SCREAMING EAGLE:
The Ultimate Test

IT'S THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE in cross-country skiing: Screaming Eagle! Crystal Mountain's Kirk Davidson identifies it as the Midwest's only double-black diamond nordic trail.

Downhill skiers are more familiar with the term "double-black" in identifying ski trails. You most often see it applied to the steep mountain bowls out west. At any ski resort, green signifies easiest, blue more difficult, black most difficult. Double-black means that if you make a mistake, you can get hurt.

Crystal Mountain is located about an hour's drive northwest of Cadillac, Michigan. Fun and friendly best describe the resort's downhill slopes. Sure, there are some steep pitches, but nothing remotely resembling a double-black.

Why inflict such a trail upon nordic skiers? "Our goal is to be leader in the Midwest in both variety and quality," states Davidson.

In addition to Screaming Eagle, Crystal Mountain includes in its 30-kilometer trail mix one of the Midwest's easiest. Crystal's Otter Run, loops 2.6 kilometers through the trees and across golf course fairways. It is lighted at night, groomed regularly, a wide highway with set tracks for diagonal striders on both sides and a flat area for skaters in the middle.

An extension called Outer Otter extends the trail to 3.4 kilometers, a little over two miles. There is nothing on the Otter Run that could get even a beginner in trouble. Crystal's Otter Run, arguably, is the finest novice nordic trail in the Midwest. It probably deserves identification as "double-green." If you want to convince a friend to try cross-country skiing, bring him or her to the Otter Run on a moonlit evening after a fresh snowfall.

And then there is Screaming Eagle.

I first encountered Screaming Eagle in the summer while visiting Crystal to bike and play some golf. I ran it one morning when there was only dew on the ground, not snow. The trail winds up and down in the hills behind the downhill slopes. At one point, you can look through the trees and see the Main Street chair lift, Crystal's highest, at your same level.

I wondered: Could I survive this on nordic skis?

I learned last winter during a week spent in northern Michigan. Access to Screaming Eagle is via Stag Hollow, labeled "easiest." At its far end, a half dozen trails of varying difficulty intersect.

Shrugging off the warning signs that Screaming Eagle was a double-black diamond trail for experts only, I headed upward.

At first, the trail didn't seem that difficult. It was mostly uphill, requiring a lot of herring-bone climbing, but no steep descents or tough turns.

Then a sign beside the trail announced: "Caution--Steep Hill." That caught my attention, since nothing before had been so identified.

The trail dropped suddenly, took a sharp right, then shot straight down a clearing toward a swooping left at the bottom. Intimidated, I failed to make the first turn.

Picking myself out of the snow, I tried again, snowplowing the first turn and schussing to the bottom. The snow was fresh, thus slow. The final swooping left proved no problem. Under icier conditions, I might have been tempted to remove my skis.

After another climb, the trail dove again, and I fell again. I decided not to test my luck by trying the descent a second time.

A few minutes later, I caught two other skiers herring-boning upwards. "That last turn spit me out," I admitted to one.

He chuckled: "Same with me."

There was one final drop featuring a tight turn. I hit it perfectly, letting out a shriek of joy at the bottom. Behind me in the woods, the other skiers certainly heard my eagle's scream.

Later that evening, the moon peeked from between clouds as my wife and I skied leisurely along Stag Hollow. Back to fun in the woods. Crystal Mountain offers something for every cross-country skier. It may be the best nordic center in the Midwest, if not in North America.

Copyright © 1997 by Hal Higdon. All rights reserved. Requests to reprint will be considered.

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