Annual CROWBAR event hosted by Nordic United
On Jan. 22 Nordic United, a non-profit organization dedicated to grooming non-motorized winter trails in Cache Valley, held their 12th annual Cache Regional Overland Winter Backcountry Race, or CROWBAR.
The event included a via ferrata, or climbing route, for the first time in its history.
Held at Swan Flats trailhead in Logan Canyon, the CROWBAR is one of the only fully backcountry ski mountaineering races in the country.
Of the 78 participants, most traveled from areas near Salt Lake City and Park City, with only about six locals participating.
Two courses were offered with divisions for junior, recreation, race and heavy metal.
At a distance of five and a half miles, the junior and recreation course was a 2,300-foot vertical climb. The race and heavy metal course were seven miles in length including the via ferrata mountaineering section and was a 3,700-foot vertical climb.
Via ferrata, or “iron path,” is a way of crossing rocky terrain, often steep, with fixed metal rungs and safety rope or wire.
“We wanted to try something different. Since the second part of the abbreviation ‘skimo’ is mountaineering, I just felt personally that unless you’re using a rope, you’re not really mountaineering,” said Jason Wooden, the 2022 CROWBAR race director. “You’re just skiing and skinning and a little bit of booting. It just added more mountaineering than skiing in the skimo equation.”
Jules Goguely, the second-place race division finisher, admitted it can be a little tricky with the equipment.
“It was so steep and we had to have our skis on our backpack and our poles in one hand and you had to make sure you wouldn’t slip,” Goguely said.” It definitely required a lot of focus. I didn’t even notice there was apparently an arch that we went under that apparently is very scenic. I was so focused on not falling that I didn’t see it.”
CROWBAR is open to all ages and does not require participation qualifications. The junior division, 18 years and under, allows adult accompaniment for participants.
“We have been coming for a few years, and our kids are actually the ones who brought us here,” said Nikki Goth-Itoi, a participant in the recreational division. “I just hope that it keeps going every year. We will do whatever it takes to support this group and this event.”
The CROWBAR volunteers consisted of 16 students, athletes and NU members. They groom non-motorized trails in Cache Valley, such as Smithfield Canyon, Green Canyon and Beaver Bottoms throughout the season.
“It couldn’t happen without the volunteers,” Wooden said.
NU has held the CROWBAR since 2010 and said they continue to try to foster and promote human-powered winter recreation.
“We work hard on grooming different areas for cross country skiing and this race is one of our fundraisers,” Wooden said. “We would like to get into other areas too or bring back things we did in the past. We just need volunteers to do it.”
NU organizes events, classes and opportunities to educate the public on human-powered winter recreation. They offer cross country and skate skiing lessons along with educational programs about winter recreation.
“I would love to have a kids skimo team here in the valley. We just need people to do it and put it together,” Wooden said.
NU is planning to begin offering weekly cross-country ski lessons to children.
Users of these areas are encouraged to donate to NU to support the quality of Cache Valley winter recreation.
-Maya.Mackinnon@usu.edu