| 2013-01-29 | To: All 2013 Noque Weekend Participants
I want to thank you all for coming to participate in the 2013 MGHS Noquemanon Ski Marathon Events. I appreciate all of you for making the long trip and putting your trust in us. This year was a year of change and challenge for our race committee. I would like to address both of those, as well as discuss what the future of the Noque will look like. I will address several topics, each by category.
COURSE CONDITIONS
We had very thin snow conditions, two weeks prior to race day. However, as the days went on, we started getting significant snowfall. We made the initial decision to start at Cnty. Rd 510 and finish at Forestville, yet, continue to study the course to see if we could lengthen the race. There were several areas on the west end, middle section and the finish that prohibited us from getting all the way through to the Dome. As of six days prior to the race, we finally had enough snow to start in Ishpeming and run the course into Granite Pointe, however, we could not get through Granite Point without hauling snow into a half mile section of plowed road (I am curious if anyone noticed?). The same was true for the last 5km of the race. We looked at the weather forecast and decided to work on a full race finish and see if we could make it work with a little help from mother nature. As the week went on, we did receive significant snowfall that did allow us to cover the first 40-45km of the race course, naturally. We continued to haul snow in the last 4km. At the end of the day, it was my decision to ski all the way to the dome. I felt the ski conditions were thin, but safe and skiable. This decision was partially made because we did not get permission from a landowner to drive buses up to Forestville on the paved road, so moving skiers (this year) would have been another significant challenge. I skied that last 5km section several times, and I felt it would hold up and be very skiable. What I underestimated was the fact that since we had no base to start with, that the pole plants, over many skiers, would eventually pull up a significant amount of dirt and some rocks. This is what made it challenging for some of the skiers in the latter half of the race. I apologize for that. Next year, if conditions are the same, we will look at a finish at the Log yard or at Forestville. That being said, we are already making plans for investment in the final 5km of the race course.
GROOMING
We have access to three large grooming machines. One Pisten Bully (owned by the City of Ishpeming), and two Bombardier’s, owned by us. The Pisten Bully owned by the City of Ishpeming grooms the first 3km of the race course. This machine is not allowed to go across water or be moved from City Property, so this is the only section of trail this machine works on. After speaking with the City, yesterday, they did their last groom around 3AM, which was the original plan. They did not go out again at 6AM, like I expected. This was an oversight by me as I was pre-occupied with other sections of the race course and made an assumption this would have been taken care of, my mistake. Later, I was told that the snowfall was coming down at a rate of 2” per hour starting after midnight and continuing after 3AM. Unfortunately, this snowfall was not happening in Marquette.
Deer Lake and the Dead River Basin are groomed with Tidd Techs. We have to haul a machine to each location and do this separately. This takes a significant amount of time to cover both areas, so this is an area that will rarely be groomed well if there is early morning snowfall.
The section from Deer Lake to the Basin is done with one of our Bombardier groomers. For legal reasons, we are not allowed to transport this machine after dark or on weekends. So we leave this machine there all week. Reminder, that we only have permission to groom this section of trail for one week per year. The final groom for this section began at midnight. It takes approximately 4 hours to groom this section of trail. The decision on when to start grooming is made earlier in the prior day. Based on the weather forecast it appeared that midnight would be a great time to start. The grooming would end at 4AM and the course would set up beautifully. Unfortunately, heavy snow came and it came later in the morning. Not allowing us time to do another full groom and allow the trail to set up. In a perfect world, we would have started grooming a couple of hours later. We will look at doing it later next year, regardless. The last major section is from the Dead River to Forestville. We use our other Bombardier groomer for this entire section. He does an out and back and it takes about 9-11 hours to groom this section. This section of grooming started in the evening on Friday and was completed just after 5AM on race day. Again, the snowfall came late and there was not much more we could do about that. One of the reasons we created the touring class, was to get classic skiers out on the course early, to ski in the tracks. I suspect that the top racers caught the lead tourist before the Dead River basin, leaving the leaders to break trail the rest of the way. We always try to secure forerunners to ski in the tracks on the entire course. Some year it works out, and some years it does not. We were not able to secure separate forerunners this year. I am happy to take volunteers if you know anyone for next year!
COURSE IMPROVEMENTS FOR 2014
This years conditions prompted several conversations with key community people. We already have tentative approval to grade, fill in, and seed the sections from the 4km mark (log yard hill) and beyond the 550 bridge to the final 1.5km to go mark. We WILL get this done over the summer. Further, we are working on a plan to move the race course from the rail road grade (1.5km to 1km to finish) onto a new wooded section parallel to the current railroad grade. We are also in talks with NMU to move our trail back from the pond by-pass to the original trail between the ponds (8km to 7km to go). We are hoping to grade and seed the section between the ponds, thereby eliminating the road section that we have used the last few years. We are still waiting for approval from the University to do the excavating…fingers crossed. Lastly, we are in talks with the City of Marquette to purchase or rent one or two snow guns, and run them the entire month of January and build significant fresh snow piles adjacent to our trail in the last 5km. By taking these steps, we significantly improve the ground surface and increase the volume of clean snow to logistically and cost effectively allow us to cover the entire last 5km of the race course with significant amounts of clean snow, if necessary. I will keep you posted as this plan develops. It is important to note that the race proceeds all go towards course, grooming equipment and event improvements.
SNOWBIKING
Snow biking is a new sport with limited history and experience. We are learning as we go. I realize the conflicts skiers have with snow bikers. This is not a surprise as this is a new sport and it is changing the way we look at trail uses. In my opinion, this issue is no different than in the late ‘80’s when skating became a part of cross country skiing. There was the same conflict with skaters and classic skiers. Over time, this went away as we learned how to groom and build trails for both disciplines. The same issues about skaters ruining classic tracks is not much different than bikers creating rut’s in groomed trails. However, the difference today, is that (at least in Marquette) we were able to create a separate groomed trail system for the snow bikers. This is something in existence today. This is the first year that we have had, basically, no conflicts with bikers and skiers. The bikers are aware that they are not allowed on the groomed cross country ski trails, and they abide by it. As far as the Noque Race; this is the one weekend a year we allow the bikers on our race course. The mistake I made this year is completely underestimating how fast the bikers would be. I had agreed that if they start at noon, that there is no way the fastest biker would be at the dome before 3:30PM at the earliest. More likely 4PM. Our last skier crossed the finish line at approximately 4:30pm this year, in extremely slow conditions. Normally, our last skier is done around 3:30PM. We wanted to be sure the bikers could finish in daylight, which turned out to not be a problem. As for the future of snow biking in the Noque; I would like it to continue. However, we will do one of two things. First, if we continue to have the snow bike 50k on Saturday, this race will not start before 1:00PM or possibly 1:30PM. We can keep the finish line open until 6PM, thus likely separating nearly 100% of the skiers and bikers. Or, we will get permission for a Sunday race. We now know that we can groom the snow bike race with much less expensive operating costs than a ski race, we need far fewer aid stations and many fewer volunteers. So moving to Sunday is a reasonable possibility. I believe we can make this work to make everyone happy in 2014.
RACE RULES
I plan to suggest one recommendation for next year and then create one new rule. First, I will, strongly, recommend (but not require) all participants to avoid racing with headphones. We had a few conflicts with participants unaware of a passing racer. The use of headphones can create a dangerous situation on the race course and I will discourage their use in the future.
The second issue will be the rules for race winners. In 2014, we will clearly state that the winner of the 50k races must come from the Elite Wave participants, however the winner of all the other distances can come from any wave. We will no longer take podium finish photos of the non-50k race winners at the finish line. This was my mistake for not making this clear. I will fix this for next year. I apologize to the three racers that were affected by this issue.
Again, thank you all for your comments. I apologize to those that did not have a great experience, like we strive to give you. If you give us another chance, we promise to improve and make it up to you. My personal email is jcmommaerts@gmail.com, if you would like to send me your comments directly. I will respond to each of you. Thanks for your support.
Regards,
Jon Mommaerts
Chairman MGHS Noquemanon Ski Marathon and
mBank Half Noque and Michigan Sales Snow Bike World Championship
www.noquemanon.com
jcmommaerts@gmail.com
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| 2013-01-23 | Noque Race Course Update:
Al Quaal to Deer Lake:
Al Qual is fine except a few places which are thin. The run down to Deer Lake is the best we have ever had. The climb off Deer Lake is great without any rocks and minimal dirt. The rollers after the climb are uneven and a little gnarly but well covered. The rest to the first aid station is excellent.
After the first aid station it is good. There is plenty of snow. There are numerous little tree shoots sticking up on the edges of the trail which affect the cosmetic appearance of the trail but, again, it is well covered with snow. The little shoots are scattered throughout a lot of the trail all the way to South Camp Road. Again, in my opinion, this is all cosmetic and will not affect the average skier.
The Zhulkie hills are fine including the steep switchback above “schnapp’s corner”. Hannuksula plunge is well covered, not icy, but you can feel the terrain and small dips in the ground. The plains as you approach South Camp Road have a few stumps sticking up through the trail. Easy to avoid if you pay attention.
510 To Forestville:
Excellent!
Forestville to Dome:
Decent snow coverage. Thin in places and difficult to set track in several sections. Some dirt showing, but the coverage is good after the significant snow hauling effort today. More is getting hauled in the log yard area tomorrow.
This entire report on the trail is prior to the snow that just started falling. We are expecting 3-5 inches tonight, throughout the race course.
I will give another report tomorrow night or Friday morning.
Jon Mommaerts
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| 2013-01-22 | Tuesday January 22, 2013 Race Course Update
Last night we had a hearty crew of 18 guys and one lady (my wife!) out shoveling and hauling snow with equipment, for 2.5 hours in sub-zero temperatures. It was an impressive crew that did not want to stop, even though we felt the trail was very well covered! We added quite a bit of snow to our base, over the last 4km. We will be hauling snow to the finish area today. At the end of today, we should have excellent coverage from start to finish. There are predictions of some modest snow accumulations over the rest of the week, that could dress things up a bit. Trail is in good shape.
Jon Mommaerts, Race Director |
| 2013-01-20 | Sunday January 20, 2013 7:45AM
Noquemanon Ski Marathon Trail Report
We received more snow yesterday and last night. We have received a significant amount of snow throughout the race course. Because of that, we have not been able to get everything packed to see what we are dealing with . This will likely take a day or two. At the moment, we are expecting to finish at the Dome and hopefully start in Ishpeming, if the snow we received is enough to fill in some of our rugged trail sections. We will have a better idea at the end of today, after I run the whole course. Worst case scenario is that we can comfortably have a 32km race, with a good chance at a full normal race. I will touch base again tomorrow morning.
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| 2013-01-20 | Sunday January 20, 2013
Noquemanon Ski Marathon Trail Update
I spent most of the day on the sections of trail that always seem to be low on snow, to determine if we have enough. I can say that we do and the full 50k race is on. We have our normal fine tuning to do in the next 5 days, but I expect to have a great full course. Sorry to those of you hoping for a shorter race… As a note, the lake crossings are in the best shape they have ever been in. The Bombardier groomed from the Dead River (including our new section) all the way to Forestville and said conditions are very good. We will be grooming, with our other Bombardier, on the Deer Lake to Dead River Basin section starting tomorrow. Snow hauling over the final 1.5km’s will begin on Wednesday. See you this weekend! Jon Mommaerts, Race Director |
| 2013-01-20 | Sunday January 20, 2013 Noquemanon Ski Marathon Trail Update I spent most of the day on the sections of trail that always seem to be low on snow, to determine if we have enough. I can say that we do and the full 50k race is on. We have our normal fine tuning to do in the next 5 days, but I expect to have a great full course. Sorry to those of you hoping for a shorter race… As a note, the lake crossings are in the best shape they have ever been in. The Bombardier groomed from the Dead River (including our new section) all the way to Forestville and said conditions are very good. We will be grooming, with our other Bombardier, on the Deer Lake to Dead River Basin section starting tomorrow. Snow hauling over the final 1.5km’s will begin on Wednesday. See you this weekend! Jon Mommaerts, Race Director |
| 2013-01-19 | SNOW IS HERE! 4”+ of dense, cold lake effect snow fell yesterday. Groomers were out yesterday and last night rolling the cold snow to begin the process. We will be grooming through the day to bring trails back to mid-season form. Classic tracks will be re-set. With the snow being so cold, it will still be soft. Pole plants will still be hard due to the hard pan below but skaters will find the snow pushing out under foot. Grooming priorities will be shifted slightly in that the Noque is next week. We have snow between the trail head and the dome and will be grooming that area before the other ‘non Noque’ trails. All will be groomed by nightfall.
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| 2013-01-19 | We have received more snow than we expected. We have been packing the trail all the way into the dome. A dome finish is looking increasingly likely. We have more snow expected tonight into tomorrow. The trail is dramatically improved over yesterday morning. We have received 5”-10” of snow on the race course in the past 24 hours. Forecast calls for a few more inches tonight. We plan to make the final decision on the race course on Tuesday morning. I’ll update you again tomorrow.
Jon Mommaerts, Race Director |
| 2013-01-18 | Trail Update
As of 10:30AM, it is snowing very nicely. We are expected to get 2-4 inches out of this today. This will be very helpful. Our course crew has a course packing priority plan and will begin working it today. I will be running the entire course, tomorrow. I will give a full update on Sunday. |
| 2013-01-17 | Minimal change in course conditions. We received an inch to a trace of snow on the race course in the past 24 hours. The winds have not been blowing in the right direction to generate significant snowfall in our area. Our trail is modestly improved and the weather forecast is for snow every day for the next week. I am not going to make any predictions. As of today, we still need a few more inches of snow to attempt to do our full course. Temperatures are going to be very cold for the next week, so we don’t expect to lose any snow we get. As of today, we would still have to do our shortened race course, but we are getting incrementally closer to a longer race. I’ll update you again tomorrow. |
| 2013-01-16 | Wednesday January 16, 2013:
We don’t have any change in the course conditions since yesterday, however it has begun to snow. The snowfall is lake effect snow and is very dense. The prediction is that we will get 6-10” of fresh dense snowfall over the next 36 hours. If that continues to happen, it is very likely we will have enough snow to do our normal full race course and have excellent conditions! I will continue to send updates as the conditions improve. Jon Mommaerts, Race Director |
| 2013-01-15 | On Monday, we did a full assessment of the race course. We had very warm temperatures over the weekend, so some areas did lose coverage. We still have a decent base from Ishpeming to about 5 km to go into Marquette, however there are dry spots showing, now. Particularly our south facing hills and the final 5km into Marquette. If the race were to happen today, we would not be able to start in Ishpeming. We would be looking at start at 510 and shortening the race to be approximately 22km in total. That being said, if we get 3-4 inches of new snow (which is very likely), that should be enough to cover any dry spots, allow for some manually snow covering and, therefore, allow us to finish the race in Marquette, possibly at the Dome. We are considering finishing options at the Log Yard (4km to dome) and Forestville (10km to dome). Snow is predicted for tomorrow and the rest of the week. Very cold temperatures are predicted for the next 10 days, so we don’t anticipate losing any more snow. Given the rock solid base, we have over 90% of the trail, we are optimistic. The skiing from 510 down to Forestville is still good. I will continue to give trail updates as the snow falls. We don’t need much, but we need some. |
| 2013-01-08 | Snow shortages at this time in January is not an unusual occurrence, so I am not ready to change our primary plan of finishing at the dome, until the at the earliest, the 19th of January.
This morning, January 8th, I skied from Forestville down into town. I was surprised how good the skiing was. It looks much worse than it is. Other than a few brief ugly spots, I was able to ski all the way to behind the apartments (500m to finish) with minimal trouble. The thin base is very well packed. I needed rock skis from just before Tourist Park (3.5km to finish) into town, however. But prior to that, I could have used my best skis. There were a few rocks showing (east of the log yard at 4km to finish), but they were large and easy to ski around. The trail between the ponds is a little rough at the moment, but could be repaired. So, if the race were to happen tomorrow, I see it being very reasonable to finish at the Log Yard (4km from the dome), if we could figure out the logistics. I believe we would be able to have full depth classic tracks all the way until the 5km to go mark. I figure we need 2”-4” (minimum) of dense snowfall for us to get all the way to the Dome. This would still require some snow hauling, but it would be manageable. No need to panic at this point. We have certainly had worse snow conditions at this point, many times in the past, and were still able to complete the full course on race day. I will continue to give trail updates as new information is warranted. JM |
| 2013-01-07 | We will begin proving regular trail reports on the race course, starting today. We will have more detail as we get closer to the race. Please note that we do not start grooming the first half of the marathon course until 2 weeks prior to the event, per our landowner agreements, so we will not have detailed information until next week on that portion of the trail.
This has been a very low snow year for us, so far. Fortunately, temperatures have stayed cold so we have maintained most all of what we have received, over the past month. In the highlands (first half of the marathon course) we have 18”-24” of snow that has yet to be packet. From County road 510 (half way point) down to the 8km mark, we have excellent skiing with a 4-10” packed base. The snow gets thinner as we get closer to town. The last 4 km of our race course is always our thinnest section. As of today, we do not have enough snow to get all the way to the dome. This is very typical of early January. We do have lots of time left. If we can get 3-4” of snow in the next 2.5 weeks, we will pack it down and haul some snow in to the thin areas and make it all the way in. I plan to ski from the 10km mark as far down towards the finish as possible, this week. I will give you another assessment when I make that run. I’ll be in touch. Jon Mommaerts – Race Director. |
| 2012-12-12 | News from the Noquemanon Ski Marathon
After several years of reviewing trail options, the Noquemanon Ski Marathon, now has a trail crossing North Basin Drive and we no longer have to ski along the road. The Noquemanon Ski Marathon trail committee has spent this past weekend constructing the new route and it will be ready for race day. We would like to thank our land owners; Jim Johnson (owner of the Casa Calabria), Lowell Anderson, Jim Kidder and the Dead River Campers Association. This trail is the most significant trail improvement the race has had in several years.
We would also like to thank our key trail builders; Michigan Sales who donated 2 days of labor and equipment to construct this trail, Bob Mahaney who was the trail construction manager, and other key volunteers including John Sonderegger, Peter Zenti, Rich Cooley, Matt Kern, Craig Stien, Doug Weesen and Jon Mommaerts. This is a very exciting improvement to the Noquemanon Ski Marathon Race Course. Please take an opportunity to thank and support our landowners and volunteers! |
| 2012-01-27 | Today is Friday January, 27, 2012. The day before the start of the 14th Annual MGHS Noquemanon Ski Marathon. I am happy to report to you that we were able to mitigate the slush on Deer Lake. Most of the lake crossing is very good, although there will be some icy sections. We have also managed to cut off half of the road section on North Basin Drive. There will be about 120 yards left that will be on thin snow cover (instead of 200+ yards normally). There is a 150 yard section in Granite Pointe that is going to be a little narrower than normal, due to a construction project. The rest of the trail on into the dome should be in excellent shape. We are supposed to have warm weather today, but temps starting to drop on Saturday morning throughout the day. We expect to get about an inch of new snow Saturday morning before the race with temperatures in the 20’s for most of race day. Travel safe.
Respectfully submitted,
Jon Mommaerts, Race Director |
| 2012-01-26 | January 26, 2012 10:50AM ET The trail is looking very good for Saturday’s race. We have crews out 24 hours a day for these last few days of trail preparation. We have a new challenge that came up yesterday. Due to the heavy wet snow we received on Monday, some water came up over the ice on Deer Lake and created some slushy areas. We are going to work on that section today and see if we can pack it down so that it will freeze overnight. My expectation is that we will have some icy sections on the lake, as opposed to nice snow. More updates to come. One of the founders of the race Joe Jameson comments that, “ 99.9 percent of the trail is really good. Lots of snow and a firm groom. The climb out of Deer Lake is better than usual – not much rocks, just some dirty snow here and there. The steep ups and downs after the climb out of Deer Lake are well covered – no open water or dirt. The Zulkhie hills and Hannuksala plunge are great.”
With this warm weather we are having today, we have decided to shovel snow onto the tracks in town. We want to be sure to have good track depth on race day. The trail is fine and has about 4” of packed snow over the final 3km, but rather than take a chance we will add some depth to that section. See you all this weekend, Jon Mommaerts, Race Director |
| 2012-01-25 | The Noquemanon race course has received many man hours of grooming and work. We are pleased with the fact that it will be all natural snow and in many areas it is still sticking to the trees. The finish line preparations have begun today. We have groomers going out daily in many different sections of course. We no longer have any problem areas. The 5-10 inches of snowfall we received early in the week has covered up all thin areas. We expect to have excellent skiing from start to finish. |
| 2012-01-23 | Marquette received up to 4-5 inches of snow in the higher elevations in the last couple hours. All schools are closed today. This is great new news for the lower Noque and the last 3K to the Dome. The bombi is heading up to Ishpeming, today, to groom and track to the Dead River Basin. Crews have been out on the entire course over the weekend. There are only two problem areas. One is a short straight/flat section in Granite Point that was being plowed for a construction project. That plowing ended a few days ago. Prior to today’s snowfall, that area was thin and in need of work. I anticipate that this snowfall will take care of most of that concern. This section may still need a little bit of hand work this week, but it is under control. The second problem area is always the final 2km in town to the finish line. Today’s snowfall is more than anticipated. We are getting 3-6 inches of wet heavy snow in town today. Prior to this surprise snowfall, we have planned to haul clean snow with dump trucks and spread it with front end loaders. This bonus snowfall may eliminate our need to haul snow onto this section of trail. We will groom it and ski it tonight, to see if needs more coverage. If necessary, we have our contractors set to do the work on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing you all this weekend. Regards, Jon Mommaerts, Race Director. |
| 2012-01-11 | Noquemanon Trail Report: Trail is holding strong in some of the warmer weather we have had in Marquette. We have over a foot of snow on the Upper Noque for the 50K and will plan on packing in the next week. From the 25K start to Forestville the trail is in excellent condition. We have a great group of groomers that are taking care to make sure not to over groom. Snow is in the forecast and this new snow will set the remainder of the trail from Forestville to the Dome in good condition. It is a little thin in town but all measures will be taken to provide a great surface. Submitted by Nicole Dewald |
| 2011-01-27 | Noquemanon Trail Report: The trail is in great shape. There are a few trouble spots, however. Coming off the Dead River Basin there is about a 200 yard stretch that goes along a public road that the trail crew is trying to cover with snow, especially far to the right. This has always been a problem in past years with small bits of gravel and may be the same this year. Also, the trail workers tell me that one of the big groomers pulled some debris and gravel through the thin base up into the trail from 21k to 23K. However I hear this section is better now and I believe it will be good. The finish area is now snow covered and groomed. Although 99.9% of the trail is excellent, it is possible skis could get nicked in the areas listed above. Submitted by Joseph Jameson 1/26/2011 |
| 2011-01-25 | Noquemanon Race Trail Report We received 3-6 inches of snow Saturday night. The NWS at Negaunee has recorded over 100 inches of snow this season. Basically the trail is in great shape, possibly the best it ever has been. I have personally skied from 2K to 28K (from the Dome) in the last few days. There is a great base. The Granite Pointe section is firm, smooth, and wide: the best I’ve ever seen it a week before the race. The only potential thin area is a few areas of the last 2K are windblown and will either need shoveling or dumptrucks full of snow to provide good cover. It’s possible the classic tracks will not be as deep or a little dirty in this section. Also, the section from 21K to 23K was plowed and logged up until last week so the base is a little thin and dirty in a couple of spots (this was before the snowfall over the weekend). In the next few days I will be objectively skiing the other areas of the race trail and talking to the groomers to glean any other thoughts they have on the topic.
Respectfully Submitted, Joseph Jameson 1/24/2011 |
| 2011-01-20 | NSM Trail Report. Thursday January 20th
Well, the trail has continued to get more snow. Very glad to say that there is not much more to say than the last report. We have lots of snow and it is expected to stay cold for the next week. The only thin areas we have are in the last 1km of the course, as we always have…due to the openness of those areas getting windblown. Our plan is to haul snow in to those short open stretches next week. We have lots of clean snow to work with. I anticipate some of the best snow conditions from start to finish that we have ever had. From this weekend forward, one of our Noquemanon Ski Marathon founding members, Joe Jameson, will be doing the trail report. As he always has been, he will be very detailed and honest about the entire trail. He will keep you well informed. Have a great race!
Submitted by Jon Mommaerts |
| 2011-01-17 | Our trail conditions are excellent the entire way from start to finish. We have had good snow all winter and cold temperatures. We did have a short thaw period a few weeks ago, and that helped create an icy base that we have built on. We have only have two sections of trail that require(d) some work. First, we had some logging done up at the halfway mark (510 down to the 22km mark). This was being plowed until a week ago. Fortunately, the logging company was able to smooth out the ground on that section so not much snow was needed. We did pull snow back in, with a loader, last Thursday to cover the entire trail. Fortunately, it snowed the next two days and we received about 9 more inches of snow on top of that. We have more snow today. I anticipate excellent conditions on this section. The last section of question is always in town. We have plenty of snow in town, but there are a couple of sections that are a bit wind blown. We plan to pack those sections again today and then regularly until race day. We will also be hauling in clean snow on those short sections. Given the more snow we have predicted this week and the cold temperatures, I would envision excellent skiing from start to finish this year!
Submitted by Jon Mommaerts |
| 2010-12-14 | The Marquette, Ishpeming, and Negaunee areas have received significant snowfall over the last week. The trail is being packed and rolled everyday. The crew has rolled all the way to the Dome up to the 20k mark. In the higher elevation areas we are still waiting for the soft snow to harden to decrease the chance for equipment becoming stuck.
Skiers should be able to ski from the 25k mark to Tourist Park in the next week or so.
Stay tuned for more details on the course, the new events, and updates that will make this year the biggest Noque ever.
If your not planning to ski this year, think about donating your time and talent to the race and be one of our 400 volunteers.
Happy Holidays from the Race Committee |
| 2010-11-09 | The race committee has completed three new significant trail improvements already this fall. The first one is a new route from the bottom of the first hill out of Al Quaal, heading northeast. This section is now wider, and straighter than the previous route, and adds a spectacular view of Teal Lake. It also avoids the 90 degree off-camber left turn about 1.5km into the race. It appears that it will only add about 200 meters additional distance. The re-routed section will be a major improvement to the first 2km of the marathon course, making it much more “novice” friendly. You will be very happy with this improvement. Thanks to the City of Ishpeming and Craig Stien for heading up this major project!
The second re-route is a modification of the main NTN year-round trail near Forestville. The goal was to avoid the big drop into the ditch and onto the road after you pass the NTN pole barn at Forestville, again making the trail significantly easier to negotiate. We will no longer be using the road or accessing it via the steep downhill through the ditch (just after the pole barn). We now have a more gentle straight downhill section. This will add an additional road crossing, but this will be a very minor inconvenience compared to the significant improvement in the skiability of this section.
Lastly, we have been able to work with the landowners up at the 510 start area. We are in the process of widening the bottle neck that occurs 100m after the start of the half marathon. We have a long ways yet to go to get this to the width we would like, but this year will create a noticeable increase in the width for that initial stretch of trail. Overall, I think you all will be happy with the improvements we have made. There are a few more sections we hope to tackle in the coming years, but we want you to know that we are committed to continued investment in our race trail!
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| 2010-01-30 | Friday Morning January 29th Trail Report
The Al Quall Pisten Bulley is continuing to till and groom from the start of the marathon to Deer Lake, this section should be in excellent shape. Deer Lake is likely to be a bit icy but skiable. The section out of Deer Lake to the Dead River Basin was groomed by our PB 180 last night and it went extremely well. The low areas where shoveled by a team of helpers and the PB 180 tilled and groomed this entire section and says it looks great. The tracks set very well most of the way. Some stretches it is thinner than others. Expect mostly tilled corn snow when you plan your waxing for this stretch.
Today, we will be Tidd Tech grooming Deer Lake and the Dead River Basin crossing. We should anticipate that these short sections will not be perfect, but skiable.
Once you get off the Dead River Basin, there will be the 200m section along the campers road that will likely be narrow and icy. We will do the best we can with this section, but plan on this being less than ideal.
After you get through that 200m section of campers road, you will be heading into Granite Pointe for the final 32km of skiing…conditions look great the entire way in to the dome. We are grooming from Forestville to Granite Pointe this afternoon, then again from Granite Pointe to the Dome starting at midnight tonight and ending at the dome around 7AM on race day. I am very pleased with the way the course is coming together. You should expect a real good ski tomorrow. If you have any questions, track me down at the dome this evening. Regards Jon Mommaerts
Wax Tips for the MGHS Noquemanon and mBank Half Noque can be found at www.tokous.com. Print off the wax tip that Toko has set for the Noque. It is pretty detailed. If your in town, visit the gang at Downwind Sports.
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| 2010-01-29 | 5:30PM ET Thursday 01/28/10 Trail Report:
Ok, I am much more encouraged than I was in the early afternoon. We ran the PB 180 from the dome to Forestville this afternoon. I just got out on my skis (3:30PM- 5:00PM) to ski the questionable areas and found nothing but great skiing. The course is firm, yet has a nice mixture of icy snow with new fresh snow. The course has slowed down quite a bit and is very skiable for all levels of skiing. The track is set almost the entire way, with only a few very short sections where it is not full depth. At this point I can say that after the final groom early Saturday morning, that the final 32km of our race course will be excellent skiing for everyone (note that 510 to Forestville has not been groomed with a tiller today due to mechanical issues, so this section will improve greatly on Saturday). I had no trouble getting an edge as I skated. Slower skiers will be able to snowplow the downhills to control speed, and the snowplowing should not do any damage to the trail. I am very happy with the work the trail team has done thus far.
Now, I am not ignoring the first 18km of the race course in this report. My plan is to get more information tomorrow morning, after the PB 180 gets through grooming it tonight. We also have shovelers filling in some of the thin areas off of Deer Lake. Based on what I saw today, I expect conditions to be relatively good through out that first 18km section, but will give you more information tomorrow. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-28 | While I was writing yesterdays trail report, our Bombardier 160 tiller broke down and will take several days to repair. So, unfortunately we are now down to one machine for the final 44km of the race course. We plan to run our newer 180 all day today until Midnight, then all day tomorrow and all night until race time. We do have the Al Quall Pisten Bulley for the first 6km as well. Because of that, here is what I can report.
Al Quaal to Deer Lake will be very firm, we plan to move the classic tracks in a little more than they were on Wednesday, so that we can accommodate two tracks and a skating lane for the first 5-6km’s. The hills in this section will be very fast and klister should be the requirement of the day. Deer Lake is firm, yet icy. We did receive an inch or two of snow today, which has helped. However, on the lakes, the wind is so strong that it blows right off the course. We have a crew going out this afternoon to shovel the hill coming off of Deer Lake. This section (which included about 2km of trail) is icy and thin. It may be difficult to set track in much of this section. From this point on (Aidstation #1 on), the trail is in good shape, with the exception of a couple of downhills. As of this writing, these two hills are very fast and icy. We are bringing our 180 out there now, and will work these area’s a bit more. I will let you know more tomorrow. Heading down onto the Dead River Basin Crossing (1km after Aidstation #2), you can expect chunky ice/snow mix for the 200m on the south side of the crossing (due to width constraints, we must groom this section and the Basin crossing with a Tidd Tech). The Basin Crossing will also be icy due to the windy conditions this week.
As you get back on land heading into Granite Point, you will have that 200m section along the campers Road in which we have a narrow path coned off to keep vehicles off. The challenge we found out here, is that there is minimal snow to pull to build up this section. As of this writing, I am not sure what that 200m section will be like, other than that it has good coverage over the road, but tracks may be thin and icy.
Next, heading into Granite Point, this section should be fine, but a bit narrower than past years as we do not have as much snow to pull from the edges to build up the trail to extend width. Otherwise, this section should be fine and fast. From this point on, you are at the half way point and should experience good fast and firm conditions all the way to the 8km to go point. Our Pond bypass downhill will be thin and a bit icy, but skiable. Once you get off the bypass back onto the standard Noque trail, conditions are good, but a bit thin and icy. Skiing should be pretty good, but tracks may be thin. We just completed hauling of snow on parts of the final 2km of the trail. We had a nice icy base, but we hauled in enough snow to set quality tracks the majority of the way in. This last 2km section should be good to the finish.
In summary, expect varying conditions on race day. We will continue to work the trail to improve skiing conditions. The vast majority of the trail will be great fun and fast skiing, however expect some icy sections where caution may be necessary, especially in the first half of the marathon course. We did receive an inch or two of fresh snow this morning, so I am hoping tomorrow’s report will be much improved. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-28 | 5:30PM ET Thursday Trail Report:
Ok, I am much more encouraged than I was in the early afternoon. We ran the PB 180 from the dome to Forestville this afternoon. I just got out on my skis (3:30PM- 5:00PM) to ski the questionable areas and found nothing but great skiing. The course is firm, yet has a nice mixture of icy snow with new fresh snow. The course has slowed down quite a bit and is very skiable for all levels of skiing. The track is set almost the entire way, with only a few very short sections where it is not full depth. At this point I can say that after the final groom early Saturday morning, that the final 32km of our race course will be excellent skiing for everyone (note that 510 to Forestville has not been groomed with a tiller today due to mechanical issues, so this section will improve greatly on Saturday). I had no trouble getting an edge as I skated. Slower skiers will be able to snowplow the downhills to control speed, and the snowplowing should not do any damage to the trail. I am very happy with the work the trail team has done thus far.
Now, I am not ignoring the first 18km of the race course in this report. My plan is to get more information tomorrow morning, after the PB 180 gets through grooming it tonight. We also have shovelers filling in some of the thin areas off of Deer Lake. Based on what I saw today, I expect conditions to be relatively good through out that first 18km section, but will give you more information tomorrow. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-28 | 5:30PM ET Thursday Trail Report:
Ok, I am much more encouraged than I was in the early afternoon. We ran the PB 180 from the dome to Forestville this afternoon. I just got out on my skis (3:30PM- 5:00PM) to ski the questionable areas and found nothing but great skiing. The course is firm, yet has a nice mixture of icy snow with new fresh snow. The course has slowed down quite a bit and is very skiable for all levels of skiing. The track is set almost the entire way, with only a few very short sections where it is not full depth. At this point I can say that after the final groom early Saturday morning, that the final 32km of our race course will be excellent skiing for everyone (note that 510 to Forestville has not been groomed with a tiller today due to mechanical issues, so this section will improve greatly on Saturday). I had no trouble getting an edge as I skated. Slower skiers will be able to snowplow the downhills to control speed, and the snowplowing should not do any damage to the trail. I am very happy with the work the trail team has done thus far.
Now, I am not ignoring the first 18km of the race course in this report. My plan is to get more information tomorrow morning, after the PB 180 gets through grooming it tonight. We also have shovelers filling in some of the thin areas off of Deer Lake. Based on what I saw today, I expect conditions to be relatively good through out that first 18km section, but will give you more information tomorrow. Regards, Jon Mommaerts
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| 2010-01-27 | We are currently running our second groom from Deer Lake to the Dead River Basin. Overall that stretch looks fine, we had a couple of small wet areas that we shoveled snow on, but this stretch should be fine and it is predominately icy snow mixed in with an inch or two of fresh snow. The Deer Lake and Dead River Basin crossings are very firm, now that we had this cold weather. The good news is that the crossings have plenty of ice for safe crossing, the bad news is that the crossings have lots of ice and snow is
not sticking to it well, now. We plan to keep scraping those crossings with our Ginsu groomers with the hope that some snow will accumulate in there. Fortunately, these crossings are relatively short. Once you come off the
Basin, we will again enter through Anderson's camp and onto North Basin Drive for a 200 meter stretch. This stretch is an active road for the local residents and it has been hit hard by the warmer weather. The good news is that we are flagging off a 4 foot wide path on the north edge of that road for that 200 meter stretch. It should be in very good shape for classic
skiers but a bit narrow for skaters. But again, only a 200m section. The snow depth should be good over that 200m. Heading into Granite Pointe from there on (32km to go mark), the snow depth is very good and the conditions are excellent all the way to the 5km to go section in town. From 5km to 3km, the trail is covered but slightly hard and icy. We do plan on scraping that with the groomers a bit more so we expect this 2km flat section to be good. The final 3 km to the dome have a solid icy base. We have a front
end loader and two hauling trucks scheduled for 7:30AM on Thursday to haul good clean snow (from the Dome roof...tons of great snow!!!) to those icy areas in the final 2km's. We do have another inch or two of snow in the forecast, if that comes, we will be in excellent shape the entire way. If it doesn't come, the trail will still be in very good condition from start to finish. More updates to come as we have them... |
| 2010-01-26 | The Noquemanon trail is in the final preparations for the races this Saturday. The water crossings have been packed and holding well after the freeze we have had within the last 24 hours. The entire system has been groomed with the final eight hour groom set for Friday night. On Wednesday morning we will be machine grooming the final 5km into the dome. When that is complete we will know if we need to haul in any snow. Regardless, we will be finishing at the dome. More updates as we gather information. |
| 2010-01-25 | The weather in Marquette this past weekend was “Michigan Weather.” Saturday the trail was wicked fast. Then Sunday it was warm and rainy. We still have good snow coverage throughout the trail despite the rainfall we had near the lake. Some snowfall was accumulated in the higher ground during the middle of the day on Sunday. We will update you on Tuesday, once we get another full assessment of the trail. |
| 2010-01-21 | For our MGHS marathon skiers, the course has been pre-packed from Al Quaal to 510 and looking great. PLEASE BE ADVISED that this portion of the trail is privately owned and not open to the public until race day. Absolutely NO Pre-skiing.
The Noquemanon trail snow depths are holding steady at 6 inches in the city of Marquette, to 18 inches in Granite Point and 12 inches in Ishpeming. Regular grooming has been in process on the lower Noque from 510 to Forestville since December 1st. Grooming to Tourist Park has been steady and the ponds are frozen and holding nicely. This week if we receive 6 inches of snow, we will be breaking trail from Tourist Park to the NMU Dome.
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| 2010-01-20 | The Noquemanon trail snow depths are holding steady at 6 inches in the city of Marquette, to 18 inches in Granite Point and 12 inches in Ishpeming. Regular grooming has been in process on the lower Noque from 510 to Forestville since December 1st. Grooming to Tourist Park has been steady and the ponds are frozen and holding nicely. This week if we receive 6 inches of snow, we will be breaking trail from Tourist Park to the NMU Dome.
For our MGHS marathon skiers, the course has been pre-packed from Al Quaal to 510 and looking great.
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| 2010-01-08 | The Noquemanon trail will be opened up from the Forestville trail head to 510 for a great Saturday ski. The trail from Forestville to Tourist Park will be groomed as well, please be safe as you cross the ponds, some standing water on top of the snow is present.
This year we are working on growing this event, mainly by providing increased racer services and benefits. Some of the additions for 2010 will be a new Marquette Sports Medicine Institute 12k, a 15 mile/10k snowshoe, a pasta feed on Friday night, (inside the dome) and additional busing to and from our events from select hotels.
If you’re not skiing and would like to be a part of the festivities please email info@noquemanon.com to volunteer with a great group of people!
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| 2010-01-05 | All trails groomed by volunteers last night. Groomed and tracked from Forestville to Tourist Park, then from Forestville up to the 14k mark. As well as all the interior loops. Groomers are going out this morning to freshen up tracks as another couple of inches have fallen through out the night.
Ponds are still a bit soft but we have been utilizing the bypass.
Sending out snowmobiles to pack above 510 to Al Quaal very soon. |
| 2009-12-11 | The Noquemanon has been rolled groomed and tracks set from Forestville to the 19K.
It is in great condition for the official first groom of the season, no need for rock skis. Plans to groom again tonight are being set. Winter is officially here!
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| 2009-09-28 | The 12th annual Marquette General Health System Noquemanon Ski Marathon and mBank Half Noque is set for Saturday, January 30, 2010. The $58.00 September 30th first cut off date is fast approaching. Then $68.00 until November 30th.
Visit noquemanon.com. |
