New trails to try

Cross-country skiers have new tracks to try east of Chewelah this season with 49 Degrees North emerging as the region’s latest nordic skiing destination.

A stylish new warming yurt just below the alpine ski area parking lot anchors a 15-kilometer groomed trail system with wide routes – perfect for classic track skiing or skating – that can be maintained by the same groomers that tend the alpine slopes.

“Basically, this is phase two of a five-phase plan,” said Doug Elledge, a long-time 49 Degrees ski patroller and one of region’s pioneers for patrolling the alpine slopes on telemark skis.

To generate interest, the resort is simply asking for donations rather than setting a trail fee.

In the past, cross-country skiing was an afterthought at 49, with grooming on roads that had little topographical appeal.

Last year, the nordic center opened with a concentrated and rough-cut 7 kilometer trail system. The trails were nearly doubled during the summer as contract trail designer Tammy Magnuson and Keith Wakefield, Colville National Forest winter recreation specialist, clawed their way through the thick timber and brush to lay out the expanded system.

The new trails are on a north slope that get good snow coverage but little wind, a factor that paid off recently. Wind storms that dropped dozens of trees across trails at Mount Spokane had little effect on the 49 Degrees trails.

The new trails area in a stand of trees on national forest land that needed to be thinned for fire control. But instead of letting the loggers build the normal gentle grade roads to access the trees, Magnuson and Wakefield designed timber access roads with ups and downs would create challenges and interest for skiers during winter. Then they connected them with corners and links designed purely for skinny skiers.

Check out the design of the double switchback in the Nordic Way Loop, for instance. “We call it Dick’s Double Dilemma,” said Wakefield, explaining that the grading scheme is derived from trail designer Dick Kendall, father of the trails at White Pass near Yakima.

The speed a skier picks up in the tight turns is moderated with a short stretch of relief as the trail flattens somewhat before taking the next plunge.

In the next several years, the resort plans to enhance the current trails, expand the system and add connectors to the still existing road-grade trails for a total system of about 27 kilometers.

“Ultimately, there will be something for everybody,” Elledge said, noting that the traditional East Basin Road route will take on new meaning. “The resort has plans to make a small village with amenities at the bottom of the new Sunrise Quad lift. That means cross country skiers will be able to ski in 6 miles, have a latte, and then ski back.”

Nordic skiers who want to trudge high and blast down can still follow a groomed route all the way to the top of the chair lifts at Chewelah Peak.

Meantime, first-time skiers might want to head out from the warming yurt on the new Hoot Owl Loop, a moderate 2.7 kilometer route that builds elevation with several short climbs and then descends gently with a couple of interesting corners back to its intersection with the longer Cedar Trail Loop.

Skiing the 10.7 kilometers of new trails makes a pleasant morning of discovery on a system that’s just emerging from it’s infancy.

“My hat’s off to John Eminger (owner of 49 Degrees North) for having the patience and faith to make this happen,” said Wakefield as he skate-skied over a short stretch of trail that’s temporarily built on logs dropped over a wet area. “Next year we’ll have culverts in here to handle the water, but all of this requires design and permits. These are headaches he could have avoided as he expands and develops the ski area, but he truly believes this is a valuable new service for his customers.

“And this year, he bought his first pair of cross-country skis.”