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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula Posted March 10, 2002 Text and Photo © 2002 Michele Anderson for Keweenaw Now

Great Bear Chase ski race cancelled

CALUMET -- High winds downed more than 22 trees on the Swedetown Trails Saturday night, March 9, causing officials to cancel the Great Bear Chase cross-country ski race scheduled for Sunday, March 10. The Junior Bear Chase was held as scheduled on Saturday.

Ice covered the branches of these trees in Hancock on Saturday, March 9, while high winds with 50-m.p.h. gusts downed more than 22 trees at Swedetown Trails in Calumet, causing cancellation of the Great Bear Chase cross-country ski race scheduled for Sunday, March 10.

"We groomed the trail twice this morning, and we found more than 22 trees down," said Race Chairman Rick Oikarinen, owner of Cross Country Sports in Calumet.

Oikarinen said groomer Glenn Rowe made two complete runs on the trails in the early hours of Sunday morning, finding 11 trees on his first trip and at least 11 more on the second.

The trees will be cleared as soon as the wind dies down, Oikarinen noted; but race organizers have not yet determined whether or not the race can be held at a later date.

"We're going to have a meeting to see if we can try to re-schedule the race," Oikarinen said on Sunday morning.

The Junior Bear Chase was held as scheduled on Saturday, March 9. Watch for results coming soon.

See Adam Johnson's March 10 photos and story on the race cancellation at his Brockit Solutions Web site.

Northwest winds of 25 to 40 m.p.h., with gusts as high as 50 m.p.h. are expected to continue through Sunday morning in Houghton and Keweenaw counties, while a blizzard warning is in effect for Ontonagon and Baraga counties. See the Weather Channel, Calumet Web site for details. 

As of Sunday morning, 3/10/2002, Michigan state road M28 was closed between Munising and Harvey. For current road conditions, the public is asked not to call the state police. Instead, call 1-800-381-8477.

Power outages of several hours were reported from Houghton-Hancock to Copper Harbor on Saturday.

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