‘Impressively bad conditions’: How an uncharacteristic Alaska winter has impacted the high school skiing season

A skier makes their way across wet ice in the stadium at Kincaid Park on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025 in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

(Editor’s note: On Friday morning, the Lynx Loppet Invitational was canceled. The story has been updated to include that information.)

On Wednesday evening as rain fell across Anchorage, local high school cross-country ski coaches met to decide whether to hold this weekend’s Lynx Loppet Invitational, a fixture of the high school ski season.

Although they left the meeting maintaining a plan to hold the meet, by Friday morning it had been canceled. The decision was emblematic of the struggles skiers and coaches have experienced this season.

The Anchorage skiing community would love to get some of the fresh powder that has been uncharacteristically falling in warm climate places in the Lower 48 such as Florida and Louisiana as of late. But due to the lack of snow and heavy amounts of rain, teams and skiers have been unable to practice. Last week’s Wolverine Relays were canceled and conditions haven’t improved since then.

“My poor kids get so many reminder messages saying ‘we’re skiing, we’re not skiing, we’re indoors’ so right now we’re doing indoor workouts,” West coach Joey Caterinichio said. “It’s definitely been a harder year to keep athletes interested, get the skiing they need. But it’s also about camaraderie so even though a race is canceled, we still have our spaghetti feed.”

Coping with chaos and growing uncertainty

These unforeseen circumstances have forced coaches to be more creative and innovative when it comes to structuring practices and keeping their student-athletes engaged and motivated.

Last week the West coaches organized a scavenger hunt after their indoor workout circuits to mix things up and keep them interesting.

“We rented out the swimming pool once a couple of weeks ago,” Caterinichio said. “We’re trying everything we can.”

Given that cross-country skiing is an endurance sport, maintaining stamina through aerobic exercise is essential. Caterinichio has her skiers prepared for an indoor or outdoor practice at all times but they’ve been forced indoors more often than not for the past few weeks.

“If we’re either monsooned out, rained out or iced out, we have been canceling our buses and doing indoor work,” she said. “They consist of running circuits and that gets only so much fun.”

Due to a lack of available buses, chaperones and students that can drive, trying to hold practices and competitions at alternative venues can be difficult.

“I hear there’s some good skiing up in the Glen Alps area and that’s something maybe Service or South could do,” Caterinichio said. “Every team is a little bit restricted on where their location is. West specifically hasn’t had the coastal trail this year. We’ve had nothing so it’s just been ice around our building.”

Groomers have been hard at work on the trails at Kincaid making snow and trying to “resurrect” the loops for competitions, Caterinichio said.

“The difference in 1985 and even the early ’90s is that we now make snow when it’s cold enough and that’s been saving the season a little bit, the manmade snow and all the hard work from NSAA,” Caterinichio said.

Caterinichio said in 1985, every single race of the high school season put on by the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage was held in Turnagain Pass because of the lack of snow in town. She was a student-athlete during that time and reflected on the experience fondly.

“The school bus would drive up there and idle in the parking lot,” Caterinichio said. “Literally, my entire season in 1985 was spent on buses going up to Turnagain Pass, which you can’t do anymore. You can’t even get those permits.”

Prior to this recent warm stint, Anchorage was host to the 2025 National Cross Country Ski Championships and through the efforts of shoveling, grooming and snowmaking, the event was able to go off without a hitch.

Matt Seline, Cole Flowers, Erling Bjornstad and Lisa Earnhardt shovel snow at Kincaid Park on Dec. 28 2024. (Ariana Crockett O'Harra for ADN)

“That was a really successful event and all of those volunteers helped,” Caterinichio said. “The wind storm and everything that came in the last couple weeks has upset the trails not just with melting but trees are down and twigs are all over. We’re just having element after element.”

Seemingly every time they think they might be able to hit the trails, she has to send out messages canceling their outdoor practice or competition altogether.

“Our kids have just had to be ready for the next change,” Caterinichio said.

The trails around Service, Bettye Davis East, Chugiak and Bartlett have been what she described as “ice tracks” and the manmade track at Kincaid as a “gerbil loop” that 300-plus kids have to make the most of when the weather permits.

“Everybody is being pushed on about a 1.5 kilometer manmade loop,” Caterinichio said. “The Besh Cup was moved to Fairbanks. Besh Cup 3 and 4 were supposed to be in the (Mat-Su) Valley because Anchorage doesn’t have the terrain to host them.”

A skier makes their way across wet ice in the stadium at Kincaid Park on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025 in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Because of crowded scheduling for the trail system at Kincaid, making up canceled events from the high school regular season is virtually impossible.

West senior Liam Dudley has been skiing since he was five or six years old and competitively since he was eight years old. In the past he regularly participated in the Besh Cup races but hasn’t this year because he has been getting ready and applying for colleges.

“It’s definitely pretty difficult,” Dudley said. “I think it’s hard when we can’t get out there. These have been impressively bad conditions. I’ve definitely skied in similar conditions.”

Most impacted population missing out

While a lot of the skiers taking part in the high school season ski year round with the Alaska Winter Stars or other organizations, there are those who are just trying the sport for the first time on a whim or can only afford to take part during the scholastic season.

“There are a 1,000 other kids who might not be competing in all of those, they’re the ones really missing out because of the high school races that have been canceled,” Caterinichio said. “Right now you’ve got athletes who have done two races the entire season and regions is right around the corner and that’s the culminating event.”

Dudley believes that it is “nebulous whether there will be a rest of the season at this point because it’s gotten that bad.”

“I think it’s super disappointing for them,” Dudley said. “There’s a lot of kids that wouldn’t ski if it wasn’t for high school and it’s so great to see them out there getting into skiing and having a good time.”

He is especially saddened for them during this time because they don’t have any other avenues to take part in the sport.

“I think you lose some of that sense of community with high school skiing because so many people are demoralized and don’t want to show up,” Dudley said.

As one of the core leaders on the West team, he resorts to different methods to keep his teammates motivated and inspired including guilt tripping them into coming to practice if need be.

“It’s hard for everyone and I understand where they’re coming from,” Dudley said. “As much as I love skiing, I don’t really want to ski when it’s this bad but it’s important for people to show up for themselves and their teammates.”

Don Haering skis across wet ice in the stadium at Kincaid Park on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025 in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)