Citizen Series Finale and Season Summary

Last night we held the final race of our inaugural season of racing.  Some 50ish hearty souls came out with enthusiasm to win the Sportiva skis and to once again get some exercise and ski by headlamp while the rest of America sat at home and watched something stupid like the Bachelor.

Pre race instructions

The format was a two person team relay, with each person being required to complete two circuits on a figure of eight course (two climbs with shared descent).  Each circuit seemed to take from 10 to 20 minutes depending on the person, gear, and motivation.

Teams were decided by once again having the "fast folks" step forward and then having everyone on regular gear claim their partner.  Once that was settled, we stepped forward to the straightest starting line of the year and then the drag race was off.  The course began with a couple hundred meters of low angle cat track before tucking into the trees for steep technical skinning.  With the pack strung out along the double track, Jason tried to drop the field but Jared hung on.  My skins were starting to fail as were many others given the cold temps and the unsettled skinner.

Jake and Blake on the final booter

After the first descent, sneaky little Jared managed to jump into a second set of skis and was off before Jason and I had even skinned up one.  Everyone was fighting their own battles though.  I was chasing Jason and trying to avoid being caught by Teague.  Teague was chasing me and trying not to get caught by Chad and Courtney.  They in turn had their own pursuers.

But the evening was determined by those on the heavy gear.  My partner Jake was locked up in a contest with Teague's partner, Blake.  Those two guys went back and forth and both put in gutsy performances.  In the end, Blake lost a skin and Jake took advantage, pulling away for the win.

Psyched to beat Jared's team.  

The victor's pie

Raffling PW gear

After the racing, we made our way to Molly Green's for food, beverage, and prizes.  This time there was a bit more energy as everyone was anxious to win the Sportiva GTR skis, which were being raffled off as our Series grand prize.  The customary pumpkin pies were given to Blake and Jake and then a couple more large pies were passed out to share amongst everyone for all being "winners".  Then, for each of the nine races attended, people placed their names in the lucky boot and Jared drew the winners.  Noah Howell of the Powder Whore Nation also kindly contributed some PW gear and movies, which we raffled off first (Surprisingly, Jared's name didn't come up every time).  Then, a very befitting winner took home the new skis.  Tim White has come to almost all of the races and has been an ardent supporter of the new series.

Tim WINS!

Series in Review:

So what started as a casual get together of friends on Thanksgiving morning has turned into a wonderful tradition of more friends, skiing, suffering, pies, and prizes.  In all, we had 9 races this year, all of which where held in the Brighton Ski area and the surrounding backcountry.  I estimate that over 80 people came out and participated in at least one race and many many folks raced multiple times.  The format varied and we tried out a few different styles of races ranging from vert style (as many laps as one can do in an hour or two), team relay, hill climb, standard Skimo course, and a four lap short course.  We had current and former US Skimo National Champions (both mens and womens), local hardmen such as Tom Diegle, weekend warriors, newcomers to the sport, people on carbon boots, tele boots, race skis, mega watts, and everything in between.  Many companies rose up to show support including Kirkham's, Minus 33, the Powderwhores, and main sponsor, La Sportiva.  Brighton was a gracious host all series long and allowed us to use their terrain free of charge to pursue our shenanigans.  Jared Winkler, Brandon Dodge, and Greg the cat driver all deserve special mention for giving the OK from an administration, patrol, and driver perspective.  

My goals at the beginning were many fold:

1. Get faster

2. Get others involved in this great sport 

3. Preach the "light is right" philosophy

    a. Help point others in the right direction gear wise as others have done for me

4. Have fun

I think all four were accomplished and hope to grow the series next year and continue our relationship with the above mentioned great companies.  Special thanks to La Sportiva for contributing the grand prize. And, special thanks to all of you who competed and made the series a success.  

Comments and suggestions on how to make things better are welcome.

Citizens Series Finale and Pics of the Day

The 9th and final Wasatch Citizens Skimo Race will be held on Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 7:00 pm at Brighton, Utah. 

We will conclude the inaugural series by giving away a pair of Sportiva GTS skis.

Here are the rules:

1. To be eligible for the drawing, you must have participated in at least one WCS Race.

2. To enter the drawing, you must fill out the form at citizenseries.wasatchpowederkeg.com

3. Procedure for drawing: (a) based on form  submissions (paragraph 2), a list of all entries will be compiled; (b) each entrant will get 1 entry for each race in which he or she has been a participant; (C) a randomly numbered list of all entries will be compiled; (D) each entry will be assigned a number between 1 and the total number of entries; (E) a randomly selected person at Molly Greens will select a number between 1 and the total number of entries; (F) the selected number wins the GTS skis!

4. You must be present to win.

Thanks and Good Luck!

Also, JD and I had a fun tour today, bumping into Adam, JS, and JB. We had all the terrain between the Alpine Ridgeline and Box Elder to ourselves and managed to find a few patches of powder that haven't been blown into oblivion. We kept the slope angles low but still managed to have a good time billy goating a rocky ridge and enjoying stunning views of Box Elder. Here are a couple pics:

Wasatch Citizen's Skimo Race #8: Vert 60

Pre race briefing

Tonight we held our penultimate race for the year and I think it was another great success.  Around 35 people showed up to suffer and have fun with friends for 60 minutes.  We warmed up together to the base of the Snake Creek lift where the usual crooked start line was drawn in the snow.  After a couple announcements, I gave the starting commands and 3 dozen athletes of varying backgrounds were off.  They were all chasing their own goals.  For some, it was a desire to beat a friend.  For others, a certain number of laps equated to success.  Some were just happy to be hiking in the sharp night air amongst friends.  

Group Warmup

After putting away the camera, I gave chase and caught the leaders who seemed to have arranged some sort of "gentleman's agreement" to take it semi easy on the first lap, allowing everyone to warm up properly.  I hung around for a few more laps and then reverted to "race director" and took pics/video of the whole crew.  

The usual fast start

It looked initially like it might be a competitive race between Jason, Jared, Tom, Tom, Teague, Courtney, Layne, Chad, Chad, and others (sorry if I didn't see you up front).   But, one by one skin failures, binding malfunctions, or natural attrition resulted in a two man race.  Jason claims he was toying with Jared but then he lost his skin and he looked like a fool, unable to catch up over the final minutes.

  

A few random pictures of people getting after it above.

As for the women, Gemma Arro Ribot, fresh off a 2nd place finish in the European Skimo Championships, hung with most of the men and turned in the most laps.  It was great to see at least five other women out racing the men as well.  

The little pie for our littl winner

After the hour of pain, most people skied down for the traditional after race party at Molly Green's for drinks, food, and prizes.  Minus 33 was the sponsor for the evening and donated hats and a couple proform cards.  Pumpkin pies were handed out to Jared and Gemma and then to newcomers, the Diegle brothers, and to Layne and Toph for making every race thus far.  

Gemma with the pumpkin pie and a new hat courtesy of Minus 33

Join us next week for our last race of the series.  We will be having another team sprint relay where someone on race gear and spandex is paired with someone on traditional gear.  The first team to complete 4 laps (two each) will be declared the winners.  They will get a pumpkin pie and someone will win a pair of brand new skis from our main sponsor, La Sportiva, in the season finale raffle.  

Series sponsor La Sportiva will be giving away a new pair of skis next week!  The skis above a just a few in their new line.

 See citizenseries.wasatchpowderkeg.com for more.

Photo of the Day/Citizens Race Tonight

Inverted dense snow with a mix of graupel and rain crust made for some rather enjoyable skiing on the 64 mm race skis.  Photo by Jason and more on jasondorais.blogspot.com.

64 mm skis, 145 cm poles, steezy hat, and inverted pow

Also, tonight there will be another Citizens Skimo race at Brighton.  Be there ready to go at 7PM by the Great Western lift.  We'll have one more next week with one lucky person winning a pair of brand new pair of skis from series sponsor La Sportiva.  These races are a lead up to the main event, the Wasatch PowderKeg.  Sign up!

Teva Winter Mountain Games: Ultimate Mountain Challenge

Last week I ventured to Vail, Colorado to participate in the Teva Winter Mountain Games.  I was somewhat hesitant about going since work and family and life in general had had me pinned down in the days leading up to the games.  But things generally worked out and I went.  I signed up for the Ultimate Mountain Challenge, which included a 10k nordic race, a skimo race, and a vertical hillclimb.

Nordic Race with Olympians and on an Olympian's Skis
It bordered on being humiliating.  But I was honored and happy to be there.

A couple weeks prior to the race, I got a pair of skis from Billy Demong and a short lesson.  I also got a lesson from Morgan Smyth, a champion in her own right.  I'm glad I did.  Billy taught me how to pole and ski  more effectively.  (Sidenote:  while maching down Millcreek canyon, he dropped to his back, slid under a fallen tree, and popped right back up again, avoiding a shattered knee by about 1 inch!).  Morgan taught me some nordy moves too, and warned me not get to caught up in the start because inevitably some guy always crashes.

I was that guy.  At the start, I double poled as hard as I could, then in transitioning to skate, got my skis caught on something (either myself or someone else) and did a front-first slide.  I hopped back up, and eventually finished about 7 minutes behind the winner.

Teva Games Nordic Start and my mentor Morgan with red cap 

 Ski Mountaineering Race

The Skimo race was advertised as being 6500 feet.  The day before, we learned that it was a bit longer than originally projected -- over 8000 feet and 20 ish miles or so with a projected winning time of 4 hrs 30 minutes.  The course took us on a grand tour around the perimeter of both the front and back side of Vail Mountain.  Vail is really big!

Endurance guru Mike Kloser on his way to finishing a great race.

The course started out steep and had a few climbs in it (like 8000 feet worth), but the distinguishing characteristic of the course was its long low angle and flat sections, like miles of them.  The race spread out pretty quickly and for the most part, I was left to myself and to my own rhythm.  When I got frustrated, I looked around and reminded myself of where I was and tried to enjoy cruising the Vail ridges.

Towards the end of the race, I ran out of fluids.  The race ended with a booter up a muddy grassy slope.  As I started up the final booter, both of my legs cramped really hard.  Trying to keep them straight and to take the weight off them, I bent forward, and leaned my head into the sidehill.  Sari Anderson, having a really great race, passed by and gave me some water to get me to the end of the race.  After the race, someone chided me about getting, "Mom'ed"  -- Sari has two kids.  But that really doesn't mean much given that Sari is one tough mutha.

Dr. Dorais's DNF


Andy had a rough race.  His drive is admirable, but even super humans have bad days, especially if they travel to the race the night before with wife and child, only sleep 4 hours before the race, and aren't quite recovered from the flu.  Andy was forced to drop out a little past the mid way point.  But he was there to greet the finishers.

The Vertical Race

My housemates Chris Peters and Morgan convinced me to go easy on this race -- actually, they told me not to do the race, and I compromised by going easy.  I've had a hacking chest cough since January, and the intense high altitude racing wasn't making it any better.  But I really wanted to complete the Ultimate Mountain Challenge.  There was lots of money for the winners, but I was well out of that.  I didn't want to miss out.

So did the vertical race and was able to both observe and "race."  I was curious to observe because there was quite a bit of agonizing debate over what mode of transportation was faster -- skis or run?  The leaders of the UMC all chose to run.  Greg Ruckman, however, chose to ski.  The overall race was won by Josiah Middaugh, a runner.  But he didn't do the UMC.  Of the people doing the UMC, Greg Ruckman won, finishing about 1:56 behind Middaugh.  He was on skis.  And then came Brian Smith, Marshall Thompson, Mike Kloser and Luke Nelson.  These four ran.

So which was faster?  Hard to say.  Had the fast UMC'ers been rested, they might have given Middaugh a run for his money.  Ruckman said it best when I asked him why he chose skis.  He said that "they are best for me."  In other words, for him, running would have been slower.  Skiing probably would have been slower for other guys.  On balance, though, I'd say that running was faster on that course (groomed ).

Good Company


In the end, I finished 8th in the UMC.  I didn't win any money at this event, but that's not why I went.  As I drove home, I asked myself why I race.  Why I take time away from family, spend money not win money, suffer through a hacking cough, etc.  I think there are a lot of reasons, but one reason is the people that I get to race with.  We are all difference, but all have some things in common.  I go to races because I get to be with people who inspire me and some of whom are my heros.  I go to races because I get to see art in motion.  At a race, many of the things that matter in our weird world don't matter anymore.  Reality is stripped bare.  No one can hide behind things that don't matter.  All that matters is how hard you have worked and how hard you are willing to work.  Being exposed to the primal desire to overcome is re-creation at its core.

Luke Nelson, me, Sari Anderson, Janelle Smiley, Chris Kroger

Quad Canyon Traverse: Millck, BCC, LCC, and AF Canyons

This year has left my soul withered up in lost dreams of skiing steep lines with stable powder.  Racing has filled part of the void by spending time with friends and developing fitness that we plan to apply to the mountains in the spring.  But, with the snowpack now sufficient to allow passage through most areas, Jason and I decided to go out and find the joy of moving efficiently through the backcountry.  

The plan was to start at the beginning of the Millcreek road, skin the 4-5 miles to the Big Water TH, make our way up to Dog Lake, ski out into BCC, head up Cardiff, find a way into LCC, skin up the Bird, and then somehow make it out into American Fork Canyon where we conned our little sister into waiting for us at the Tibble Fork Reservoir.  

We were handicapped by the fact that I worked late the night before and was unwilling to start before 8AM.  I also had to work that evening so I set a strict finishing time of 2:30PM.  If it looked like that wasn't going to be feasible, we would bail on the full tour and hitch hike/beg for a ride from friends back to our car.  

5 miles of Millcreek road

Since we were on a timeline, both of us were using race skis (skinny and short) and had on various amounts of spandex.  The quizzical looks from others in the backcountry are funny to me.  Different agendas warrant different equipment. 

Jason kept track our or progress on his cheap Timex watch (both of us forgot any sort of altimeter, GPS, HR monitor, or other technology).  We ticked off the first 5ish miles in around an hour.  Following a skin track through the conifers and aspens, we found ourselves above Dog Lake in an 1:30...ahead of schedule. We skied a mix of luge track and breakable crust to the BCC road and walked over to the snow park where skis went back on.  Again, the cadence was fast and we felt powerful as we ticked off the miles, moving fast while admiring the terrain above us along the Benson and Hedges ridge. 

Passing under the exit of the Hallway Couloir, we found a perfect skin track that took us up the sub ridge  and to the Superior ridge line.  Peering into LCC, we realized we would now be skiing a couple thousand feet of breakable crust on 64 mm underfoot skis.  A few ugly minutes later, we strode down the Bypass Road and started up Chip's.  The legs grew heavy, but we were still able to maintain a respectable pace to Hidden Peak.  

LAME!  Nice speedsuit.

En route, some baggy pants monkey making noodley turns on a groomer noodled his way past and shouted, "LAAAAAMME!"  That was probably the best comment I've heard all year.  Jason and I laughed out loud as I was in full spandex and we were hiking up hill with kid skis through all the radness.  Most folks, however, were actually encouraging.  

We knocked on the Patrol door at Hidden Peak and the guys were super cool when we asked about how to get to AF Canyon.  It was still before 1 PM and the guys made it sound easy.  Committing, we dropped into Mineral and called our sister, telling her to meet us in an hour.  We rallied out a packed snow mobile track before the path mellowed leading to a long skate through a beautiful serene drainage. And then we were there.  The Tibble Fork Reservoir appeared around a turn and we were done.  5:52 after leaving the car in Millcreek.  After constant motion, it felt odd to sit down feel stillness.  Not more than 5 minutes later, Aimee pulled into the parking lot and we were off in search of burgers and fries.  

Really serene terrain heading into AF

Having done a few long traverses in the past, I can say that it is fully addicting.  Light gear + fitness + an inspiring line/traverse/enchainment = more skiing and more fun.  While this quad canyon tour purposefully followed mostly mellow terrain and for convenience passed through the resort, so many variations exist.  Add Raymond, Kessler, Superior, the Pheiff, Box Elder....  Think about it.  

Oh, and BTW, it was awesome to skin up dry powder and ski breakable crust!  South to North would be recommended.  

STATS:

Distance: Estimated at 30 miles on Google Earth

Vertical: Estimated at 8000 feet ascended by the altimeter in my head

Time: 5 hrs 52 min 37 seconds

Gear: Sportiva Stratos boots and RSR skis, Plum 145 bindings, Dynafit Speedsuit and Manaslu pack, 140 cm $20 Swix poles

Food: EFS gel x 1, Power Gel x 1, Einstein's Bagel, Diet Coke, 2L Gatorade

Partner: One mini me named Jason

MIllcreek to American Fork Canyon

We're still a little scared of the snowpack this year so we decided  to go for a safe tour.  The idea was to start at the winter gate in Millcreek Canyon and end at Tibble Fork Lake in American Fork Canyon, purposely avoiding any high risk avy terrain.  Avoiding avy terrain detracts a little from the tour but what can you do?  Once we're more comfortable with the snow, adding classic shots off of Raymond, Kessler, Superior, The Pfeiffhorn, Box Elder, etc will make this tour a classic!

Since Andy had to work at 5 we set a strict finish time of 2:30.  If it looked like we weren't going to finish in time then we'd pull the plug wherever we were and try to hitch a ride back to the car.  Andy also worked until 1 AM last night so we (he) didn't want to start too early.  This left us with a leisurely 8 AM (exactly) start and a race pace effort all day to try and squeeze it in.

Climb 1, Millcreek winter gate to Dog Lake.  This was a pretty upbeat effort and set the tone for the rest of the day.  I think we both felt sluggish right out of the car but a little high cadence skinning let us find a good rhythm.  Thanks to whoever put the skinner in from the summer parking lot to the lake, 1:42 (total time).

5 miles of road to start

Descent 1, Dog Lake to Cardiff Fork.  Most of this was a bobsled track out Mill D.  We were fortunate enough to catch a little breakable crust heading to the BCC road.  It's great, all day we skinned up the powder and skied the breakable,  2:12.

Climb 2, Cardiff Fork to Little Superior.  Once again we found a nice skinner leading up Cardiff, under Toledo peak, and up to the ridge just east of Little Superior.  Since we were racing the 2:30 deadline, we kept gunning for this whole section, 3:25.

Decent 2, Little Superior to Snowbird.  This was fun. Breakable crust the whole way down.  What more can I say, 3:48.

Climb 3, Hidden Peak.  After a going hard all morning we both started to feel a little heavy.  We figured if we could top out around 1 PM then we'd look at the map and make the call.  Once in the warming hut the Snowbird Ski Patrollers were kind enough to offer up a little help.  They recommended descending Mineral Basin, heading out of the lower backcountry gate, and then following a snow mobile trail out to Tibble Fork.  Since it was just before 1:00 and we had good beta it seemed like a good idea to push on. Of note, we both looked like clowns heading up Snowbird in full Lycra.  Our favorite heckle came from  a "rad" skier.  He skied by and just yelled, "LAAAME!"  Given what we looked like I can't really blame him for stating the obvious, 4:50.

Lame, full lycra at the Bird

Turn around?

Descent 3, Hidden Peak to Tibble Fork. This descent went exactly as the patrollers said it would.  A lot of low angle skating.  Turns out it's a LONG way down from the Peak to Tibble Fork, 5:52.

Lucky for us little sister Aimee agreed to pick up her two dirty brothers and shuttle us back up to SLC.  Sorry about the foul smelling boots.

 Even though we only toured on mellow terrain, it was still good to get out and cover some ground.  I'm not sure how many people have done this little tour but I think more should.  It's safe, you see a ton and it's good exercise.  Do it.

Glad to be done

Official Clock

Stats: (both millage and elevation are estimates, lost my Garmin)

Millage - 25-30 miles
Elevation - 7-8000'
Time - 5:52
Food- 2 Gu's, 1 bagel, 1 fruition bar, 2 32 oz Gatorades