Another Birkie-Kortie year under the belt! This year was just as fun, or more, than last year! There were three of us from ICRC: me (KF0DEK), Shane (KD9NJJ), and Rick (KF0RIK). Rick was the new guy, and was set to work with me at the
Gravel Pit checkpoint but, due to a last-minute staffing issue, manned the Hatchery Creek (or “fish farm” or “hatchery river”, depending on the moment) checkpoint himself. He did great, though!
Fortunately, because of the recent snowstorm, course conditions were excellent, and the weather was gorgeous. Pretty cold in the morning, but rapidly warmed up to the lower 20s by the afternoon. Add to that, since Beargrease, I’m a bit better prepared, equipment-wise, and was able to spend the entire two days comfortably outside.
For the uninitiated, the Birkie-Kortie is two days of cross-country ski races. For amateur-radio purposes, our responsibility is to call in drop-outs to race headquarters, as well as other communication backup tasks.
I highly recommend doing this event. Aside from the obvious fun-factor, it builds radio experience (both operational, and coming up with solutions to communication issues).
More at my forum post [here].
This February, I was fortunate enough to participate with a few Ham operators providing communication support for the Kortie/Birkie ski races. More specifically, as it was my first time, I opted to only go up on Friday and help out. I was up there with Shane (KD9NJJ), who originally notified our group of the event, but we were in two different checkpoints.