Pictured in this section, holding the large trophy, is Ted Okerstrom on the left and George Lombard on the right. Also pictured is Mr. Lombard, post race.

In the early 70s, Ted Okerstrom and Vojin Baic wanted to get their kids involved in Nordic 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 Alpine sking which was well established in the area, and didn’t pay much regard to Nordic skiing.  

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.

George Lombard has earned national titles with the United States Skiing Association National Championships. He also competed in International Nordic ski competitions, including the 1984 Paralympic Winter Games in Austria. Lombard was the energy behind the establishment of the permanent Vasa Trail. This took years of hard work beginning with convincing the DNR that the forest was not just for hunters and timber but also for skiing. After countless thousands of hours building the trail skiers built a warming house and bought a groomer costing over $100,000. Trail management was later turned over to Traverse Area Recreational Trails (TART), and our world-class Nordic reputation brought tourism all winter long. Listen to George talk about the Vasa Trail here in Episode 11 of the Traversecityist.

Today, the North American Vasa is run by a working Board of Directors, and staffed by about 150 volunteers each year. Fat bike races were added in 2014, and total ski and bike racers is about 500 a year. Snowshoers made their debut in 2020 with the inclusion of the Vasasaurus Snowshoe Race.

The North American Vasa remains a winter Traverse City tradition.