Archive of Year 1
(2006)
18th Colorama Run/Walk Sets New Attendance Record
Raises about $7000 for Lapham Friends


Photo by Joe Gollinger (who also donated the ski package).

586 fitness enthusiasts showed up Saturday, October 7th to enjoy a great event and also to support Lapham Peak Snowmaking. This surpassed Colorama's previous high (achieved in 1999) by almost 100. Two special classes (pole running and CAT Skis) were added this year. These new events, along with the 10 and 5 K runs, fun run, 4 K walk and short Smokey Bear run (kids 10 and under) produced something for everyone - no matter how serious or laid back. And you can see from the picture that the weather was perfect. To view the results, click here.

Private Fundraiser Nets $455

Andy Schwartz's Snowman Triathlon, an informal event he hosts yearly for skier friends, raised $455 for Lapham Peak Snowmaking.  The triathlon, a swimming/biking/rollerski event, held September 24th at Ottawa Lake, featured 15 racers and 7 volunteers.  A new pair of skis, donated by Will Edwards and The Bike Doctor, was the raffle prize that generated most of the donation.


Mary Eloranta receives her new skis from Andy Schwartz.

Lapham Peak Colorama Run/Walk
(Saturday, October 7, 2006)

The 18th Annual Colorama Run/Walk & Smokey Bear Fun Run is the next major Lapham Peak Snowmaking fundraiser. This year's big prize is a complete ski outfit valued at $1143, donated by Joe Gollinger of Chi-Town Sports. Click on link in sidebar to view the details.
Click here for more Colorama Run/Walk information and downloadable registration form.

A New CAT Ski class has been added for this year's Colorama: Join the CAT Ski division for a 5K romp on an easier course around the upper level. There will be a free CAT Ski clinic and all CAT Skiers will be chip timed and receive a Colorama tee shirt.

A History of Colorama: The Colorama Run/Walk has been around for almost two decades. Click here to read a history of this unique event, which is largely the product of one woman's dedication and perseverance.

The Summer Solstice Celebration on Saturday, June 24, 2006 was another fundraising success. A total of $2695 was raised for our snowmaking efforts. The breakdown is as follows:
Silent Auction   $1610
Pancake Breakfast about $600
Sports Seminar  $485

A lot of hard work went into these events and as you know, pancakes don't make themselves. So many thanks to the "usual suspects" who again donated their time, with a special thank you to John Corbin for his innovative idea to include a Sports Seminar, to Sandy Sugden for her successful Silent Auction, and finally to John Lupo's frying and Kris Maki's flipping at the Pancake Breakfast.

Press Release June, 2006
Click here to see our progress and new goals.

This spring's bike swap was a huge success with over $3000 raised for Lapham Snowmaking. A big thanks to John and Kay Corbin who came up with the idea for a swap and were the main driving force in its fruition. And of course some of "the usual suspects" (volunteers from the Friends of Lapham) made the event possible by donating their time and effort.

We are well along after this winter, But we definitely need more donations to take the project into Phase 2. Click here to donate.


Think they'd like to know they could ski all winter?
Photo: Courtesy of Fischer Skis

Would you like to help promote youth (family) skiing? The best way is to have guaranteed snow for the season. There is no healthier lifetime activity and I believe that skiing cements family bonds and certainly keeps kids off the streets. Imagine having your children come home from school excited about going skiing. biking, running or hiking - rather than rushing out of the house to "hang out." But we need "guaranteed snow" to spark this interest in more than just a few diehards. And we're well on our way with the first-year progress of the Lapham Peak Snowmaking project. (See brief history below.)

But we still have a long way to go. Your donation can help immensely.
Click here to make a contribution.

The Birkie was over but we still had skiing.

The snow that was previously made and piled has been used to "patch" the trails at Lapham. So already we've seem the project pay off in more skiing days. (See below for more details of the past progress.)

The donations have been great but we need a lot more to complete the project to have "guaranteed" snow on the entire lighted loop. Click here to make a tax-free donation.

Note: Again the Birkie was won on Trabs, the same ski that one lucky participant will win in a drawing at the Colorama Run next fall - a major fundraiser for Lapham Snowmaking.
Click here to see entire Colorama ski package.

Snowmaking report from John Lupo. (Feb. 12, 2006)

Our efforts are starting to pay off. On Friday night, Ed and Jay were able to start limited snow making operations... We needed 5 more degrees (colder) to make snow effectively that evening. Ed (Muzik - DNR Property Manager of Lapham Peak) slept at the park and started up again at 4:00am on Saturday morning when the temperature was lower. He succeeded in covering a portion of the trail head with a layer of snow. He plans to make more snow between now and Monday for as long as the temperatures permit.

Update from Ed Muzik. (Feb. 12, 2006)
We commenced making snow on Saturday, February 11 at about 5 am after a misty test run the previous night.  We ( Sean Becker and I) ran the system from 5 am to 10 am on Saturday and again from 12:30 am Sunday morning to 8:30 am.Sunday.  We're going to make snow again tonight...

Warm temps are expected again Monday thru Wednesday, with cold temps retruning on Thursday.  Current plans are to have the snowcat (to spread the snow) operable on Thursday.  We'll leave the current snow in piles to conserve it thru the warm spell, make more snow on Thursday and Friday and try to groom it Friday evening.  Currently we've made about 300' of snow and the system was working good, with the best results around 18 degrees wet bulb (colder the better).  Our well water temp was at 50 degrees. (Note: Ideal water temperature is around 32 ºF. But the holding pond is not in yet so...) To run the sytem we have to refill the water tank every 45 minutes and swap fuel tanks on the pump every 4-5 hours.  (Note: We plan to have the holding pond ready for next winter.)

Skiing at Lapham?

For the latest update on ski trail conditions at Lapham, call the hotline at (262) 646-4421 or check the trail conditions by clicking here. To get the trail conditions in the South Kettle, call their hot line at (262) 594-6202.

Lee Borowski

Update from Ed Muzik on the Lapham Peak Snowmaking Project. 1/26/06

"Don and Bob hooked up the motor starters on Tuesday and we were able to have our electrician make a temporary hookup to the ski light box to test the snowguns. I pushed the start button, and the thing started right up! Same with the second gun.  Both guns appeared to be running well and did not seem to need any new bearings or other repairs.  We did not test them with water.  All of pedestals are almost hooked up and the electrician is close to being ready for an inspection.  WE Energies has been contacted for a pre-clearance service, meaning they would install the new equipment, but not energize it until the inspection has been okayed.

The long range Accuweather forecast calls for cold weather on Feb. 7, so that is our new goal to actually run the system.  However, we need some quick service from WE Energies and some good luck to make that goal.  In any case, we getting very close to being able to actually make snow."



Click here to go to the Friends of Lapham Peak website.