Virtual Trail Tour of the Marshall School Nordic Ski Trails

By Dave Johnson
October 1, 2003

Here is a virtual tour of the new nordic trails at Marshall School. The trail was designed by George Hovland. Tom McCabe of McCabe Logging cut the trail. Ricks Tree Service donated a chipper to process the cut material and they donated wood chips for covering the trail. Fred Sproat, a sophmore at Marshall School, coordinated work teams to spread wood chips on the trail and did other projects related to the trail for his Eagle Scout project. I did most of the mowing of the trail and helped with the brush clearing and wood chip spreading. The trail is about 600 meters long. This is the first step of a multi-step project. We hope to eventually have about a 2 1/2 kilometer trail. George designed the trail to be used as an effective teaching trail. It has a wide variety of terrain in a very short area. It is sheltered in a hollow protected from the northwest winds. It does have a fair amount of southern exposure so it may be difficult to keep snow on it late in the season.

The Ely Nordic Ski Club has loaned us their Larchmont Snow Gun. The Duluth Fire Department has donated over 2000 feet of fire hose and Aspen equipment is donating the use of an industrial air compressor. The Larchmont gun is an older technology that uses water at hydrant pressure and then mixes it with a high volume (275 cfm) of air to break up the water into droplets small enough to make snow. After doing a large amount of research, this older system made the most sense. We have a hydrant close to the trail for water and no special pumps or electrical wiring is needed for this system. Our plan is to make snow in a small area at the base of double dip and the road home for early season training. I don't anticipate making snow on the rest of the trail unless snowmaking turns out to be very easy. We did cover almost all of the trail in woodchips to cover up any stumps to make it possible to groom with just a small amount of snow.

We are still in need of a snowmobile and grooming equipment. We can borrow one from Snowflake, but I am working towards the donation or long-term use of grooming equipment. The trail starts and finishes right outside my classroom window and I am anxiously awaiting the first snowfall.

The Marshall Nordic Trails are on school property and at this time will not be open to the general public. Starting in 2004, outside ski teams and groups will be able to use the trail if they have insurance coverage and pay a rental fee.

Map

Photoset

   Photoset (virtual tour) from Dave Johnson (24 photos)

Related links

• Marshall School