American Birkebeiner

In three weeks our American member race & founding member of Worldloppet, the American Birkebeiner is going to celebrate its 50th anniversary. An event surely not to be missed. And an event that will bring numerous side events and festivities. The Birkie is not just a race. For many people this race is playing an important role in their lives. One of these is Allison Snopek Barta. The Birkie means so much to her, that she came up with a knitted American Birkebeiner Anniversary sweater. A sweater which is now available for everyone. Here is the story of Allison and the Birkie sweater.

Allison and the Birkie Sweater

I am a 67 year old retired Science teacher who has loved to knit and crochet since I was 5 years old. In 1991, I began skate skiing, and soon learned about the American Birkebeiner ski race. After skiing a Korteloppet I was hooked, and registered to ski my first Birkie the next year. Along the way I fell in love with the Kortelopet race, so totally I have skied 3 Birkies, 2 Prince Haakons ( After a broken leg, and knee surgery) and this February I will ski my 19th Korteleopet. Each year training and looking forward to seeing my Birkie friends in Hayward for another memorable Birkie week, and purchasing the Birkie sweater that was sold each year.

The idea for a Birkie sweater came from the fact that I decided to change careers and become a science teacher. I needed money to survive while earning my Science Teacher Education Degree, so I authored a couple “Irish Cable Knitting” pattern books.  Meanwhile, in 2010 when we all arrived in Hayward for the Birkie races we discovered that the annual Birkie sweater was discontinued, the company closed, no sweaters. Many people were disappointed.

My friend, Laurie Rasch Anoszko, from Dousman, Wisconsin, also and still a Birkie Skier, knew I was publishing pattern books, and  missed the sweater tradition too. She encouraged me to design a Birkie sweater. I remember her enthusiasm and saying to me, “You can do it” !

I went home from the Birkie, wondering how I could accomplish this task. I wanted to put the Vikings with Prince Haakon on the front, and modern skiers on the back.  Once I had a pattern on graph paper I could knit it.  Where could I find a silhouette of the vikings? A month of research went by, with no luck.

Then while next door at my boyfriend, Neil Peterson’s parents house, Myron and Virginia Peterson (now deceased) of Cass Lake, Minnesota the Birkie sweater became a reality. Virginia was going to show me something in a drawer. She pulled it open, and there in front of me was a very old Birkie Bib. At this point she didn’t even know I was a Birkie skier. I looked down with surprise, “Who’s Birkie Bib is this”? 

It belonged to her son, Peter Peterson who skied the Birkie in 1977. It was quite an accomplishment for him, and this was a cherished item, as Peter accidentally drowned in 1981 in Lake Superior. 

I picked up the Bib and there under it was the 1977 race results brochure. It was only a couple of pages. Most importantly, my eyes couldn’t believe what I was seeing, a red silhouette of the Birkie Vikings with Prince Haakon on the cover.  I inquired about a medal. There was none. Did they even have medals in 1977? Within that solemn moment was joy!  I can do it now, I can make a Birkie sweater pattern. 

Getting out some graph paper, taping it and the picture onto a window,  I began a long tedious time of turning a picture into a graph. It took hours. When it was done, yikes, the scale was off, it was too big for a sweater, and so I had to find smaller graph paper, and do it all over again.

The sweater pattern was begun. Other parts of the sweater are meaningful. The black and white design on shoulder seams, at cuffs, and waist represent the top edges of a castle, as in Norwegian royalty. Snow flakes of course. On the back a classic skier with a 1 on his bib because the origin of this race is classical skiing. A 3 on the bib of the skate skier because I have skied 3 Birkies. 

All this excitement happened in the summer of 2010. When I had it all set, I drove to Hayward, Wisconsin and presented the whole idea to the American Birkebeiner Ski Association Board of Directors.  They approved of it all.

The first year, with my car full of sweaters, mittens, hats, scarves, and blankets, I drove to Hayward. Stopping to get in a ski workout at the 00 Birkie trail head, I met a young lady: Caitlin Compton. She called me “The Sweater Lady” and told me she was going to win the Birkie. It was a weekend I’ll never forget. I sold all the product I had brought, skied another Kortelopet, and Caitlin won! I gave her a sweater I had saved out,  and embroidered her name into it, with Champion and ski time.

For two years I sold my line of American Birkebeiner knitwear. It all sold out, accept the knitting books, and time flew by.  Every year I wear my original sweater, and every year people stop me all over Hayward and ask “Where can I get that sweater”?

Well 13 years have gone by, each year I have fun wearing my sweater and giving away the knitting pattern books to people at the Birkie. Last year there was an unusual amount of people asking me about the sweater, and  with the 50th anniversary of the Birkie coming up, I went to the Birkie store manager, Louise and proposed that the sweater be made for the 50th Anniversary of the Birkie. She agreed.

When I got home last February I started to hand knit a 50th Anniversary American Birkebeiner version of the sweater and it won both Best of Show and  the Superintendant’s ribbon at our county fair.

It took a bit to find a good company that would do the task. Then months of setting it all up for production. It was super exciting to have the first sweater sent to me to edit, and to drop it off at the Birkie office in fall.  I was also thrilled that they gave me a dozen sweaters that I could give to skiers to promote it. I sent them all over. Famous skier, Audun Endestad of Fairbanks Alaska, has one, David Norris last year’s Birkie winner, and his wife have one, and Caitlin and Brian Gregg too, just to mention a few. 

I searched for a company that could successfully machine knit this sweater into a quality product. It is an unusual sweater, as the Birkie ski trail is knitted into the sleeves. Heartland Manufacturing of New York has been instrumental in working with me to make this dream come true to share the sweater with Birkie Skiers from around the world. Heartland Manufacturing is a family owned business that right now is making hundreds of the Birkie Trail sweaters that will ship out  to Hayward over the next weeks. Anthony Marini, Chief Operating Officer of  says, “Know one loves skiers like Heartland Manufacturing”.

To complete this adventure, Caitlin Compton Gregg, married to Brian Gregg and mother of a lovely daughter Heidi asked me to create a Barnebirkie (Birkie’s kids race) kids sweater. As she has been my friend since her first win in 2011, I of course did it. It has just been completed, and sent to Heidi.  In the spirit of the Birkie and all its devoted ski families, I’m giving away that pattern for free. To get one email me at [email protected]