This email was sent to participants on January 5th, 2024
Greetings St Croix 40 participants!
We know that all of you have been patiently waiting for course updates and we’re close enough to the race now that we can start to get an idea of what things will look like.
Before we begin, we want to emphasize that the purpose of SC40 is to test not just your fitness, but your capabilities to survive in the winter. That means that there will never be changes to the required gear or skill checks at the race. You must arrive with all the required gear and ready to participate as normal no matter the course conditions.
We spoke to the park on Thursday January 4th, and there is no appreciable snow anywhere in the park. The current 10 day forecast gives us hope that 3-5 inches of snow will fall between now and race day. However, that is too little snow for the park to groom and so come prepared to traverse a few inches of fresh powder. We won’t know the actual snow depth until the middle of next week and will send out an update then.
Given the conditions there will be no ski division this year. All skiers have already received an email with instructions about how to proceed.
Because of these conditions and the extreme remoteness of certain areas of the park, we have also made the difficult decision to once again use the looped course that we did last year, instead of the full single loop of years past. Your safety is of the utmost importance to us and that means that we need to be able to get to you if you need to be rescued. Without groomed trails, the western side of the park is much more difficult to traverse. Additionally the lack of a groomed trail means that you will have a higher chance of going off course, no matter how well we mark things. We understand that this isn’t the most ideal situation, but we feel that without the capability to use fast moving snowmobiles, it’s too risky for us to try and utilize the entire area of the park.
We have updated the website with the course map and GPX files that you can use if you wish. We will continue to have course markings out as usual, but it’s always good to have a backup.
One final note, the current temperature predictions are for very cold temps. Make sure you are coming prepared to run or bike in single digit (or lower) temperatures (F). Even if we don’t have a lot of snow, the cold can still be dangerous, and those who’ve been with us in previous years can tell you that it’s always several degrees colder out in the park than the nearest city’s forecast.
Thanks for your patience, and we’ll continue to be in touch over the next week with any other updates. In the meantime, rest up and get ready for a wonderful night in the woods.
St Croix Winter Ultra 