SISU canceled again

By Megan Hughes

[email protected]

Ironwood — Due to lack of snow, the Sisu Ski Fest organizers have announced the cancellation of this year’s races and Sisu Expo.

This marks the second year that poor ski conditions has resulted in races being cancelled, with the 2024 races also being cancelled due to lack of snow needed for racers to ski safely along the entire race route.

The announcement was made via a press release by Race Director Jackie Powers on Friday. According to the release, the rain and warm temperatures from the week prior, paired with the cold snap turned portions of the race course to ice, with exposed bare ground in various areas.

“Scant snowfall has failed to make up for the loss of our base. Our snow storage area is void of snow for our nine road crossings, and snow piles along roads and in the woods are full of dirt, sand and rocks, making the point-to-point race into town impossible,” read the release.

During a Monday interview, Powers walked the Globe through the process that organizers go through when deciding if there will be enough snow to race.

“We look at the amount of snow that is on the race course, and the amount of snow we have stockpiled to use on the road crossings, of which we have nine.” said Powers, “And then we look at the weather forecast and the probability of receiving the amount of snow that we would need to have a safe race course and road crossings. Last year and this year the difference between the amount of snow that we needed, and what was in the forecast was quite a big difference.”

“We had been told by Erik Anderson of ABR, he is our chief groomer who helps to prepare the race courses, that we needed six to eight inches of good dense snow that could be packed down,” said Powers, “Which would be about a foot or more of lake effect snow ... We were essentially starting from zero.”

In hopes of moving the race to another location, rather than cancel, organizers had looked into alternate race locations, including solely within the ABR Trails.

According to the press release, “the current 20-25K of trails that ABR has been grooming and skiing have been making skiers very happy. However, they are not suitable for a safe, quality race for 500-800 racers.”

“Their trails are (snowed in) enough to ski, but they are not conducive to actually racing. I hope that people understand the difference. You can ski in poor conditions but you don’t race in those same conditions, because the likelihood of injury or ruining your ski equipment is much greater when you are in a race situation,” said Powers.

When it comes to weather-based cancellations, Powers said that the latest they feel comfortable cancelling a race is eight days prior, which they did this year.

All racers who registered to participate in this year’s races will be able to ski for free at ABR on race day, according to Powers. Racers can pick up their racer packet and tee shirt at ABR on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

Also cancelled is the Sisu Expo, which, due to a lack of projected attendees, organizers decided to cancel, instead planning on using the money they will save to making next year’s event all that much better.

While races are cancelled, organizers still plan to hold the Depot Dash for kids 10 and under in Ironwood’s Depot Park this Friday from 4 to 5 p.m. The event takes place on level ground and requires much less snow than the main races.

The Sisu races plan to return in 2026, should weather allow.

“This year we have to live up to our name and show our ‘sisu’ by enduring this hardship and steadfastly staying the course through the rest of winter and all the seasons until we have another chance next year,” wrote Powers in the release, “We would like to thank members of the race committee, volunteers at the ready, our sponsors, and all the participants who have come every year to make Sisu Ski Fest a premier winter event in our area.”