Ski season kicks off with Turkey Birkie

The American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation is kicking off the start of the ski season. 

The Turkey Birkie is a chance to ski on a 1.2-kilometer loop of machine-made snow. The three-day long festival kicks off Friday, November 28 at Mt. Telemark Village in Cable. 

The Turkey Birkie is an early-season event that utilizes the snow making infrastructure used for the American Birkebeiner that takes place in February. Some of which is the same infrastructure started by Tony Wise,  founder of Telemark Lodge and the American Birkebeiner. 

“He was doing snow making back in the 1950’s before anybody else was, he saw the vision for having an early season opening up on Mt. Telemark on the downhill slopes that he had there. So a lot of the wells that we’re using is the same infrastructure that Tony Wise started well over 60-70 years ago, ”

That’s Shawn Connelly, Marketing and Communications Director for the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. 

Each morning starts off with check-in and coffee, followed by ski demos throughout the day. Friday features an early season skiing session with Team Birkie and Finn Sisu and a fundraising happy hour in the afternoon. 

Saturday will include ‘Glaze of Glory’, a four person relay race that combines skiing… and donuts. There will also be a book signing and presentation with author Jerome Poling, who just published American Birkebeiner: The Nation’s Greatest Ski Marathon last month.

Ski demos will continue on Sunday and the trails will be closed for grooming each day at 5:00 p.m.

Connelly says it’s all about community. 

“Our volunteers make our events a huge success. So everywhere from our community partners, to our sponsors, to our vendors, to our volunteers. Really all of our events, it’s about bringing the community together, and we love to do that around skiing this time of year,” says Connelly. 

All skiers must have a trail pass. More at birkie.com.