kicker Unvsl Klister/VF40 Fischer classic using skate boots
Dave Nelson 4th overall same as Josie
A great showing by the versatile Nelson clan!
Grant had an excellent classic leg with very fast skis, but the warmer-than-predicted temps and high humidity, combined with less than optimal equipment, caught up with him on the skate leg. Grant thought that HSF-30 Salmon with Flite would have been the best wax for these conditions.  Josie and Dave had great kick as well on their classic skis but found that the klister combo sacrificed some glide. The skate leg on Tan provided good glide but not exceptional enough to increase their standings.

Crested Butte Nordic Council Race Series 10K Freestyle  Crested Butte, CO
Dec. 28, 2002  Temp. 4F at start; cold, hard snow
Pat O'Neill 1st Age Group 
 4th overall		 HS - 0 White Fischer
Pat is certain that  HS-0 White is the best possible wax for these conditions! His skis were excellent.

Crested Butte Nordic Council Race Series  Crested Butte Co. 10 K Classic  December 21, 2001 Temperature 15 F, cold snow
Pat O'Neill 1st Age Group  HSF - 10 Green Fischer
 

ABR Season Opener  Ironwood, MI  December 15, 2002  10K freestyle
Grant Nelson 8th overall HS-40 Bronze/Flite Fischer
Good skis