From front, Tom Carroll, his wife, Sue Carroll, and Brian Shimek, all from Bend, ski up the McKenzie Highway during the John Craig Memorial Wilderness Ski Classic on Saturday.

SISTERS — For a rare year-end celebratory opportunity, nordic skiers traveled from around the state and beyond to ski Saturday on McKenzie Pass.

Whether they were skiing from the east side of the pass up to the Dee Wright Observatory (a distances of 12 miles) or trekking from the west side up and over the pass (35 kilometers), participants found it tough going.

But despite the uphill battle and changing snow conditions, skiers smiled, looked around, and said it was exactly where they wanted to be.

“I think this is a neat thing to do,” said Brian Shimek, 27, of Bend. “It gets more people out cross-country skiing, and I think this is a place that most people don’t ski. I’ve been skiing for years and I’ve never come out and done this. I didn’t even think you could ski this in the winter.”

More than 80 participants and 70 event volunteers glided out onto McKenzie Pass west of Sisters on Saturday for the 2009 John Craig Memorial Wilderness Ski Classic and Family Tour, hosted by the Willamette Backcountry Ski Patrol in conjunction with the Oregon Nordic Club.

Originally a ski race, the event began in 1934 and is named for the mail carrier who died in 1877 while crossing over McKenzie Pass in an attempt to deliver mail.

While the event is now simply a ski tour, those who make the arduous climb over state Highway 242 (the historic McKenzie Highway, which is closed to automobile traffic in the winter) in the “Mail Carrier” event like to finish first.

“It’s a backcountry ski with some undulating sustained climbs, so it does take some effort and some work for them to get up there,” said event organizer David Beede, who works for Willamette Backcountry Ski Patrol headquartered in Eugene.

The youngest participant in the Craig Memorial was 14 and the oldest 71.

“I’d imagine the first guys — even though it’s not a race — they’re probably treating it like one,” said Beede. “For the first guy that finishes, it’s a pretty proud moment.”

Several outdoor enthusiasts from the Willamette Valley made the trip to ski in the Craig Memorial. Folks even traveled from as far away as Enterprise in far northeastern Oregon, and Vancouver, Wash., to join the tour.

“We came just for this. We do it every year,” said Sue Barstad, 54, of Enterprise. “It’s beautiful up here. Not that we don’t have it in our backyard (a reference to the Wallowa Mountains), but it’s some place new to ski.”

Barstad was skiing Saturday with her husband, Fred Barstad, and a friend, Kathy Box.

Seventy-one-year-old Peggy Fujita, who skis and hikes for fitness, said the opportunity to ski McKenzie Pass is why she made the trip from her home in Portland.

“I came for the John Craig,” Fujita said as she stopped during the tour to nibble on a bagel. She had climbed about four miles to Windy Point on the east side of the pass and was making her way back down to the start/finish area. Seemly unaffected by her age, Fujita mentioned with a laugh: “There is lots of gray hair out here. It gets hidden under the hats.”

A few locals entered the tour on Saturday, some making it a habit to participate in the Craig Memorial.

“We’ve been doing it off and on for 10 years,” noted Tom Carroll, who is a past president of the Tumalo Langlauf Club, a chapter of the Oregon Nordic Club.

Carroll, of Bend, was skiing Saturday with his wife, Sue, and friend Shimek. “Events like these are wonderful. We see a lot of people we know. They are usually skiing past us.”

“It seems lower key this year just being a tour,” said Sue Carroll. “But it’s nice. This is your opportunity to get to ski McKenzie Pass.”

While cross-country skiers enjoyed the woods, the lightly falling snow, some whirls of hasty wind, the exercise and then the downhill finishing thrill, a few of them embraced the history of the event as well.

“We only went up halfway. And that’s halfway up the short side,” noted Shimek. “It really makes you appreciate what John Craig actually did. He was skiing the mail from one side to the other in the middle of winter. That’s something else.”