STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
The pyramid-like bonfire was stacked so perfectly that you couldn’t wave your marshmallow within two feet of it because it burned so hot.
The bonfire, built near the parking lot at Rotarun Ski Area, symbolized tradition—a tradition that has marked the beginning of the cross-country ski season for Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Nordic athletes for years.
The Nordic skiers typically hold their XC Holiday Bonfire at Lake Creek trails every December. But, with the snow AWOL there this winter, coaches moved it to Hailey’s Rotarun Ski Area where Riley Berman has been hard at work making snow.
There, former Sun Valley Nordic Head Coach Rick Kapala stirred Dutch oven sausage and peppers that participants could eat on skewers, while Coach Martha Pendl laid out graham crackers, Hershey Bar pieces and marshmallows for s’mores.
“We’ve had the bonfire for a while, but it really took off during COVID as a fun thing to do outside—a chance to come together and have fun,” said Kapala.
Kapala wore a faux fur hat symbolizing that the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
Normally, participants would have skied on their skinny skis from one bonfire to two others in a fun holiday relay. Unable to do that, they climbed up the Rotarun ski hill with glow lights in hand and conducted a “Mini-but-Mighty Torchlight Parade” before taking part in fun mini-drag races by the light of the moon.
The kids—among 850 youngsters in the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation--always look forward to setting foot on the snow for the first time each winter. But even more eagerly anticipated is one of the events leading up to the ski season, said Kapala. That would be the first Saturday of each November when they take part in a challenge called Save the Baby King.
It’s a physical challenge that promotes physical endurance and strength, preparedness and teamwork.
During the event Nordic kids form teams that include younger kids working with older kids. They might climb Griffin Butte as part of it, then try to shoot an arrow through a hoop.
Always, they have to carry the Baby King, in the tradition of the Birkebeiner warriors in Norway who carried the young King Hakon Hakonsson on skis to the throne in 1206.
Heaven forbid they should drop the Baby King!
In one instance, the youngsters had to figure out how to make a stretcher and carry a “fallen” team member from the Lake Creek area through town to The Elephant’s Perch.
“The challenge is hard because they don’t know what’s coming next,” Kapala said. “A lot of the kids show up with things like duct tape and carabiners just in case it’s something they might use.”
DID YOU KNOW?
The nation’s best cross-country ski racers are taking part in the US Cross Country National Championships at Soldier Hollow, Utah, this week. And, currently there is just a 1.5-kilometer loop of manmade snow. That means that racers will probably have to put on their running shoes if they want to warm up since there will be no practice tracks.
Fortunately, it looks as if a storm could bring snow to the Utah area by Friday.