2010 US Skimo Championships: Jackson WY

The 10th annual US Ski Mountaineering Championships at Jackson, WY went down yesterday. It was attended by a good crew from the Wasatch -- the 2 Dorais bros, Casey, Lars, Joey, Bart, and me -- and about 75 others from various places. If the mark of a national championship course is rough and tough, the Jackson course more than fit the bill. At the end of the day, my altimeter said I had gained 7900 vertical feet and I'm still traumatized to the point that talking about the ski descents requires kleenex. Suffice it to say they were steep, icy, and for the most part in large, tall bump fields. At a couple points in the race, I had to side step up a large bump so that I could get my bearings and collect myself. :) And now that I think about it, some of the climbs were pretty heinous too -- steep, icy, and bumpy. All of this made for a challenging and "fun" course. Kudos to the race organizers for pulling together a great race in tough conditions.

The race was won in the Women's division by Mona Merrill followed by Amy Fulwyler. I think Mona clocked in at about 3 hrs and 13 minutes.

In the Men's division, Pete Swenson showed everyone who was boss and finished in under 2:30! I think the Men's results went something like this:

1. Pete Swenson
2. Brandon French
3. Cary Smith
4. Jared Inouye
5. Jason McGowin
6. Zahan Billamoria
7. Jan from Slovakia
8. Chris Kroger
9. Bart Gillespie
10. Andy Dorais

These are unofficial results and are somewhat off the top of my head. I'll update when they post the results, and hopefully with some pictures.

I was happy with the way my race went. I think I finished at about 2:48. Brandon and Cary were always just ahead and provided a good carrot effect. Too bad I wasn't able to actually eat the carrot though . . . And the Wasatch was well represented with 3 in the top ten.

Oh yeah, and perhaps the biggest coup of the day came when Bart won the grand prize in the post-race raffle: a pair of Hagan Carbon skis.

Wasatch Powderkeg 2010

The 2010 Wasatch Powderkeg was held on Saturday. I've had a love affair with the Powderkeg since it started in 2003. When the race was announced in 2003, I thought it was the coolest thing ever -- a race, on backcountry skis, covering 5k vert over classic Wasatch terrain. I was intimidated by the race, but my friend Joey convinced me to do it. I showed up at the 2003 race on Tuas, Hammerheads, and Scarpa T1s. I entered the Rec division. I raced up Grizzly Gulch with Bruce Tremper, and since it was a low visibility day, went off course, got lost, and got DQ'd from the race. It was fun though, and I was hooked.

I missed the 2004 and 2005 editions while I was working in Las Vegas. But I was back for the 2006 edition. I raced the rec division again and got edged out at the finish line by a guy from Logan. In 2007, I entered the race division and finished 11th or so. And in 2008, I finished 5th. I skipped the PKeg in 2009 since I was racing in Europe, and in 2010, well, I was able to win.

Of course, winning makes me happy, but I think I was much happier about the fact that the Powderkeg was still in existence, and that it remains alive and well. After the 2008 edition, the the Powderkeg had taken its toll on its promoters and organizers -- putting on a race like that is hard! -- but a group of Park City Powderkeg lovers led by Chad Brackelsberg stepped in and saw to it that this Wasatch tradition continues. I certainly thank them for that. They rounded up some great sponsors -- Bluehouse, Voile, Brighton, Patagonia, Backcountry Magazine to name a few. Brighton ski resort was the host and the venue was perfect. This year, there were close to 140 participants, many of whom came from out of state. It was a great turnout -- one that Chad and Co. should be proud of. Long live the Powderkeg.



Once of the cool things about the Powderkeg is that it brings the backcountry community together. It's fun racing and hanging out with people who share your passions. Yes, if you feel like you're the only one in the world who likes to traipse around the Wasatch on skinny skis and get lots of vert, you can find others that belong to your tribe at the Powderkeg. I've made several good friends at the Powderkeg.

It was especially fun to see several friends succeed at the Powderkeg as well. Bart, in his second ever rando race, finished on the podium. That's why he is Apollo Creed (not to be confused with Apollo Ohno). Tom Diegel finished second. The Dorais brothers went fourth and fifth. And yes, they are part Asian, Korean to be precise. And no, I am not related to them. Joey was 8th. No, I'm not related to him either, thanks for asking. Tim White and Mike Hales were in the mix as well. I tour with all of these guys and I'm glad they came out to race. Full results are posted here.

Joey (part of him), Me, Jason, and Andy (Photo by Mark Lengel aka Trabman)

From Drop Box

Day 79, Holy Mole, Toledo Chute

Anxious for some adventure after taking yesterday off, Casey, JD, Adam, and I went up LCC looking for something to do. We ended up on Toledo Peak, debating which way to go down. We decided on the "spicy little dish" as that's the way Casey likes his women and his skiing. The Chuting Gallery says about the line, "...although it doesn't look like much more than a bunch of trees with a valley below. Have faith and start down. A tight chute will appear, which in low snow may need some downclimbing or a rope to get through." Seeing as we're about 200 inches shy this year and how we didn't have a rope with us...we went for it anyway. Little brother Sam had told us there should be a fixed line so we weren't too worried.

He was right.
Adam lowering over a little cliff band as I look on.

I stole firsts down the chute, but it was good for everyone. Here's Casey jumping about.

We hiked back out Cardiff Pass, circled around, and went back up Toledo for the tamer, lamer South facing cousin Toledo Chute. It had softened up nicely and we made ugly turns back to the car.

And, while hiking, Casey and I found out we got jobs for next year. Looks like the slacker med student crew will have redouble our slacking efforts as they are gonna come to a screeching halt this July.

What to do tomorrow?

Day 78, POWDER KEG

The race was last Saturday and went off just as predicted. Jared blew everyone's doors off and BG would have made it interesting but his back seized up near the top of the first climb. That made it better for me though, as we took turns passing each other all day. I thought JD was gonna give me a run for it, but alas, the lass can't ski and lost time with every downhill. I was trying to take advantage of a disabled Bart, and at the top of the last climb was thinking PODIUM! Turns out I'm a horrible strategist and he smoked me on the transition/descent. It's alright, I'm pretty happy to have "KILLED" Jason again...by 4:22.

RACE DIVISION - AT - MEN

Bib # Name Time Place
30 Inouye Jared 1:59:57 1
3 diegel tom 2:08:19 2
32 Gillespie Bart 2:12:10 3
5 Dorais Andy 2:13:57 4
28 Dorais Jason 2:18:19 5
18 turner kirk 2:20:11 6
29 Brown Nate 2:20:18 7
2 Dempster Joey 2:22:58 8
25 Hellinger Ray 2:30:19 9
17 Tremper Bruce 2:32:10 10
4 Diegel Paul 2:34:42 11
20 white tim 2:35:22 12
26 Peterson Cameron 2:36:50 13
7 Hales Mike Hales 2:48:22 14
14 Paskvan Tom 2:48:46 15
22 yates bob 2:49:19 16
27 Knopa Chuck 2:49:48 17
13 Moellmer Greg 2:53:39 18
8 HOSKINS BRIAN 3:00:20 19
31 Stucki Dan 3:02:27 20
9 Hughes David 3:03:55 21
21 White Toph 3:19:33 22
33 Schaller Jason 3:24:40 23
6 Engelby Bruce 3:24:46 24
23 Charles Cameron 3:26:22 25
11 Knight Jim 3:32:39 26
15 swan grayden 3:39:39 27
24 Lindthorst Frank 3:58:02 28
12 Lane Tim 4:15:32 31
10 Kleiman Dan DNF
1 Altman Brad DNS
16 tart jimmy DNS
19 Walz Andrew DNS

Day 77, Powder Keg Recon up Milly

Went up the last climb and checked out the descent down Stupid Chute, over Twin Lakes, and to the finish line. The race is tomorrow. JD vs. AD, who will win?

Skimo World Champs: The Gear Report

One of the blessings and curses of skimo racing is the gear.  Skimo gear has evolved in leaps and bounds in the last 5 years.  Racing setups are getting spooky light, which is good for the uphill, and they are also getting stronger and more rigid, which is good for the DH.  There is also a much larger selection in gear.  Along with skimo-specific companies, mainstream ski companies are joining the fray.  I saw race skis from Elan, Dynastar, Fischer, and Movement, to name a few.  Here is what the hotel lobby looked like at any given moment:

From Andorra Day 2

There are some Trabs with Haero bindings, a full Dynafit setup, Movments with ATK bindings, Goodes with Dynafits.

Here is a close up of Trab's own proprietary race binding:

From Andorra 3

From Andorra 3

Of course, the design of all race bindings stems from Dynafit's genius design.

As a point of reference, gear-wise, the men on Team America were on the following setups:

Pete: Dynafit DNA skis, Dynafit low tech bindings, and Dynafit DNA boots
Cary: Hagan Race X-Lite skis, Dynafit low tech bindings, and Dynafit DNA boots
Max: Ski Trab World Cup Race, low techs, Scarpa F1 Race
Travis: Dynafit DNA skis, low techs, Dynafit DNA boots
Ben: Hagan Race X-Lite skis, low techs, Scarpa F1 Race
Brandon: Dynafit DNA skis, low techs, Dynafit DNA boots
Wick: Goode Rando Race skis, low techs, Scarpa F1 Carbon boots
Me: Ski Trab World Cup Race, low techs, and Pierre Gignoux XP 444 boots

In the US, we don't have as large of a selection of race gear, but I think (hopefully) it will trickle in.

For boots, we saw lots of different models. The majority of racers were in Scarpa, Dynafit, or Pierre Gignoux. I saw a few La Sportiva Stratos models. Some of the elite had some new Scarpa prototype Alien boots:

From Andorra 3

These are Florent Troillet's boots, one of the top racers in the world right now. He won the individual race in these boots. He and Killian Jornet were mano y mano duking it out over the whole course, passing and getting passed back. Killian passed Florent on the last ascent up the boot pack, but Florent passed him back on the final descent, in these boots. Note that Scarpa has done away with the bellows. Note: This picture was taken with Florent's consent and was not some paparazzi job.

From Andorra 3

Days 75 and 76, Powder. Deep Powder.

Wednesday, I picked up neighbor Jon and met JD at the Park N Ride for some laps in upper Days. After a couple, we'd had our fun and moved over to a new high entrance into Holy Toledo.

Not great visibility, but that's been the game all week.

Then, this morning, we woke up fiending for something bigger. Got a text from Bart saying we should ski Superior. We were already on the way.


Except, once we got up there, something else looked better.


Went up and skied Monte Cristo, the whole time wondering if we'd be able to find our way out the gully instead of cliffing out by heading down the directissimo. The hike up was filled with sun and a crisp cool breeze. Immediately upon reaching the summit, clouds rolled in and obscured the view. We didn't care, the skiing was ridiculous. Knee deep down the "edge of the world" shot, and thigh deep down the main couloir. Luckily the Skier Boyz had been down the line earlier in the morning and we could follow their tracks like braille...sort of. I ended up cliffing out above the first rappel and had to boot back up to the exit gully.


So much fun we definitely had to celebrate. That meant McDonald's again. JD brought in a Little Ceasar's pizza and I made a pizza/burger role up. Getting crazy for sure.