{"id":596,"date":"2017-02-25T17:16:40","date_gmt":"2017-02-25T23:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wisconsinverbs.com\/?p=596"},"modified":"2017-02-26T07:41:14","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T13:41:14","slug":"wisconsin-skis-the-2017-birkie-that-didnt-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wisconsinverbs.com\/wisconsin-skis-the-2017-birkie-that-didnt-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Skis: The 2017 Birkie that didn’t happen"},"content":{"rendered":"
This February, a week of springtime temperatures and an inch of rain quickly melted most of the snow in Wisconsin. \u00a0Seven days before the Birkie, I went for a run in Madison. It was 60 degrees so I wore a t-shirt and enjoyed the warmth of the sunshine while knowing that it probably meant the race I was training for wouldn’t happen.<\/p>\n
Maybe we’ll still ski a shortened course, I thought. Perhaps we’ll get a freak snowstorm and even though all the base is gone they’ll be able to rebuild, I thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the week went on, both of those thoughts looked like they could even materialize. After a few days of very warm weather and an inch of rainfall, Birkie Executive Director, Ben Popp, appeared in videos posted on the Birkie’s Facebook Page<\/a> skiing on the icy base near the start of the race in Cable. There was still some snow up there!<\/p>\n There was a winter storm predicted to hit Wisconsin that could leave 4, 8 even 10 inches of snow in Hayward. I thought maybe the race could happen after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n I drove from Madison to Hayward on Thursday night — leaving early enough to beat the storm. Some parts of the state did receive substantial snowfall the Friday before the Birkie, but unfortunately almost none of it hit the Hayward\/Cable area in Northwestern Wisconsin.<\/p>\n