Unhappy trails

Bureaucratic snags threaten a proposed Middleton cross-country ski facility

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For the past couple of years, local cross-country skiers had one place to go when Mother Nature was not cooperative: Madison’s Elver Park. Those responsible for snowmaking at Elver had bigger and grander plans for a new trail system that would open this winter in the town of Middleton but, for the moment, those plans appear to be on hold. What that means for eager skiers is still unknown. Whether or how much snowmaking takes place at Elver this year has to be discussed, agreed to and funded by the groups that provided and accommodated it, which all takes time.

Snowmaking at Elver was made possible by Central Cross Country Skiing (CXC) and its executive director, Yuriy Gusev, with a not-insignificant chunk of funding provided by the Madison Nordic Ski Club. Given that the ski club has no budget or paid staff, that means $35,000 and volunteer assistance donated by MadNorSki’s avid skiers. As it happens, their help coincided with two of the worst seasons for snow in recent memory, and Elver’s 800-meter figure eight, while limited in scope, allowed for a full season of instructional, youth and recreational opportunities.

Everyone involved is effusive in their praise of the partnerships that allowed it to happen. “We are sincerely grateful for MadNorSki and CXC’s efforts to assist in providing additional winter recreational opportunities at Elver Park,” says Ann Shea, public information officer for Madison Parks, which covered the cost of associated utilities (approximately $8,000 per year) and provided the park space. “We are committed to our ongoing partnership with both parties that allows us to provide consistent conditions for affordable winter recreation for all.”

For his part, Gusev says, “I love Elver from the perspective that it touches six neighborhoods, and you have everything for winter recreation. It’s an amazing place. For sure it generates interest in cross-country, the more the better. I hope we continue to work with Madison Parks; they’ve been a great partner the past three years. We just need to have safe and efficient infrastructure to do it.”

The missing ingredient, Gusev says, is infrastructure. Snowmaking at Elver involved plugging snow guns into a hydrant at the base of the sledding hill, and then pushing snow into place with snow groomers. Mike Ivey, a longtime MadNorSki member who handles publicity for the group, paints an indelible picture of the effort involved. “We were literally rolling out fire hoses to move the snow guns around; it was super labor-intensive,” Ivey says. “We were using a lot of volunteers, so it was a bunch of 60-plus retired guys in boots slipping around on the ice trying to make it happen.”

Much of the ski club’s expense, Ivey says, was tied to repairs to CXC’s PistenBully groomer (he estimates that set the club back $7,500) and purchase of a new pump ($5,000). Gusev says Elver requires permanent in-ground electrical and water access for snowmaking there to be safe and efficient, something that his group has discussed in the past with Madison Parks. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s proposed budget includes $2.6 million in capital improvements at Elver over the next six years, including “updating the utility infrastructure for ice rinks and snowmaking for ski trails,” says Shea. “The current situation wasn’t really sustainable,” adds Ivey, “whether from a logistical, financial or safety perspective.”

Gusev’s dream of a permanent cross-country ski mecca got a boost when Dan Erdman donated land to CXC and the city of Middleton that would one day become the CXC Middleton Outdoor Recreation and Sports Complex, a Nordic-dedicated trail system and facility. Pre-pandemic, the plans were most impressive; with pro bono design work by Milwaukee’s Workshop Architects, the building would serve as a touring center, accommodate the move of Gusev’s offices and sports science lab from Fitchburg, and provide events space, an exercise studio, showers and changing rooms. Post-pandemic, it has been scaled back to something more like a well-appointed warming hut.

“Phase 2, the events center, we initially planned to be 16,000 square feet,” Gusev says. “Now, with the current situation, our maybe three- to five-year plan is to put a semi-permanent 8,000- to 10,000-square-foot tent structure with a concrete floor and an HVAC system that can be easily opened up so it can serve as a safe environment.”

The eight-acre parcel being donated to the city of Middleton and leased to CXC for $1 a year is “purpose-designed specifically for cross-country skiing and snowmaking,” Gusev says. “So it’s not like we’re retrofitting trails to it. It’s designed for it, and it takes into consideration environmental issues such as runoff. Our main goal, and Dan’s as well, is to preserve that land from development and to have the land available to local residents. The beauty of that land is it has open spaces and woodland, and the snowmaking loop will also be longer, between 1 and 1.5 miles.”

Gusev’s idea has always been that, rather than replace his efforts at Elver, the Middleton site would become a second snowmaking location. As co-founder of Madison’s Winter Festival and head of an organization that organizes races, he has more than an idle interest in keeping snowmaking going wherever he can. But it has still to be determined whether CXC and Madison Parks will opt to extend their recent agreement, alter it or shelve it — and at the moment, it is also unclear how long Gusev’s dream of a Middleton facility will be deferred. Matt Amundson, city of Middleton’s director of public lands, recreation and forestry, explains that the plan had been to annex the Erdman property, located currently in the town of Middleton, so that the donated portion could become property of the city of Middleton. “However, Schwartz Road is a town of Middleton road, and we have to have the town’s permission to connect our access drive to Schwartz Road,” Amundson says.

On July 7, the night before the city was set to approve the project and take it to its council, the town enacted a high-intensity-driveway ordinance that would impact the Nordic center, throwing the project into limbo. Town of Middleton officials have not responded to press inquiries since that time, leading Amundson to become less hesitant to characterize the sidelining of a project that his city is excited to green-light and promote.

“When the mayor and city administrator approached the town board about this three and two years ago, the town registered no objections, and we’ve kept them informed ever since then on our progress,” Amundson says in an email. “They now appear to be worried about traffic, parking, stormwater and emergency access. All of these are valid concerns, but we believe we’ve addressed them all in the design of the project. I’m not sure why they suddenly found reasons to be more concerned at this juncture.”

Ivey has circulated a letter to MadNorSki membership to gauge interest in helping fund snowmaking in Middleton (many members toured the trails in July) to the tune of $10,000 per year over the next five years. Madison Parks, Dane County Parks and CXC, meanwhile, await word that might help them guess how to approach this winter. Among the unanswered questions is whether trail pass fees will be collected by three separate jurisdictions. About the current stalemate, Amundson says, “There’s a cooperative spirit by both groups, but there’s a challenge in how quickly we can move.” Without time to construct proper access to the land and provide parking, will Middleton see the benefits of man-made snow this year?

“I hope everybody realizes the importance of recreation facilities, especially in these COVID days, and helps make this resource available to the community this winter,” Gusev says. “They have all the power to make this happen.”

[Editor's note: This article was corrected to note that Dane County's McCarthy park does not have snowmaking capabilities.]