WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary’s University coach John Skemp seems to have everything in order for the upcoming nordic ski season:

• He’s got skiers — albeit a rather sparse number.

• He’s got the training facility — the SMU trails are considered by many to be some of the best in the nation.

• He’s got the competition — the Cardinals’ schedule has SMU competing in some top-notch events.

Unfortunately, the one thing Skemp doesn’t have is snow.

And there’s not a thing he can do about that.

“It’s one of the hazards of the sport,” said Skemp of the lack of snow. “I’ve been involved in cross country skiing for 30 years now, and it’s all part of it — when it snows, you go; when it doesn’t, you find other means to train.”

And right now, it’s other means — dryland training, rock skiing, rollerskiing and plyometrics — that are keeping Skemp and the Cardinals in competitive shape.

“We’re trying to do as many ski-specific things are possible,” said Skemp. “We’re rollerskiing, doing some plyometric work — but you can only do so much without snow.

“Eventually, we’re going to need to get on some snow.”

Which means one of two things must happen — either Mother Nature cooperates and dumps at least a couple inches on the Cardinals’ home trails, or Skemp & Co. load up a couple of vans and head to where the snow is.

“One of the problems of being located where we are is that the places where there is snow are five, six hours away,” explained Skemp. “That’s why we’re trying to do as much as we can here — because the travel can really start to get to you.”

And Skemp is speaking from experience.

A year ago, the Cardinals did not train on their own trails once all season. Which meant the Cardinals spent much more time traveling to and from their training sites than they did actually training.

“It was a tough winter,” admitted Skemp, whose men’s team — all one skier of it — placed 10th overall at the season-ending CCSA Championship, while the women’s team was 11th. “With no snow, we had to do a lot of traveling — 700 miles was the closest — just to find a place where we could compete. We weren’t able to get in a lot of training, and that made it tough.”

And it’s been more of the same this year, with temperatures a balmy 40 degrees during the second week of December.

“There’s no sense letting it get to you – it’s completely out of our control,” said Skemp. “It would be nice to have some snow to train on, but there isn’t any. We’ll just make do with what we have.”
Which, when it comes to roster size, isn’t much.

“We don’t have many people out, but the ones we do have have been working extremely hard,” said Skemp, whose men’s team consists of senior Michael Uffenbeck (Drummond, Wis.) and junior Ben Hanson (Hastings, Minn.), while the two-person women’s squad includes sophomore Rachel Lundell (Golden Valley, Minn.) and freshman Anna Robertson (Neenah, Wis.). “I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do once we are able to get on snow.”