Birkie Fever: A World-Class Ski Event in Wisconsin

The American Birkebeiner is celebrating its 51st anniversary this year and is still going strong.

Skiers get ready at the start of the race. The 50-kilometer skate (freestyle) and 55-kilometer classic races are the main events. Courtesy of American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation

It is billed as the largest ski race in North America. The faithful swear by it, many return to ski it multiple times, and still others have it on their bucket list. In 2024, it celebrated its 50th anniversary, even though unseasonable temperatures left no snow on the ground.

This is the American Birkebeiner—the Birkie—a cross-country ski race that runs 53 kilometers (about 35 miles) if you’re registered to ski classic style and 50 kilometers (31 miles) if you opt to do it “skate style.” Or you can tackle the Birkie’s 29-kilometer little sibling, the Kortelopet (the “Kort-ee”), which is about 18 miles long.

European Inspiration

The Birkebeiner was the brainchild of a local veteran. Tony Wise was born March 15, 1921, in Hayward, Wisconsin. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant colonel with the Army National Guard in Germany, where he found himself quite taken by the natural beauty of Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps.