Project Connect Nordic Day
3rd Annual
February 11, 2023 9:00am – 3:00pm
Register Today – RSVP and qualify for gifts
The Annual Nordic Ski Relay
On February 11th, 2023, the Project Connect Nordic Day will be held. This is a unique opportunity to ski any and /or all four of the Ironwood Nordic trails in one day. ABR Ski Trails, Miners Memorial Heritage Park, Iron Belle Trail and Wolverine Trails. Participants set their own courses as far or as short as they liked, gathering tokens along the way to be entered into a raffle at Cold Iron after the event. The more you ski, the more tokens (& raffle tickets) you can obtain. The event was a fun, family format, not a timed race. No event fees (tax deductible donations appreciated).
CONNECTING the Nordic Trails
The event grows each year as more skiers realize the chance to take advantage of this unique opportunity to ski areas normally not available or connected. Endurance skiers look forward to the rare opportunity to ski end-to-end. Other skiers also enjoy the ability to ski portions, especially the connections, for a change to their normal ski outing. Come out and enjoy the vision and CONNECT with your Nordic ski community.
Mark your calendars for the next annual Nordic ski event — February 11th, 2023!
CONNECTING The Nordic Community Together
This Nordic day of skiing demonstrates how cross country skiers can navigate through local trails connecting from Erwin Township all the way to Ramsay, and showed how close the community is getting to completing these connections. Once per year we celebrate the opportunity to contiguously ski all 4 trails systems. Volunteers work together to groom and connect these trails showing the reality of this vision.
Supporting Our Vision
The Anderson Bluff & River Trails Foundation’s vision is to “Sustain the ABR legacy as the mid-west nordic ski destination and connect ABR Trails to the greater community“. This event is to showcase this connection vision.
The cross country skiers were so generous last year with their donations, and thousands of dollars were raised. Donations went towards Project Connect to fund enhancements to the Woodward Trail on the Foundation land.
Thank you to our 2023 sponsors for providing the prizes!
Cold Iron, Hobby Wheel, Abelman’s Clothing, Contrast Coffee, Dunham’s Sports, Hitt’s Fine Furniture, Rigoni’s Bakery, Suffolk Streer Eatery, European Treats, White Rabbit, Wolverine Trails and ABR Ski Trails.
Post-Event Festivities February 11, 5-7pm
The after party will be once again be hosted at Cold Iron Brewing, where skiers will exchange the tokens they collected along the trails for raffle tickets. The raffle winners were able to pick from an array of prizes provided by our sponsors. It was a great opportunity to win some fun prizes and share ski stories.
Work Bee November 20th – pre season
Packing/ freezing the Woodward Trail – SISU course
Big thanks to ABR for packing a portion of the SISU Trail. The trails are freezing down nicely. The SISU Trail north of Norrie Park Road, presently named the Woodward Trail, is now owned by the Anderson Bluffs and River Trails Foundation thanks to a land donation by Eric Anderson & Angela Santini. Come and see the new road crossing moved east to be safer. There have been several work bees clearing the Trail, but it looks like one more is needed to complete trail clearing after the last snowfall.
When/ Where: Sunday November 20, 9:00-12:00, Meet at Norrie Park entrance
What: Bring yourself & safety equipment – chain saw, brush saw, brush clippers.
Why: To create a better connection from Norrie Park to Ironwood Trails (Miners Memorial Heritage Park). Currently called the Woodward Trail – part of SISU course.
Who: Volunteers from near and far. ALL WELCOME – no Trail experience required.
Please RSVP so we can plan our work scope/ teams and resources properly. Email us at AndersonFoundation13@gmail.com
ABR Inc and the Anderson Bluff and River Trail Foundation appreciate our partnership with the City of Ironwood in relation to recreational trail development and maintenance in Norrie Park. We were granted approval September 26 to update our agreement to include a map amendment allowing an additional 1.39 miles of trails in Norrie Park. The purpose for these new trails are many, including providing additional year-round recreational opportunities, offering an improved course for the SISU Ski Festival race, improving trail maintenance, creating a safer crossing of Norrie Park Road and better aligning the Norrie Park trail system with the vision of the city to extend trails from Norrie Park to the Miners Memorial and Iron Belle Trails.
ABR Inc started phase 1 construction of the trail September 27 donating time and equipment. The Anderson Bluff & River Trail Foundation organized several fall trail work-bees to do phase 2 consisting of final root / rock picking, final brushing clipping, seeding & mulching. We are looking for trail enthusiasts excited to participate.
These are the great volunteers that have helped.
- Friends of the Anderson Bluff & River Trail Foundation
- Friends of ABR Ski Inc.
- Friends of Wolverine Trail
- Friends of Iron Belle Trail
- Friends of SISU Ski Fest
- Friends of the Miners Memorial Heritage Park
- Friends of Gogebic Range Health Foundation
Thank you in advance.
Upcoming Events — Fall 2023
A work bee is planned for the fall of 2023 on the Norrie Park Connector Trail, donated to the Anderson Bluffs & River Trails Foundation.
Influencing Future Plans
After this event, the Foundation will be able to better inform future plans to connect ABR to other ski trails, and make decisions concerning the first phase of Project Connect. Initial feedback would indicate that the focus will be on better connecting the north end of ABR to Norrie Park and the south end of the Miners Memorial Heritage Park (MMHP).
Mark your calendars for the next annual Nordic ski event — February 11th, 2023!
PAST EVENTS
Nordic Ski Relay – February 20, 2021
The Anderson Bluffs & River Trails Foundation Inc. conducted a fun cross country ski relay on February 20, 2021, from ABR Ski Trails in Erwin Township and finished in Ramsey via the interconnecting local trails. This relay was divided into six segments and relay captains were organized into small ski teams to complete that portion of the trail. Teams complied with COVID-19 safety protocols with no pre/post race events. Captains are also Directors on the Foundation’s board. The captains invited a small group of skiers to ski in their relay leg.
The seven relay legs were:
- Eric Anderson & Angela Santini — starting leg at ABR.
- Melissa Santini – to Sulu’s (Highill) warming cabin at ABR.
- Chris Halverson – loop around Wolf Tracks trail at ABR.
- Will Andresen – to Jack Pine Trail to Norrie Park gate.
- Scott Erickson & Rich Scott– to Foundation land (Woodward Trail) to Miner’s Memorial Heritage Park Trail to Iron Belle Trail intersection with Easy Street.
- Melanie Fullman – Iron Belle Trail intersection with Country Club Road across US 2 to Wolverine Nordic Trails spur.
- Randy Ahnen – Iron Belle Trail from Easy Street to Ramsey finish line.
This relay helped support the foundation’s future plans to better connect ABR Trails to other ski trails.
Learn more about the projects that are bringing these trails together.
Anderson Bluffs & River Trails Foundation Inc. 