Miles-Klehini Ski Classic
Roughly 30 skiers ventured out to 25 Mile Sunday for the 40th iteration of the Miles Klehini Classic. Skiers completed the 10-kilometer course under what many described as ideal conditions: a slate-gray sky gave way to full sunlight just as most skiers finished and moved onto the hotdog-and-hamburger course of the event. Jim Stanford, who has participated in all but three Miles Klehini classics, laid down fresh track the morning of the event after roughly 1.5 inches of fresh snow fell overnight.
The event has evolved over time, organizers, including Stanford and Jane Pascoe, said. This year, the event had no timing and no prizes — less of a competitive race and more of a gathering. But that’s what keeps people coming out, Pascoe said.
“The camaraderie is great, just being out with your neighbors and the community. And all the work that goes into the grooming — you want to utilize it.”
While some lamented having to hang tough through the monster snowfall of last month,
according to veteran skiers like Pascoe and Deb Stanford, who skied her fifth day in a week, and 11th day in two weeks, the skiing should be improving as the days get longer.
First-time attendee Kate Gallatig said the event was a welcome reprieve from being stuck inside.
“I’m still excited about winter, ” Gallatig said. “If we have more snow and it stays cold I’ll be excited.”
Winterfest
Haines’ annual Winterfest celebration at the fairgrounds featured the best parts of the ongoing winter Olympics: a live Olympic anthem rendition (from Tom Morphet on the trumpet), an Olympic torch-lighting ceremony (a flare on a stick), and a series of high-adrenaline races, including a four-person ski race and a snowshoe race. Also featured was something one likely wouldn’t see at the official games in Italy: a chili cook-off.
The chili cook-off was one of the day’s biggest draws, featuring a table of slow cookers filled with homemade chili. That made the cold walk to the fairgrounds worth it, said Cody Smith, who voted Arnold Duvernay and Shelley Gasch’s chilis the best tasting of the bunch. In fact, Duvernay and Gasch brought two different types of chili, and Smith voted them first and second.
Voters had all sorts of criteria for the chili, though many were like Jeremy Reed, who said he was looking for some goldilocks zone of “flavors and spice — the combination of the two.” In the end, there was broad agreement on Duvernay and Gasch’s cooking, with the two indeed securing both first and second place.
“Slow cooking is key,” Duvernay said of their process. “Simmer it, let the flavor soak in. Taste it on occasion. And, as always, cook with love.”
Editor’s note: Jane Pascoe is the business manager for the Chilkat Valley News; our editorial and business departments operate separately.