Lake Superior Journal: The Old Man & the Ski

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What would life be like without a hero? I don’t know; I’ve always had a few. I met one of my heroes over a decade ago. At first I watched this unimposing cross-country skier munching on a pasty in Calumet, Michigan, after the Great Bear Chase Ski Marathon. I had to meet him, he was already well-known in the cross-country circles, and I worked up the courage to go to his table. Just a little chatting and we became, and still are, friends. And he is still my hero.

So what kind of a man is Ed Harjala? He taught me to give life its best shot and enjoy every minute of it. He teaches that by example.

Here’s one example. In 1998, when Ed was 75, he lined up for the American Birkebeiner Ski Race, a 50-kilometre (31-mile) venture through the torturous hills of northwest Wisconsin. By mid-race he was averaging more than 10 miles an hour and was on pace to break three hours for the marathon. Top finishers complete it in about two hours; the slowest finish in about eight hours. At 75, Ed was closer to the first than the last finishers.

As fate would have it that year, Ed collided with a fallen skier and subsequently, a tree. His arm splintered in several places then, and now he has a permanent plate of steel in the region as a reminder. He didn’t get his sub-three-hour Birkie. He didn’t give up skiing.

A few days later, he was back on the skating tracks at the SwedeTown Trails in Calumet, near his hometown of Copper City in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He adjusted by using one pole and letting his wounded arm hang at his side. His wife, Dots (Dorothy), drove him to the trails. Did I mention he’s my hero?

Ed’s last long Birkie was in 2006. His lungs don’t quite give him the lift they once did. He also strides now instead of skating because, “Striding feels easier.”

He has entered the Kortelopet these past years, the Birkie’s 23-kilometre (14-mile) event. He missed last year, but hopes to make this year.

Ed has completed 19 Birkies and needs one more to qualify for the commemorative ‘Birch Leggings’ bib given to those who finish 20 full Birkies. He told Birkie officials that his body just wouldn’t allow him to complete that 20th race. In appreciation for the enthusiasm he has brought to the sport, officials sent him the 20-year commemorative bib.

There have also been times, not that long ago, that Ed, thirsting for more competition, asked to be placed in a younger wave bracket at the Birkie. Up to recently, the last competitive age group category has been 80 years and older. In honor of Ed’s contribution to the sport, they now have an 85-year-old category.

Ed will be 90 for his next race. He’s slowed down some but, after all, he’s not 75 anymore. At 75, he would ski 25 kilometres daily. He was still doing that a handful of winters ago. Now he deals with heart issues and a foot that doesn’t serve him the way it once did. But he’s still a master of enthusiasm and artful skiing. He’s “The Old Man and the Ski.” Sorry, Hemingway, but this guy has earned that title.

“When I was young, in my 70s, I would roller-ski 2,000 miles each summer,” Ed says.

“Two years ago I was still roller skiing 700 miles a summer. Anyway, roller skiing is too easy.”

Ed was also doing two-hour workouts rowing his wooden pram near his cottage on Lake Superior. He would row along shore one way for an hour (1,600 strokes). Then he would turn back and head for home.

Just a couple of years ago, Ed was out on one of his morning roller-ski workouts when he spotted a patch on the highway ahead of him that looked to be new cement. As he got closer, he saw it was a slick from spilled cooking oil – Upper Peninsula bear bait. Ed couldn’t stop, slid onto the slick and fell on his shoulder, wrenching it badly. “Just lucky I had a leather elbow patch on my shirt, to repair a tear, or my elbow would have been skinned up pretty good, too.”

At age 67, Ed was still in Wave 1 – the top finishers who go first – at the Birkie. “At 85, I was in Wave 3,” Ed says. “Now I’m in Wave 9. I’m just moving now.” Just moving? Tell that to the other 89-year-olds on the planet.

Ed and Dots volunteer at the chalet at Calumet’s Swedetown Trails every Thursday afternoon, serving skiers items like coffee, hot chocolate and U.P. pasties. They have been the poster couple for the local “Ski for Hearts” fundraiser. When visiting the chalet, you can see Ed’s 20-year commemorative Birkie bib on the wall, a tribute to a man who, in his way, has made the art of putting on skis a little easier for all of us.

You’ll also see at least one of his state-of-the-art collapsible wooden waxing stations in use in the complex. Ed, a woodworker, still makes them for anyone who needs one. I have one, and I think of him every time I wax my skis. He’s also an accomplished mason, electrician, fisherman and still splits his own firewood. And he’s my hero; I think I mentioned that.

Ed, the oldest skier at Swedetown Trails, plans to compete in the shorter version of the track’s Great Bear Chase this year on March 10. The race is 26 kilometres.

He’ll be careful of the mass of skis and poles at the start. He’ll pace himself so he doesn’t tire early. He’ll sense the old mining shafts and other remnants of a past mining era as he skis with the enthusiasm of a child.

Then, knowing Ed, he’ll hear his name called and see people clapping at the finish. The giant digital clock will tell him that he is well within the reach of his goal. With one last push of his poles, he’ll cross the finish line, thrilled that he can still challenge himself at the age of 89. The public address announcer might even say something like,

“Now finishing is Ed Harjala, the Old Man and the Ski.”

Or the announcer could just say, “Now finishing, Ed Harjala, a real hero.”

Editor's Note: Ed passed away in 2014, a week before his 92nd birthday.

Jerry Harpt is a retired secondary-school biology teacher who coached football and cross-country skiing. Since his retirement, he has become an active travel and outdoor writer. His works have been published in Lake Superior Magazine, Silent Sports, Sierra and American Profile. He writes a weekly column for a northeast Wisconsin newspaper, Peshtigo Times, and a monthly column for UP magazine. He is an avid hiker, kayaker, cyclist and cross-country skier. He and his wife, Karen, camp in a conversion van throughout the Upper Midwest.