Ski race enlivens Skagway in March: Buckwheat Cross-Country Ski Classic marks 23 years of spring skiing.

• Author: Pounds, Nancy
• Position: Alaska This Month

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Racers and cross-country enthusiasts converge joyfully each spring in a Southeast Alaska mountain setting near Skagway. They come from Haines, Juneau, Skagway, Canada and sometimes even Anchorage and Fairbanks. The 300 participants for the Buckwheat Cross-Country Ski Classic line up for 50-kilometer, 25-K or 10-K events, which start in Log Cabin, British Columbia, and follow the White Pass and Yukon Railway and the Trail of 1898. A 5-K snowshoe race is also scheduled. Organizers also offer 5-K and 2-K children's events.

This year's classical-only ski race is Saturday, March 28.

"It's turned into a family event," said organizer and founder Buckwheat Donahue. The event also turns into a community party before summer visitors and employees return to town, he said.

While some skiers focus on speed, others relish the adventure and scenery. Dramatic ice sculptures decorate aid stations. Peter Lucchetti, a former park ranger for the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and Skagway painter, crafts ice sculptures--including last year's 25-foot-high, 45-foot-long salmon. Lucchetti recreated a "Lord of the Rings" fortress another year, Donahue said.

Out-of-town participants spend the weekend in Skagway, enjoying a Friday night waxing clinic, Saturday morning breakfast and post-race banquet and entertainment, Donahue noted. Organizers have limited race entries to 300 to match hotel accommodations in Skagway. Donahue believes the event would grow without the housing restriction.

The Buckwheat Ski Classic is an economic boon for Skagway.

"It fills up hotel rooms," Donahue said. "It's a nice little shot in the arm."

Longtime volunteer Jeff Brady calls the ski race a "great regional event."

"It kind of wakes up Skagway for the last bit of winter and the first part of spring," Brady said.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

The race started 23 years ago as a relationship-building event between Skagway and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, shortly after a road connecting the towns was finished, Donahue recalled. It was also a scheme to lure more women to Skagway in winter, Donahue said. Brady, editor and publisher of The Skagway News, confirmed the tale. He remembers brainstorming the idea with Donahue and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, reporters at a bar.

The first race was 58 kilometers--a point-to-point race starting in Carcross and ending near Skagway. Donahue was familiar with alpine skiing, but didn't understand Nordic...