Jeff Quam and Arnie Ostgarden caught their passion for cross-country skiing from their grandfathers – Jeff’s near Erskine, Minnesota, and Arnie’s near Fertile, who got them up on skinny wooden skis at the age of 7. Now the two avid skiers are hard at work – or, as they’d call it, “play” – passing their love on to men and women of every age … not only through cross-country lessons and outreach, but as volunteer groomers of the busy downtown ski trail from the Hjemkomst to Davy Park.
“There hasn’t been a lot to do so far,” Jeff says regretfully of the largely snow-free days to date this winter. He and Arnie have been maintaining the largely level 2.5-kilometer trail once a week so far. But there’s always the next forecast, which they fervently hope will deliver a more respectable number of inches.
Arnie and Jeff met through their common love of skiing – not only high-profile events like the Minnesota Finlandia in Bemidji, Birkebeiner in Hayward, Wisconsin, and Vasaloppet in Mora, Minnesota, but the day-to-day pleasures of traversing the banks of the Red River and silent, crystalline local park landscapes. A dozen years ago, they were among the founders of Prairie’s Edge Nordic Skiers, the local group formed to promote social skiing, healthy outdoor activity and (last but certainly not least) improve the ski venues in Moorhead and Fargo.
“One of our first moves was lobbying the parks departments,” Jeff says. “At first, both were kind of resistant. Their staffs are the busiest they’ll ever be exactly when the trails need attention the most – after a decent snowfall. With all the other more urgent snow-removal duties that come up, grooming ski trails was pretty low on the list.”
So they stepped forward. “Beyond nagging them, we realized we could pitch in ourselves and help,” he says.
Moorhead was receptive to their offer, and the partnership of city department and volunteers has flourished. The city has invested in sophisticated grooming equipment, with Arnie and Jeff the go-to people they count on to put it in motion – or would love to, Arnie notes ruefully, if we’d just get more snow.
Arnie explains that the trail must ideally be groomed after two or three inches of the white stuff have fallen, as well as after periods of heavy use. With at least 100 regular cross-country skiers sighted on the wide, flat path on a regular basis, he and Jeff put the total number of occasional users at 300 to 400 – both here and along the newer, wilder trail that winds its way through M.B. Johnson Park, which the two were instrumental in designing. “You can pretend you’re in the wild out there, miles from the nearest city,” he confides, adding that a coyote once kept pace with him there as he groomed it.
Moorhead’s downtown ski trail runs from the south parking lot in Viking Ship Park to the east and north, terminating at Davies Park. What sets it apart from other local venues, Jeff and Arnie agree, is that it’s lighted. That broadens its use from the weekend visits typical of most area trailsto pleasurable week-night skiing. The Prairie’s Edge ski group takes advantage of that diversion after the end of the working day, sponsoring social skiing events everyTuesday evening. Everyone is welcome to join them at 6 p.m. in the Hjemkomst lot.
Grooming the trail is an art in itself – one that sets cross-country ski purposes apart from others who enjoy the winter landscape afoot or on snowmobiles. The men use a tractor version of a snowmobile that’s capable of both powerful pulling and operating in reverse to get unstuck in heavy drifts. They start by dragging a roller packer made from plastic pipe that not only smooths the surface, but lays in grooves that catch and hold the snow. They follow that with the city’s Ginsu groomer. Yes, its blades are sharp as the fabled knives to chop and reconstitute older snow surfaces that have become too hard-packed and icy due to heavy use or the weather’s freezing and thawing.
Packing the 8-foot-wide trail involves accommodating the two competing cross-country styles – classic and ski-skating. For the former, they drag a weighted sled with two 2-by-4s to cut parallel tracks. The latter – a much newer style introduced in the late 1970s – requires the flat surface that now makes up more than half of the groomed deck.
The two are adept at both, but each has his preferences. Arnie, who’s retired from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Becker County, still favors the classic Nordic style, with its wooden skis, complex waxing techniques and regular gait resembling walking or running.
Jeff, who operates JAQ’s Garage here in Moorhead, now prefers the newer, more dynamic sport of skate skiing. The technique is dramatically different, with each ski angled outward as one would with ice skates – an advantage when speed is the object. Skating skis are made of plastic or composite instead of wood; ski-skaters trade the woolen knickers for colorful Lycra racing gear. “The kids just love it,” Jeff notes.
And that has helped the two skiing advocates achieve something they’ve long dreamed of. Both have taught PENS’ January Nordic skiing classes at Edgewood Park for the past 12 years, drawing everyone from middle-schoolers to their elders, and worked tirelessly to encourage Moorhead youth to take up the sport in greater numbers. This year that goal has been achieved with Moorhead High School’s formation of a cross-country ski team. They report cross-country running coach TomDoohr, himself a Nordic skier, was looking for a way to help his athletes stay in condition over the long, cold months.“We like to think we were a part of that,” Jeff suggests.
The team’s practices in Viking Ship Park have brought school district support of trail maintenance. But Jeff and Arnie remain the park district’s stalwarts there, ready – eager, in fact – to groom that popular trail to perfection for their fellow Nordic skiing fanatics.
The oddest twist to their long-time volunteerism, though, is this: They now receive modest paychecks from the city. “We never asked for it, but they insist on paying us,” Arnie confides. “We just take the minimum wage. It’s about their legal liability, I guess.
“But one thing’s for sure. We’d be just as happy to keep on doing this for nothing.”
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For more information on Prairie’s Edge Nordic Skiersprograms, including trail condition reports around the region, go to www.pens-xcski.org or “like” PENS on Facebook.
