Marshall School Ski Trail Expansion Update
By Dave Johnson
August 26, 2004
The Marshall School in Duluth, Minnesota is a great place
for a Nordic Ski coach to work for many reasons. The first
is for the outstanding terrain that surrounds and belongs
to the school. The second reason is the strong support given
to coaches by the athletic director and other school administrators.
A third reason is the diversity of talent and skills that
parents have and are willing to share with the nordic ski
program.
As regular readers of skinnyski.com know, the Marshall Ski
trails were first put in place last year with a 700 meter
loop directly behind the school. This small loop was used
frequently through out the school year by skiers, phy ed classes
and science classes. It was also the venue for an exciting
sprint race attended by over 120 high school skiers.
Tony Lockhart the Marshall School technology director teamed
up with ski team parent, Todd Campbell, to design an expansion
that would double the length of the trail. The main problem
was that the path of the trail was right across a sloping
section of exposed ledge rock. Todd Campbell used his skills
as an MnDot Engineer to design a trail to cover the section
of ledge rock. Todd then filled out the necessary permits
and "walked" the permits through the different agencies
that need to approve the process.
With strong support from Nels Nelson Construction, a bulldozer
and fill dirt from a nearby road project was obtained. From
then on the building of the trail was a a dream come true
for a ski coach. With our bulldozer artist and as much dirt
as we needed, we were able to put in about 700 meters of trail
that is about as perfect as a section of trail can be. The
corners are perfectly banked, the slope is challenging but
safe, and the flat sections are level and smooth.
Once the bulldozing was complete, the trail still required
a large amount of hand work. Ski team members showed up on
a daily basis to rake out rocks, spread seed, mulch the trail
and transplant trees. The work goes on, as all who maintain
ski trails know, but it is good honest work with benefits
that you can see.
What is next for the Marshall Nordic Ski Trails? This winter
we will host one high school race, The Marshall Sprints on
Friday, Jan 21. We are also in the running as a primary or
back-up site for a Nor-Am Sprint race. What about trail expansion
phase 3? Todd Campbell has plans in the work for a new section
of trail that would expand the trails to 3.5 kilometers in
length with a total vertical climb of over 120 feet. Anyone
out there have a snowmobile to donate to a good cause? 3.5
kilometers is a long way to groom using snowshoes!
Photos
Photoset from Dave Johnson (25 photos)
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About the author...
Dave Johnson lives in Duluth and teaches and coaches
at Marshall School. He also finds time to help with
the grooming/racing at Snowflake, as well as developing
a short loop at Marshall, and has been the president
of the Minnesota State High School Nordic Ski Coaches
Association.
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