Traverse City owes a great debt to three men who had the the vision to help bring the sport of cross country skiing and the North American Vasa to the prominent role that it plays in the Grand Traverse region of Michigan: Vojin Baic, Ted Okerstrom, and George Lombard.

In the early 70s, Ted Okerstrom and Vojin Baic wanted to get their kids involved in cross country skiing, but could not even buy a pair of skis in the area. Ted was the manager of the Park Place Hotel in downtown Traverse City, while Vojin was a former Olympic medalist in the sport. At the time, ski stores supported down hill skiing which was well established in the area, and didn’t pay much regard to this alternate form of skiing.  Listen to Vojin and Ted talk about the Vasa

The event has a long history of change. Over the years, the ski race has started and finished in a number of different places. Each offered its own twist on the race, and many remain stuck in the minds of local skiers.

The first Vasa was held on January 22, 1977. 234 skiers participated and 205 finished. It started at the Cherry Capital Airport and finished at Ranch Rudolf, which was owned by the race’s original sponsor, the Park Place.

In 1983, the race was scheduled to finish for the first time in downtown Traverse City, but a lack of snow forced the race to start at the Holiday Hills Ski area. The 50K skiers raced to Ranch Rudolf and back while the 25K skiers went from Ranch Rudolf to Holiday Hills.

In 1984, the race was again scheduled to finish in downtown Traverse City, but only 828 of the 1300 skiers were able to finish. The rest were halted just short of the finish when a thaw left Boardman Lake uncrossable. This ended the downtown finish. The 1984 race became known as the “Slush Bowl of ’84.”

The course continued to move around, including starts at The Grand Traverse Resort, Jellystone Park (now Timber Ridge) and other locations, depending on snow conditions that Mother Nature provided.

A permanent non-motorized trail was finally finished in 1991 after three years of planning and cooperation from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as well as the investment of many volunteer hours and donations. The new trail was entirely on public land, unlike the previous courses that required multiple permissions every year.  George Lombard was the pioneer who lead efforts to develop this trail which he envisioned as a 365 day/year trail, not just a one-day Vasa race trail. The trail was located in the highland areas above Grand Traverse Bay, so snow conditions were more consistent and longer lasting.

Today, the North American Vasa is run by a working Board of Directors, and is staffed by about 350 volunteers each year. Fat bike races were added in 2014, and total ski and bike racers is about 800/year. Snowshoers made their debut in 2020 with the inclusion of the Vasasaurus 8km Race! The North American Vasa remains a winter Traverse City Tradition!