Frozen lakes, gear swaps and a low-key ski race provide weekend options

As Anchorage speeds toward winter, ice skaters are hitting local lakes, skiers are waiting for more snow or heading to Hatcher Pass, and bargain hunters are in business.

Two ski swaps are happening Saturday afternoon, one at the Alaska Airlines Center and one at Kincaid Park. The former will offer a chance to support a UAA ski team that's on life support and the latter will provide an opportunity to meet an Olympic gold medalist.

On Saturday morning, cross-country skiers itching to race can head to Hatcher Pass, where the Mat-Su Ski Club is staging its annual Race to the Outhouse at 10:30 a.m.

"Archangel Road is skiable," club member Ed Strabel said Friday.

The same can't be said for Anchorage's ski trails. Rain and above-freezing temperatures ruined most of last month's snow, and it hasn't been cold enough or dry enough to make snow at Kincaid Park, said Tamra Kornfield of the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage.

Skaters are in better luck. They're venturing onto the ice at a number of lakes, even though a park superintendent for the city said the ice isn't thick enough yet to plow or hot mop.

Josh Durand said lakes have about 2 inches of ice. Maintenance operations require 12 inches, he said.

"Right now we don't have any ice that is ready to use," Durand said in an email Friday. "If temperatures stay below freezing we may be able to open the ice rinks at Tikishla Park next week."

For cross-country skiers, the best option right now is a 3-kilometer stretch of groomed trail on Archangel Road at Hatcher Pass.

"The high school teams are going on up there on a regular basis and folks are coming out from Anchorage to ski," Strabel said. "It was a problem when it was soft with people walking on it and dogs walking on it and punching through, but now it's pretty much bullet-proof."

The wide road can accommodate both classic and skate skiers. Both techniques will be allowed for Saturday's race, which starts and ends near the Archangel Road parking lot. The 6K race is free and low-key, Strabel said.

In Anchorage, the NSAA will hold its season kickoff at 4 p.m. at Kincaid Park. The ski swap will run from 4-5:30 p.m. at the ski bunker and a winter expo will be held at the same time in the chalet. A pot luck dinner begins at 5:30 p.m.

On hand will be special guest Bill Demong of Park City, Utah — the greatest nordic combined athlete in U.S. history.

A five-time Olympian who retired at the end of last season, he's America's only Olympic gold medalist in nordic combined, which requires athletes to ski jump and cross-country ski. Demong won gold in the individual event and silver in the team event at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and he owns four World Championship medals — one gold, one silver, two bronze.

At the Alaska Airlines Center, the UAA ski team and the Alyeska Ski Club will co-host the annual AK Ski and Winter Gear Swap from noon to 5 p.m. Anyone wanting to sell equipment must drop it off from 8:30-10:30 a.m.

A fundraiser for UAA and the Alyeska Ski Club, the ski swap comes nine days after University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen announced his plan to eliminate the UAA and UAF ski teams in the face of severe budget cuts.

[Budget ax falls on skiing at UAA, UAF]

Both ski swaps are likely to include a show of support for UAA skiing, said NSAA board member Joey Caterinichio. An online petition against Johnsen's plan — which requires approval by the university's Board of Regents and the NCAA — has nearly 4,000 signatures.