What a difference snow makes.
In 2024, a lack of snow forced organizers of the American Birkebeiner in northwestern Wisconsin to scramble to come up with contingencies for the nation’s largest cross-country ski race. They relied on artificial snow and altered races. Last year, only last-minute snowfall saved the event in full.
Now, the Birkie, including its marathons and related races, could sell out sometime in the next week or so. “Deep, legit Northwoods snow” has been the catalyst, trumpeted the Birkie foundation’s Facebook page.
“It’s a big deal to see winter back,” Ben Popp, American Birkebeiner executive director, told the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Registrations were soft in late autumn, he said, but the early snowfall during the Thanksgiving holiday week, followed by more accumulation, changed the dynamic.
“There has been a huge outpouring,” Popp added. “We’ve gone from zero to hero.”
A lack of snow has canceled the Birkie twice since it began in 1973; the last time was 2017. The event generates about $6 million of spending in the Hayward area, he said.
Interest in the main event isn’t the only marker of winter sports enthusiasm. Good conditions have driven skiers to the Birkie trail system in Cable, Wis., for weeks now — many of them Minnesotans who account toward the approximate 15,000 skiing during Birkie week Feb. 18-22. Overall, including families, spectators and volunteers, about 40,000 people on average swarm the area, according to organizers.
