Birch Legacies

Send us Fan Mail Years ago a small band of women in the Hayward area formed what became the Ski and Tea training group. Since then it has grown to include hundreds of women who support each other year-round and in various ways. First and foremost, it creates a community. Every Friday they gather in groups from a few to fifty to ski, run, bike, listen to a speaker, or just workout according the day...

Send us Fan Mail Years ago a small band of women in the Hayward area formed what became the Ski and Tea training group. Since then it has grown to include hundreds of women who support each other year-round and in various ways. First and foremost, it creates a community. Every Friday they gather in groups from a few to fifty to ski, run, bike, listen to a speaker, or just workout according the day...

Send us Fan Mail Nancy Bauer has built a life around skiing. Through their family ski adventures, a cabin near OO, high school, college, club, World Cup and even Olympic competition, the Bauer family has done it all. After 25 Birkies and 10 Korte's, Nancy continues to mentor, coach, volunteer and grow the sport through her tireless dedication and love for skiing. Nothing gets her more excited...

Send us Fan Mail Jim Coors had a question. How does Birkie performance change with age? As a Birchlegger (36 birkies) Jim was in a unique position to find the answer. He is an agronomy professor with a lifetime of experience analyzing large data sets. Jim took the last 25 years of publicly available Birkie results, crunched the data, and found answers to his question and even answered a few more....

Send us Fan Mail College buddies, Mike Sund and Scott Clements first took on the Birkie challenge as UW Madison students. Now, about to ski their 38th Birkie over 40 years later, they reflect on the meaning the Birkie has brought to their lives. Through several moves, now grown families, and cabins in the Hayward area, both Mike and Scott are committed to keeping the Birkie flame burning brightly...

Send us Fan Mail Winning the Birkie once puts you into the history books. Winning the skate Birkie, the classic birkie, and both the skate and classic Korte's makes you a legend in the long history of this great event. Kelly Skillicorn is the only person to have won all four major Birkie events. Another aspect of her feat is that her two Birkie wins were 20 years apart: 1988 and 2008. Kelly&a...

Send us Fan Mail Kurt Schroeder of LaCrosse, Wisconsin is the perfect example of a Birchlegger who just enjoys the year-round camaraderie of like-minded people who want to stay fit. His 'EMAG' group in LaCrosse is an inter-generational bunch of men and women who will go out with headlamps at 5:30 in the morning to bike, ski and run together. Kurt's philosophy is to just enjoy the ex...

Send us Fan Mail My guest, Duncan McLean was too young to ski the first Birkebeiner in 1973, but he skied, and won, the first 'Korteloppet' that day, before it was called the Korte. He has some fantastic memories of the early days of the Birkie and the people who were there to create what we see today. Duncan has a real reverence and sense of gratitude for those who helped him see the jo...

Send us Fan Mail Jerry Poling is the author of the new book " American Birkebeiner: The Nation's Greatest Ski Marathon " published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. A Birchlegger himself with 25 Birkies and 4 Kortes under his belt, Jerry is the perfect person to chronicle the Birkie's first 50 years. He is an experienced journalist and has written four other books.  We...

Send us Fan Mail Ian Duncan's journey to the Birkie start line is pretty unusual. There probably aren't many Edinburgh, Scotland boarding school students who end up skiing 39 Birkies. Even fewer who can count Bjorn Daehlie as a friend. Dr. Ian Duncan has spent his life working to find solutions to Multiple Sclerosis and other brain disorders in his career at UW Madison. His research is o...

Send us Fan Mail From his youth in western Massachusetts to living in northwestern Wisconsin, Jim Kelley probably wouldn't have scripted it this way. But, a chance encounter in Florida led him to move across the country to become a Birkie skier - now a Birchlegger with 27 Birkies under his belt -  who thinks about the Birkie everyday. Jim is a very accomplished runner with a background in wil...

Send us Fan Mail Scott Cooper's commitment to the Birkie is hard to match. From naming his son Birk to employing a Birkie clause in his will, Scott's 40 Birkies are just one part of the story. He has made the Birkie a central part of his life and his family and friends share in the experience in many ways. _______________________________________________ Welcome to the Birch Legacies podc...

Send us Fan Mail John Kotar is a Birkie Founder, creator of the Birchleggings Club, and former member of the ABSF Board of Directors. He completed the Birkie 39 times, as well as the Canadian and Norwegian Birkebeiners, many World Loppet races, and innumerable local and regional races. His story is a unique one and his perspective is at once personal and universal to every Birkie skier. I think yo...

Send us Fan Mail Travis Hinck graduated from Park Center High School in 2001. He has skied every Birkie since then and now has 23 Birkies under his belt. This makes him one of the youngest class of Birchleggers. In those years his life has evolved like so many in his age group. He now has a young family and his approach to skiing the Birkie has evolved as well. I think most skiers can relate to th...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Schaefer is a Sports Medicine physician who grew up in Northern Wisconsin but has spent his entire adult life skiing in the Cleveland, Ohio area. He has managed to train for and ski the Birkie 26 times and even spent some years in the elite wave. His dad skied 33 Birkies and both his parents were expert skiers who encouraged his whole family to get outdoors year-round. Mic...

Send us Fan Mail Terry Berry skied 41 Birkies and lived his life like so many Birchleggers - skiing, training, and creating a legacy for others to appreciate and to follow. Terry's wife, Diane shares stories from their time together and how she and Terry, along with family and friends, created memories they'll never forget.  _______________________________________________ Welcome to the...

Send us Fan Mail Kim Rudd is a parent, a coach, an adventure travel leader, and an elite wave Birchlegger! In every role she aims to inspire and empower others to enjoy the outdoors and all the challenges and the beauty one can find there.  Kim has found the balance necessary to ski fast while being grateful for the ability to be in the woods flying along the trails wherever they take you. Kim&apo...

Send us Fan Mail In 2004 after preparing to ski his best Birkie ever, Thom Gerst had one of the most memorable Birkies he could have imagined. Just not the way he thought... Listen to Thom tell his story of the one-ski Birkie as first published in the Birch Scroll that year. Thom then tells us what he has been up to since then and how he keeps active in his post-Birkie life. ______________________...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we speak with Kitty Earl-Tornianen who has been an elite wave skier for many years even as she has reached Birchlegger status. Kitty shares her year-round commitment to staying fit and continuing to compete at the highest level. Spoiler alert: it takes hard work and dedication to doing the hard things. As she says, "It's fun because it's so hard!&quo...

Send us Fan Mail Jeff Ingram is a year-round silent sports athlete who counts biking as his number one sport. However, once he took up skiing the Birkie as a way to stay in shape over the winter, he was hooked on the experience. Jeff shares some of his favorite memories about those early Birkies and how he has "done everything wrong" over the years. Jeff's story demonstrates that ev...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I interview my good friend Gary Gerst, who got me started on my Birkie journey. Gary shares stories of his first Birkie, a helpful Norwegian, and wool knicker envy. In 2025 he is skiing his 45th Birkie from wave 35.  Gary has a great perspective on what it takes to finish the Birkie and how his priorities have changed over the years. He also shares some of his succ...

Send us Fan Mail Our first episode features Paul Thompson, the President of the Birchleggings club. Paul is a great example of a Birkie skier who has turned his passion for the outdoors into a platform to improve the world. Paul uses his voice to draw attention to preserving the health of winter so that generations of skiers can continue to enjoy our beloved race for another 50 years and beyond. P...