It was well below zero early one morning in mid-January, and there was Jim Heil of Crystal Lake, out on the middle of the frozen Fox River, thrusting his poles furiously into a thin crust of snow as he skied north toward McHenry for breakfast. The wind chill was numbing in the wide expanses of the river, though the tranquil vista of distant shorelines and peaceful sounds of nature stirring awake were a worthy recompense. Heil hardly felt the cold.
Such is the devotion to their sport of the legions of cross-country skiers in the north and northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Snow has been frustratingly sparse in recent winters, but 1994 brought a welcome thicket of white stuff-albeit accompanied by record-low temperatures-and local trails were once again singing with the clop-clop of nordic skiers.
The sport may be enjoying a modest resurgence, in fact. Heil is the owner of Crystal Lake Ski and Bike Shop and reports that sales of equipment have jumped this year over recent seasons. The owners of Bikes Plus in Arlington Heights and the Cross Country Ski Shop in Aurora say the same thing.
“The last couple of years it seems I’ve had to drive somewhere north to find enough snow to ski,” says Heil, 52, who is a top-flight racer. “It’s been great for a change to have snow right here. We’ve got so many beautiful places in northern Illinois to ski that it’s a shame when you can’t take advantage of them.”
Indeed, from the golf courses and lakefront parks of the North Shore to the converted railroad beds and glacial nature preserves of McHenry County, the region is graced with a vast network of ski trails that rival the best cross-country centers in Wisconsin and Michigan in sheer beauty, diversity and challenge. The only question mark from one weekend to another is the condition of the snow.
“I enjoy skiing for the scenery. If you’re going to live in the Midwest, cross-country is a wonderful way to enjoy the winter season,” says Donna Covi, a Schaumburg resident who is president of the Northwest Nordic Ski Association, which has been staging special events since its start in 1978. “It’s also a great way to stay in shape.”
Cross-country skiing, in fact, is widely regarded as the most aerobic activity on earth, burning more oxygen and calories and requiring more exertion than running, biking, rowing or swimming. While cherubic downhill skiers are a common sight at many resorts, you’ll rarely see an overweight cross-country enthusiast. Quite the opposite, Heil says that when he’s training seriously in mid-winter he has to increase his meals to four or five a day to keep meat on his lean, 5-foot-10-inch, 158-pound frame.
Cross-country is a unique whole-body exercise that galvanizes both the lower body (kicking and gliding legs) and upper body (poling and pushing arms) into simultaneous action. “I run 30 miles a week and do marathons in the summer, but nothing compares with the workout I get on skis in the winter,” says Tony Beyer, 44, a computer systems consultant in Deerfield who races regularly.
Of course, rank beginners don’t have to ski in Beyer’s wake. “You can work as hard as you want in cross-country,” says Mary Ellen Spirek, co-owner with her husband, Richard, of Bikes Plus, which has been outfitting local skiers for 20 years. “If you’re out of shape, just start slow and work yourself into condition. It’s important, most of all, for people to get outside and have fun in the winter. Cross-country is a great way of accomplishing that.”
Manufacturers are making it easier all the time, even for novices. When Spirek started in the business, cross-country meant stiff and clumsy wooden skis and heavy leather boots with little insulation. Today, the skis are fiberglass and lightweight and have been shortened to enhance control, while boots are made of featherweight synthetic materials loaded with insulation. Little is necessary to get started beyond a $10 investment in rental skis and a short lesson from one of Spirek’s instructors on basic glide techniques.
A whole set of equipment-skis, poles and bindings-can run less than $200, making cross-country a cheap alternative to the high-tech $400 skis and chic $200 snowsuits common at upscale downhill resorts. Moreover, downhill requires a trip to distant mountains, while cross-country in northern Illinois can be as close as the park or preserve or even empty schoolyard down the street.
“Downhill got too expensive and too crowded for a lot of people. Those who haven’t tried downhill often can’t relate to it at all,” says Joan Payne, owner of the Cross Country Ski Shop in North Aurora. “Cross-country is something that everybody and anybody can do. The sport is cheap and convenient and fun.”
If it’s so fun, then why don’t we see more cross-country skiers? Those in the know say that, at best, there are perhaps 5,000 to 10,000 practitioners of the sport around all of Chicago. Northwest Nordic has actually been losing members in recent years, while a competing club, the Banana Belt Racers, went out of business entirely a couple of seasons ago.
Cross-country was originally imported to the U.S. by Scandinavian immigrants. In Sweden and Norway it’s the national sport, and top racers are as recognized as Michael Jordan. The initial surge in popularity for cross-country in the U.S. came during unusually heavy snowfalls in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Yet there was no snow at all in January 1993, and conditions were poor for several seasons running before that. “We have a whole generation of young kids now who don’t know what snowy winters are like. We have to find a way to get them enthusiastic,” Payne says.
Another deterrent has been a lack of recognizable stars. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bill Koch of Vermont won major World Cup races all over Europe, capped with a silver medal in the Olympics. But he’s retired now, and his successors are also-rans in international competition. At the Olympics starting this week in Norway, no American is expected to place in the top 10 in any nordic event. Thus television coverage of cross-country will range somewhere between scant and non-existent.
The small numbers, however, are a comfort to many skiers. Cross-country, after all, is about peace and tranquility and even privacy, all in natural settings. It isn’t about long chairlift lines or crowded chalets or television endorsements.
“By quietly exploring trails in the middle of winter, cross-country skiers are seeing the land at a very special time,” says John Shiel, educational services manager for the McHenry County Conservation District. “It’s very instructional, and you have a heightened respect for the environment. With the leaves off trees, the land is stripped away and you see more. You actually learn more about wildlife in winter, too. Their tracks are everywhere like words on a page. With little foliage, in winter the details are less numerous and you can see larger patterns of nature emerging.”
The natural patterns of Lake County have been keeping local skiers enthralled for years. The Lake County Forest Preserve District manages 18,000 acres in 14 developed preserves. The most popular spot for skiiing is the Ryerson Conservation Area in Riverwoods, a 550-acre preserve with parking for 175 cars (open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and about six miles of wooded, flat trails, some of which parallel the Des Plaines River. There is a visitors center next to the main parking lot that offers a nature library and respite from the cold (with bathrooms), though no refreshments are available.
Ryerson, like some other Lake County preserves, has a fragile ecosystem, which means skiing is allowed only with a four-inch base of snow, with nobody allowed to stray from the marked trails. Maps are available, and there is also a volunteer trail patrol to assist with directions. There is also a 24-hour hotline with daily reports on conditions (call 708-367-6640, ext. 165).
“We don’t allow horses, dogs, bikes or snowmobiles at Ryerson. It’s just skiers and hikers, which is part of the magic of the place,” says Sarah Surroz, public information coordinator for the forest preserve district and an avid skier herself. “In good weather it’s not unusual for the parking lots here to fill up.”
Also popular is the Old School Forest Preserve in Libertyville. Comprising 360 acres and six miles of flat trail, it takes skiers past ponds, creeks and sled hills. Most of the paths are six feet wide over crushed gravel surfaces- making the area a favorite for freestyle, or skating, skiers who need plenty of elbow room as they kick their feet out sideways in the same motion used on ice skates.
Old School provides access to the Des Plaines River Trail, a nine-mile route that stretches north through and around Macarthur Woods Forest Preserve (504 acres), Wright Woods (327 acres) and Half Day Forest Preserve (201 acres). The path, by virtue of underpasses, never crosses any major roads. The terminus is nearly adjacent to the Hawthorne Mall at the intersection of routes 60 and 21. “You can ski right to the mall, get off your skis and go have lunch at one of the restaurants,” Surroz says.
For more expert skiers, the 1,669-acre Lakewood Forest Preserve east of Wauconda has nine miles of hilly trails, though half of that length is open to snowmobilers, the nemesis of quiet-seeking skiers. The trails snake through ponds and lakes and also past the Lake County Museum, a center for historical artifacts.
Even farther north, two centers stand out. There is the Van Patten Woods near Wadsworth and the state line, which has seven miles of trails strung over 972 acres (the area attracts many ice fishermen each winter). There is also the Illinois Beach State Park, situated on more than 6,000 acres east of Zion on Lake Michigan.
“Skiing right along the lake usually isn’t very good, because the wind blows the snow away,” says Bob Feffer, an Illinois Beach ranger. “But we have a lot of woods and fields and even sand dunes that make for good skiing. There are about nine miles of trail now open to skiers.”
Skiing in the northwest suburbs is generally over hillier and often less wooded terrain than in Lake County. Popular destinations include the Deer Grove Forest Preserve near Palatine, which includes a six-mile loop through wooded, rolling terrain that presents the skier with the ideal mix of uphill, downhill and flat. A three-mile stretch is frequently groomed extra-wide for skating skiers. The only drawbacks: horse stables nearby ensure that quadripeds are an occasional obstacle, and the Cook County Forest Preserve District is frequently slow to clear parking lots after big snowfalls. Beware of tickets for parking improperly along the main roads.
Both Chain O’ Lakes State Park in Spring Grove and Moraine Hills State Park in McHenry have well-constructed, scenic trails stretching over 10 miles each. Competitive skiers engaged in serious training often turn out at Villa Olivia Ski Center in Bartlett, where they buy rope tow tickets yet are allowed to traverse the modest inclines cross-country style. Villa Olivia has artificial snow-making machines and thus is open late in the season after the real stuff has evaporated.
The McHenry County Conservation District has 28 preserves spread over 8,000 acres that include 35 miles of trails. One of the most popular havens is Glacial Park in Ringwood, which features six miles of trail, much of it up-and-down and rated for advanced skiers only. The Wiedrich Barn off of Harts Road is open on snow weekends offering hot chocolate and the assistance of volunteer ski patrol trained in map-reading and first-aid. There are more beginner trails at the Hollows and Hickory Grove preserves, both near Cary.
“The Hollows was once an old gravel mine, so it doesn’t have the standard old farm topography,” says John Shiel of the conservation district, who is a regular skier himself. “There is lots of wildlife in the area, particularly deer. However, deer are most active at dawn and dusk; if you’re skiing at mid-day you’re unlikely to see them.”
As for the number of skiers, he and others believe the crowds would be bigger if TV weathermen weren’t so quick to encourage their audiences to stay indoors in cold weather.
“If you’re dressed properly and keep moving and stay in the woods away from high winds, you can have fun at any temperature,” says Spirek of Bikes Plus, which offers a regional trail map and regular Saturday and Sunday lessons for its customers.
Some say cross-country also brings a sort of spiritual uplift difficult to describe. “It’s true that skiing can be a physically demanding and even harsh experience,” Shiel says. “But cross-country skiers are rewarded with a very special sensory experience. There is a wonder of winter out there that you come to appreciate on skis. You also form a connection with old-fashioned pursuits and values like self-reliance. There is nothing else like it.”
