Skiers prepare to race in the Great Nordeen nordic ski race at Mt. Bachelor in 2019.

The Great Nordeen cross-country ski and fatbike races are set for Sunday at Mt. Bachelor.

The races are point-to-point and mostly downhill, starting at Mt. Bachelor and finishing at Wanoga Sno-park. The ski race distances are 30K or 18K, and the fatbike distance is 15K. Ski races start at 7:30 a.m. at West Village Lodge and fatbike races start at 8:45 a.m. at Sunrise Lodge.

Registration fees are $75 for adults and $55 for ages 17 and younger. A shuttle is provided from the Wanoga finish area back to Mt. Bachelor. Awards will be at 2 p.m. at the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation training center, 2765 N.W. Lolo Drive in Bend.

The courses are groomed specifically for the event and give skiers and fat bikers a once-a-year opportunity to cruise through hemlock forests, over lava flows and around the buttes of the Deschutes National Forest on their journey to the finish at Wanoga. 

According to MBSEF, the Great Nordeen is held annually in honor of Central Oregon ski pioneer Emil Nordeen. Known in Bend in the 1930s as the ‘Iron Man,’ or the ‘Old War Horse,’ Nordeen fashioned weight training systems out of concrete-filled coffee cans, carved his own 8-foot long skis from scrap lumber and developed his own brand of pine-tar ski wax.

A well-known adventurer and mountaineer in the Cascades, Nordeen helped found the first search-and-rescue organization in Bend. Nordeen was also a founder of the Skyliners Ski Club, later becoming MBSEF.

For more information or to register, visit mbsef.org/great-nordeen-nordic-and-fatbike-race.

— Bulletin staff report