Falling snowflakes glistened from the glow of street lamps along the cross-country skiing trails at Kincaid Park late Friday evening when Ben Powell went to work, grooming trails like he has for decades so that skiers will have fresh corduroy in the morning.
Powell hopped in the Pisten Bully 200, a grooming machine that has logged more than 14,000 hours on the trail since the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage purchased it in 1984. Each time he turns over the 190-horsepower engine (circa 1982) he's stunned the machine still runs smoothly, considering all its trail hours.
“That's equivalent to 900,000 miles on a car,” said Powell, director of operations for NSAA, a nonprofit organization that has maintained ski trails on the Hillside and Kincaid Park for 23 winters.
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