From Thanksgiving weekend into mid-January, most of the cross-country skiing around Cable happens on about 5 kilometers of machine-made snow at Mt. Telemark Village. The full Birkie Trail between Cable and Hayward still needs a real winter to open. Ski season up the hill on Telemark Road now runs on a schedule set by snow guns, race dates and the pass in your phone, and natural snowfall matters less to it every year.
That changes how the early season works if you live here. The forecast still matters, but the events calendar, the pass you bought, and the day you plan to drive up matter as much.
Why Cable has a snowmaking loop at all
The American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation began making snow on the Birkie trails in the fall of 2017, after a canceled race that year. In a February 2026 interview with Silent Sports, ABSF Trail Manager Erik Blow put it plainly: "2017 was the last time it [the Birkie] had been canceled. We needed to invest in the next step."
The system got its hardest test in the low-snow winter before the 50th Birkie in 2024. The foundation held that anniversary race on a 10K loop of made snow, something it had never done before. Since then the equipment has grown. Snowmaking started with two snow guns. Today there are five, plus two "stick" guns that put out less snow in a tighter area. The foundation added 22 electrical pedestals the season before last and has been extending waterlines into hard-to-reach spots.
The loop still has a limit. As Blow told Silent Sports, "We still have to hope that we get natural snow because we don't have the ability to make snow outside of this system up here." The Tormondsen Family Snowmaking Trail can open in November. The point-to-point trail to Hayward waits on the sky.
Last season, the snowmaking trail opened on Saturday, November 22, 2025, and Silent Sports reported a full parking lot at The Hub that first morning. Nobody has announced a 2026 opening date. In a 2024 snowmaking update, the foundation said snowmaking starts once temperatures reliably stay below freezing, and that early-season coverage is aimed first at Thanksgiving's Turkey Birkie and the Gitchi Gami Games. Those two event weekends are the closest thing Cable has to a planned opening date.
The pass on your phone decides which snow you can ski
This is where locals most often get caught out. The Birkie sells two season passes, and they cover different snow.
| 2026/27 season pass | What it covers | When it's required | Adult price |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Access | Tormondsen Family Snowmaking Trail, Mt. Telemark Village trails and the greater Birkie Trail | All winter on the snowmaking and MTV trails | $120 |
| Birkie Trail Only | Groomed natural snow on the greater Birkie Trail, valid once it officially opens | December 1 to March 31 | $50 |
So a Birkie Trail Only pass does nothing for you in November, when the made-snow loop is the only skiing open. It also won't cover any trail you start from Mt. Telemark Village, because the Birkie's winter trail page says any ski access from the Village requires All Access. Family season passes are $125 for Birkie Trail Only and $280 for All Access. Daily passes are $10 for adults, a three-consecutive-day pass is $27, and kids 12 and under ski free.
The December 1 date comes from Sawyer County. By order of the county board, the same page says, nobody may use the Sawyer County portion of the Birkie Trail System from December 1 through March 31 without a trail pass. There are no physical pass cards anymore. Your pass arrives as a download you can save to Apple Wallet, keep as an image, or print.
November: the museum first, then the Turkey Birkie
Snowmaking can't start until the cold holds, so the first weeks of November belong to the Cable Natural History Museum. Three programs fill the gap.
- November 5, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Museum After Hours: Natural History Craft Club, at the museum, 13470 County Hwy M in Cable.
- November 10, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Science at the Sawmill: Hot Topics in Geoscience!, at Sawmill Saloon, 13505 N US Highway 63, Hayward.
- November 14, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Animal Tracking Workshop, in the museum classroom on County Hwy M.
Then comes the NORDJÖRK Turkey Birkie, Friday through Sunday, November 27 to 29. It starts at The Hub and runs out on the Tormondsen Family Snowmaking Trail toward the American Birkebeiner Trailhead, and the event page invites beginners as well as experienced skiers to take a lesson. There's no separate registration this year. Anyone with an All Access season pass or a three-day daily pass can check in and pick up a Turkey Birkie neckwrap. A Birkie Trail Only pass doesn't count here, which is the pass table in action.
December and January: the loop becomes a race venue
After Thanksgiving, the same few kilometers that serve the Saturday-morning crowd start hosting serious competition. The Birkie's Mt. Telemark Village event list, last updated October 12, 2026, warns that public access to Village amenities may be affected during these dates.
- Gitchi Gami Games, December 19 and 20. This weekend is billed as the Midwest's premier junior ski race and serves as a Salomon CXC Cup race and Super Junior Qualifier. A course preview is set for Friday, December 18. Saturday has freestyle interval starts and Sunday has classic mass starts, at distances from 3K for the youngest age groups up to 10K for seniors.
- U.S. Cross-Country National Championships, January 2 to 7. Races are a 10K skate interval start on January 2, a classic sprint on January 4, a 20K classic mass start with a junior 10K mass start on January 6, and a SuperTour skate sprint on January 7.
- Seeley Hills Classic, January 9.
- Ski de She Camp & Race, January 15 to 17, based at the Derksen Family Great Hall.
Nationals is the biggest item on that list. The week is sanctioned by U.S. Ski & Snowboard. Results from the races help pick athletes for the World Junior Championships, the U18 Nordic Nations trip and the World U23 Championships team. The SuperTour is recognized by FIS as the Continental Cup for the United States, the highest level of competition in the country. For the first week of January, the trailhead at the end of Telemark Road hosts the country's top level of cross-country racing.
What Nationals week looks like from Telemark Road
The Nationals event page spells out the logistics. Every race starts and finishes at the American Birkebeiner Trailhead, which you reach by taking County Highway M east from Cable and turning south on Telemark Road. Parking is in the large lot east of the venue. You can't park at the finish area or along the road.
Spectators can watch from viewing spots around the course. They aren't allowed in the field of play, must stay off the groomed course, and are asked to follow the crossing guards. Food trucks will be set up at the trailhead. The Hub will have the Birkie Store, Backroads and the American Birkebeiner Museum open. Teams can rent an 8-by-20-foot wax cabin for the week at a tentative $2,500, which gives a sense of how much gear and staff is headed to Cable.
The event page also says plenty of area trails will stay open for skiing that week. The snowmaking loop is the venue, and the rest of the system is open to everyone else.
The half of Mt. Telemark that needs no pass
Not everything on the hill depends on race dates or pass types. Several winter options at the Village are free.
The Valhalla run. The original downhill run you see as you drive in is now groomed as it snows. You can skin, walk or ski up the sides and ride the groomed surface down. The foundation asks people not to climb on the groomed run itself. No pass is needed, though donations go toward grooming.
The sledding hill. A groomed sledding hill sits in the bowl in front of The Hub. Park in the Hub lot, walk through the Trek/OTM mountain bike arch, and walk up along the sides to keep clear of sledders coming down.
Disc Golf Course Snowshoe Trail. From the Hub patio, go through the Trek Trails arch and follow yellow blazes across the fairways of the proposed disc golf course. The full loop is 1.25 miles and the short-cut loop is half a mile. The short cut also carries the Birkie Wild Trail Activity, with eight stations of trivia, jokes and activities on rotating themes.
Tony Wise Tower Trail. Follow the pink signs from The Hub up the old downhill runs to the Kawabaming Observation Tower, which the Birkie calls one of the best views in the Northwoods.
One driving note for all of these. Some maps still show access from McNaught Road, but the Birkie says the trailhead is now reached only from Telemark Road, and daily users should start at the Mt. Telemark Village Hub. The pocket trail map linked on the Birkie site is still last winter's 2025–2026 edition, so the on-site signs are the better guide until a new one is posted. Pass rules and county requirements here come from the Birkie's own pages and are general information, so confirm the details with the foundation before you buy.
At McKinney Realty, Telemark Road is part of how we know Cable, from the first morning the snow guns run to the week national-level racers fill the trailhead lot. If you're thinking about how a home near the Birkie fits your winters, Stacey and Scott are glad to talk it through with you before the Turkey Birkie on November 27.