Maria Stuber (National Silver Medalist)
to give 2 clinics at Lapham
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Lapham’s own Maria Stuber, fresh from a second place finish at this year’s cross country ski Nationals, will be back in the area to give two skating clinics on roller skis. The first (June 23, 2009, 6 P.M.) is for ladies only; note this is the correct date - the date on the following flyer is incorrect. Lapham Women's Clinic Flyer 2009 The second clinic, Thursday (June 25th, 6P.M.) is open to all. Lapham Clinic Flyer 2009 Maria was also named the May Athlete of the Month by Silent Sports. Click here for more thorough update on Maria’s accomplishments.


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Click here for more details.
U.S. Nordic Skiers Have Best World Championships or Olympics, EVER!
What is the Lapham Connection?
Keep reading. The architect may surprise you.
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This is a photo, from the 80’s, of young teenaged racer, Luke Bodensteiner, and he is the connection. Luke, recently promoted to Vice President of Athletics for the USSA, has been the architect of the US’s emergence into the elite group of Nordic Nations. (For a while, this year, the U.S. was actually leading the medal count at the Nordic Worlds, finally ending up third overall, only behind Norway and Finland. Click here for more complete story.) But wait, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Just what is the possible connection of young Luke Bodensteiner, Lapham Peak and the recent U.S. emergence as a world Nordic power? Well, here is the connection and it’s not nearly as convoluted as the “6 degrees of Kevin Bacon.”

Luke got his start in racing under the lights of Heritage Ridge, back in the early days of Wednesday Night Races. When our Wednesday night ski course became a Walmart, off highway 83, Bob Sandless (owner of Kettle Moraine sports) donated the lights to Lapham Peak. So our lighted loop is a direct descendent of Luke’s early Wednesday Night race course and if Luke were starting now, he’d be racing at Lapham, just like many young skiers now do. (See below to read about this year’s Lapham Peak H.S. State Champs.)

To make a long story short, Luke went on to win many National Championships, was an NCAA ski champion, and two time Olympian (’92 & ‘94). After retiring from competition, Luke joined the USSA staff in 1996 and became nordic director in 2001, overseeing cross country, nordic combined and ski jumping. During his tenure he was responsible for developing the programs which ultimately led to the present success. Just last March, Luke had been promoted to become associate athletic director of high performance, and then was promoted again to VP of the USSA last November. The USSA's sports include alpine skiing, cross country, disabled alpine and cross country, freestyle, nordic combined and ski jumping, and snowboarding. (To get more details on Luke and the program click on the following links. Link 1. Link 2.)

So who knows what future impact the “lights of Lapham” will be, but you don’t have to go any further than to stop some winter evening to find skiers of all ages who are now enjoying this privilege. And with snowmaking, it won’t be an on-again, off-again affair. (To donate money to the ongoing snowmaking project, click the “Make a Donation” button in the sidebar.)

Peak HS State Champs Use Lapham’s Manmade Snow to Prepare for Madison Sprints
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(Photo by Ed Muzik)

Evidently our Peak Nordic high school team made the most out of Lapham’s manmade snow; both girls’ and boys’ teams finished second in the State HS Sprint Championships. In addition, the boys garnered a first in the Open Division, with the girls again finishing second. Click here for results.

Peak Boys Team Wins State HS Championship
Girls Take Second
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Matt Dugan on way to 2nd overall. (Photo by Dennis Loy)
Click here for Team Photos in 2009 Slideshow

Note: The following is the correct information on the State Championships. If you saw the first posting, there was some erroneous information. Better let Mary Eloranta, head coach, explain it in her own words.
We WON! The boys won by one point over Wausau West! Hayward girls won and a tie between Peak Nordic and Wausau West came down to the 4th girl to break the tie and put the Peak Nordic girls in second place. We put 2 boys and 2 girls in the top ten for the pursuit races. Eddie Gurney, Matt Dugan, Felicia Gesior, Krista White. Peak Nordic is now a club team that accepts athletes from all area schools. We currently have athletes from 6 area high schools. Arrowhead, Oconmowoc, Waukesha West, West Allis, Kettle Moraine and Brookfield. We morphed out of Waukesha West when we were not allowed to accept skiers from other schools on to the team. Donna Hoelz and I have been doing his gig for 9 years and Boyd Coleman for more and we finally got ourselves a State Championship Team! We are happy happy happy!
To view complete individual race results and a gorgeous photoset on skinnyski.com,
click here. In addition, all Wednesday night race results are also posted on skinnyski.com. Note: H.S. races, click here. Adult races, click here.

Lapham Peak’s Whales
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(Photo by Kris and John Maki)

These huge piles of snow are affectionately called Lapham’s whales. Because of the unusual winter, with all it’s natural snow, Lapham Peak’s snowmaking project has largely gone unnoticed. But now that the meltdown is here, things have changed. There is more than enough snow in the whales to cover the manmade loop, once the meltdown is past, and some snow spreading has begun. Click here (or on the button in the sidebar) to check the Trail Conditions page for daily updates. Click here to view the slide show of the snow whales and other snowmaking photos. (2/7/09)

Snowmaking Update
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Ed Muzik installing the underground pipes.
Click here for complete slideshow.

Again, this year, steady progress has been made on the snowmaking project. But again, we’ve had a great year of natural snow, so much of the improvement to Lapham’s snowmaking has gone unnoticed. First, the underground water delivery system has been installed. This will greatly enhance the snowmaking capabilities as much valuable time (during low temperature nights) was wasted moving the above ground hoses. As of today (February 5th) enough snow has been stockpiled and is ready for spreading after the predicted warmup this weekend. I will be updating this site every few days to chronicle the progress of Lapham Snowmaking. ( Lee Borowski)

Loppet HS results and photoset
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Photo by Sean Becker

Click here for Sean Becker’s complete photoset of the HS/middleschool portion of the Lapham Loppet. Thanks again to skinnyski.com for providing a central clearing house for Midwest racing. The reason most of us didn’t know the results and photos were there was because Bruce Adelsman had them posted in a new high school only section. The race race results are also posted on this skinnyski.com HS page.

Chad Tolbert repeats as 2009 Lapham Loppet Winner
Results, video and photoset of race below.
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Photo by John Wilkie.

Katie Brekke was the woman’s winner, edging out last year’s winner Joellen Torresana by 17 seconds. Click here for complete results at skinnyski.com. Click here for the results of the junior race, Meet at the Peak. For an interesting perspective of the race from a mountain bike and ski racer, click here. If you missed the race, the following links will make you feel that you are there. John Wilkie (above photo) and Sean Becker have each posted s photoset of the entire race at skinnyski.com. In addition, Sean has posted a video of the entire race, including the photo finish, which can be accessed at skinnyski.com or youtube. I can’t resist making a comment about the video footage. First the camera work is excellent but secondly, I was a amazed at the “world class” skating technique exhibited throughout the entire field. Worth viewing before heading out to ski, just to get the feeling of exquisite skating.

The Lapham Loppet is on for Saturday January 17, 2009

Great news! The Lapham Loppet has been rescued by this last snowfall. All proceeds go to the Lapham Peak Friends Snowmaking Project. You may now register online by clicking here. Registration is limited to 200. To view the entire Loppet brochure, with downloadable entry blank, click here.

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Photo by John Wrycza from last year’s Loppet.
Find the best current SE Wisconsin skiing conditions!

Looking for the up-to-date snow reports on the internet, where you'll find the latest information from the groomers themselves? Click here to go to this very site, sponsored by The Friend's of Lapham Peak. It features official reports on Lapham Peak, Nordic, Scuppernong, McMiller, Zilmer, Greenbush and Fox Hill. In addition, you can view the latest ski conditions from the eyes the the skiers themselves, and if you'd like, enter your own report.

Roll 4 Snow Rollerski Race 11/08
Lapham Snowmaking Fundraiser
rolando-cuaz

A 28 K rollerski race will start at the Nordic Ski Trail parking (LaGrange, WI) at 10 AM, Saturday, November 8th. Proceeds will be donated to Lapham Peak Snowmaking. For more details click here. I'd also encourage you to browse their exceptional website to see what local skiers are doing.

661 Participants for the 20th Annual Colorama Run/Walk
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Chad Tolbert and Megan Rugowski were top man and top woman at the 20th annual Lapham Peak Colorama 10 K Run.  Jon Waltz and Holly Ochs were the respective winners of the 5 K race.  Again this event was a huge success, earning over $9400 as the principal fundraiser for the Friends of Lapham Peak.  This marked the 20th year for race director Kris Maki, the first and only director the race has ever had.  Click here to view all the results.

Click here for detailed report on the Colorama Run/Walk.
Pipe has arrived!
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The pipe for the snowmaking project was delivered to Lapham Peak on Aug. 14, 2008. John McCarthy, the lead engineer on this project was there to check the delivery. Bob and Jane Misslich posed with the pipe that their $3000 donation helped to buy. (John Lupo)
Note: The instillation of the underground water delivery system, using these pipes, will complete the 1st phase of the snowmaking project. Click here to read about the next step.

Colorama Run
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Smokey Bear Fun Run participants, Jacob and Jenna (race director Kris Maki's grandchildren) pass out water at last year's Colorama 10K Run. The event raised nearly $10,000 for the Lapham Friends. This year will be the 20th for Kris, who's been race director since the start. Click here for a history of Colorama.

This year's event will be held on October 4th, 2008 at Homestead Hollow. The 5K/10K runs and 4K walk begin at 10:00 a.m. The Fun Run, for participants 10 and under begins at 11:25 a.m. Run/walk participants receive a long sleeve, custom-designed T-shirt. Fun Run participants receive short sleeve T-shirts.
Click here for a downloadable registration form.

Extended Hunting Seasons OKed by State Legislature

Fortunately, no hunting is allowed in the Lapham Peak Unit but wear your blaze orange if you plan on skiing over the Christmas week in the South Kettle. Click here for the complete deer hunting seasons in the Chronic Wasting Disease zones.

History of Lapham Snowmaking
Click on the Archives (located in sidebar) for the entire history of Lapham Snowmaking.