Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival cancelled for lack of snow

The last thing the organizers of the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival wanted to do was cancel the premier cross-countryskiing event.

"We hung on until there was virtually no chance of us being able to run the event," said Glenda Hanna, the general manager of the event.

But mother nature left them no choice.

"We're done. There's nothing we can do. It's not something we're in control of," said Hanna.

• Birkie course shortened due to frigid temperatures
• Cross-Country Skiing History
• Gary Gibson, 84, to compete once more in Birkebeiner ski race

With this year'sabnormally warm winter causing icy conditions and insufficient snow the festival just couldn't get their trails up to their high standard.

Hanna said theydecided to cancel the event as soon as they knew it wasn't possible to hold an enjoyable race to give people the ability to change their travel plans.

"It became clear relatively quickly last week that we wouldn't be able to do our traditional routes from the Ukrainian Cultural Village to the Wakahegan staging area without a lot of human hours and snow farming to get the trail up to snuff.

"Even then they would be not super enjoyable to ski."

The event, warmly referred to as the Birkie, has been held since 1985.

Growing in popularity throughout the years the event now typically welcomes about 2,000 skiers from all over, making it the largest cross-country skiing event in Canada.

The premier event is the 55 kilometres Birkie. The race recreates an old Norwegian legend that tells the tale of two warriors rescuing a prince during a civil war in 1206, and traveling 55 kilometres to safety.

The Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival is just one of three Birkies in the world.

84-year-old skier in a Birkie category all his own

10 years ago

Duration 3:47

In 2015, Garry Gibson, AKA Gibber, was one of the only competitors in the 80 to 90 age category at the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival outside Edmonton. Gibson passed away in October 2021.

This cancelation is not the first, in fact, it's the fourth in the race's history. The Birkiehas been cancelled twice for cold weather, including the last time in2008, when temperatures reached -40 C on the day the event took place.

No decisions, as of now,havebeen made regarding the festival's other eventssuch as the Vikings' Feast.

As for thisyear's weather, Hanna saidit's not something warmly welcomed by skiers.

"It's been a tough winter for everybody that likes cross-country skiing."