A bit of Whitefish Powder

This past weekend was a race I always look forward to; The Whitefish Whiteout. Whitefish, Montana is a really nice mountain town located seven and a half hours drive from Revelstoke! This is also where a few friends from the USA National Ski Mountaineering team call home, so this race is just a good excuse to go visit them! In addition, since we could not race last weekend in the Tikki Torch in Golden due to highway closure, I was getting pretty excited to race again!

Half asleep, we got on the road really early on Friday morning Reiner and myself in order to get to Whitefish early enough to go skiing. To our surprise, it started to snow really hard as soon as we got to town. The white fluffy stuff made me forget about our annoying but entertaining stop at the US border where we got pulled over and searched! Skis on, we checked out the race course which was slightly different then the previous years. After a couple of hours of recognition, we went back to town to catch up with friends and teammates and get ready for the race!

We woke up to a blue bird sky, mild weather, calm winds and about 15-20 cms of fresh fluffy snow… ideal conditions for a race…. Except for the fresh snow I guess. The race was delayed by an hour due to avalanche control so we had plenty of time to warm-up, hydrate and socialize. The race started at 10am going up the legendary Thoni Matt ski run. This climb is a 600m push of steep climbing with pretty much no break. The climb is so impressive that an award is given to the 1^st racer to reach the summit (record time being 26:59 last year by Reiner Thoni). The conditions being powdery this year, the record was not broken but Reiner go to the top first once again!

Thoni Matt Hill Climb

The rest of the course was really nice but due to fresh snow, the tracks were not set and it was really technical and slippery skinning… we call that character building! It was really hard to get into a rhythm and also to keep the skins on…Reiner was telling me that at the front, him and Brandon French (US National leader) had a fun go at it, putting in the bootpack and breaking trail the whole way. As for us just behind, the wind was picking up by section leaving very little track. The race was not so much of a battle for the 2 leaders but just behind, we were fighting for 3^rd place, myself, 2 other Americans and Brad, a new comer in the Canadian Ski mo scene. I think we all gave it all we got till then end!

Congrats to Brandon French (US) for his 1^st place and Reiner Thoni (CAN) for the fast hill climb and 2^nd place! Congrats also to Martha Burley from Fernier who we see more and more often at the ski races. Martha finished 3^rd behind Katie French and myself! Thx Whitefish for another great event and a good time! We brought home the "bling bling" with great cash prizes (BIG CHECK) and a Silver Platter! Next stop will be the Sunshine 5000 in Banff on February 5^th just before we all leave for the World Championships in Italy!

Best December Ever

The last month of the year has been full of action and adventures. First, we started the month with a great event hosted by Golden Alpine Holidays. We flew in the Meadows Hut on December 4^th and explored their amazing terrain and raced from Meadow Hut to Sunrise Hut the day after under some amazing blue skies and just above the clouds.

For full race report and results:

http://goldenskimo.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/selkirk-classic-skimo-race/

Then, a few days after, I went and spent a week at Kokanee Glacier Hut in the Kootenays. It was truly luxuary hut living in the middle of a paradise. And to top the perfect set up, a storm rolled in mid-week! No need to tell how much fun we had (after digging millions of snow pits of course!)

Then back in Revelstoke mid December, we had a few really good days on Ursus Minor, Grizzly, Video Peak, closer to town on McPherson, Griffin and Dickey.

I’ll let the pictures explain!

Vertical Race in Calgary

This past Saturday was the first event of the Canadian Calendar for Ski Mountaineering. We traveled to Canada Olympic Park (COP) in Calgary for a 3 hours vertical race. We all knew that the race would be as hard as we wanted it to be and we knew it would be a great way to kick off the season and also work on transitions… since in fact we had to do quite a few of them!

The race had different format, Solo, Team of 2 and Team of Four. Close to 100 racers took part in the event which was amazing and unexpected considering it was the first edition of the Vert 180.

The course was pretty simple, with a start/ finish line just outside the Cafeteria. Then of course we had to climb to the top the hill, take our skis off for a short bootpack and then straight line the “Alpine Pitch” to do it again and again and again….

I was a really fun event because it felt like we were all skiing together. People were shearing each other, kids, parents, friends teamed up for the event. It was really different then our typical Ski Mo Race. It was also kind of nice to be doing a ski race under the spotlight and looking at the city! Event if COP is not the highest mountain out there, trust me, it was still a challenge getting to the top of it, specially close to the 3 hours mark!

The whole Canadian team did very well!

Here are some of the results:

Reiner Thoni, Solo Category: 1^st with 18 laps

Andrew McNab, Solo Category: 2^nd with 18 laps as well

Alex Wigley, Solo Category: 3^rd with 15 laps

Julie, Billie, Lindsey and Dusan, Team of 4 Category: 1^st with 18 laps

Ian Gale & Steve Sellers, Team of 2 Category: 1^st with the record amount of lap of the evening!!! 20 Laps! Great job guys!

On my side, I burned 17 laps in the Solo Category and finished 1^st woman.

Congratulations to all the racers, it was a really challenging race at many levels!

After a nice meal and some time to come down from such energy output, we crawled into bed to get some rest before driving back to BC for a nice ski off Video Peak @ Rogers Pass on our way home! Next stop will be Golden Alpine Holiday next weekend with the Selkirk Classic Ski Mountaineering Race!!! Something to look forward to as well!

For Full Results of the Vert 180 Check Out:

http://goldenskimo.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/vert180-results/

Ski Mo Training Camp

This last weekend was the second training camp of the season for the Canadian Ski Mountaineering Team. We have been long waiting for the precious white gold to come down and we got blessed with precipitation just before the camp so the conditions in the Asulkan Valley @ Rogers Pass were close to excellent for the event. Some team members headed to the cabin early on Thursday just to enjoy a longer stay. As for myself, I made my way in mid-day Friday with a gigantic backpack (maybe not as big as Reiner’s but still) and got to the cabin just on time to have a nice rewarding run down the trees in knee deep powder. We then waited for the other team members to get to the cabin and shared a nice meal. Andrew, Ian and myself then decided to go do some night skiing since by then, the clouds rolled away from the valley and unveiled a beautiful almost full moon. We also wanted to give ourselves a head start by breaking trail for the following day! We had an amazing run back down to the cabin and dreamt of all the turns to come the following day!

We woke-up above the clouds to nothing less then a blue bird day and the valley to ourselves. We skied multiple laps around the cabin exploring the area, looking at the glaciated terrain, taking information on the snow pack and of course making some fantastic turns. We started by skiing conservative lines and built our way up to steeper terrain at the end of the day. It felt so very good to be back on big skis, making turns under the sun in nice deep powder! What a feeling! We all gathered back at the hut for some amazing food once again, sharing stories and reconnecting with one another.

Sunday was a bit more cloudy but still really nice. We first had a quick multiple beacon search (thx Ian for coordinating the search) as Jeff set up a short racecourse for us to practice transitions and technique (thx Jeff for doing that!). We did a few laps just to refresh the memory of our muscles and just to get our mind ready for the upcoming 3 hours race this weekend in Calgary! We then switched the light skis and spandex suits for regular gear and headed back up for a final glory run, packed everything and skied back down the valley. Thx team for a great weekend and see you all the Vertical 180 next weekend for the season opener!

As people were coming in and out of the Asulkan Cabin on Sunday, I realized that people are getting more and more aware of what Ski Mo racing is all about. A few months ago, the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) has put together a great video that showcases the sport and describes very well what it is all about. Here’s what we are training for!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8202-Dedbow

Thx to the ACC for facilitating the Camp!

First Ski Mo Race Coming up!

This year, the Ski Mountaineering Race season will get an early start with the first race coming up in less then a month. We will be traveling to Calgary Olympic Park for the first event of the year for nothing less then 3 hours of vertical racing. This should be a great event but definitively not the easiest!

G3 2011 Skigraphiks

The snow is coming, we can feel it! We can see the snow line dropping down everyday!!!!! How Exciting!!!! It's also time to shop for new winter gear maybe even a new pair of skis! Who has never dreamt about designing their own skis?!? Here's an opportunity!

Last week, G3 Launched their 3rd annual Skigraphik contest.

You can also post your vote for your favorite skis if you are not much of an artist. Here's the leading design of the first round by Ben Jepson!

Following is the press release about the contest! Find all the details on the G3 Website

http://www.g3skigraphiks.com/

Good luck to all contestants!

"This ski season, G3, manufacturer of industry-leading gear for backcountry and sidecountry

skiing, will give skiers not one but four chances to see their graphics atop a pair of limited-

edition G3 skis. And, down the road, one graphic may be incorporated into the G3 line moving

forward.

Launching its 2011 Skigraphiks Contest this week, G3 will run four separate contests in concert

with four partners - online retailers Backcountry.com, MountainGear.com and BentGate.com,

as well as Backcountry Magazine online. Here’s how it works: Each month, skiers can submit

their designs at www.g3skigraphiks.com, the public gets to vote on them, and the winner each

month will get a pair of G3 skis with their graphic on the topsheet – inside of 90 days.

In addition, during the first three months, the skis will be available on a limited basis to the

public. Each online retailer affiliated with each respective month’s contest will take pre-orders

for that particular limited-edition ski during the two weeks immediately after a winner is

named. The skis will be delivered to anyone who buys it within 30 days of the close of ordering.

“When you boil it down, skiing is all about fun, and skis are fun, so we thought it was a natural

evolution to see how skiers could take the fun to the next level by spicing things up with

graphics from skiers, who we think are generally fairly creative types,” said Oliver Steffen,

President of G3. “And there’s an immediate gratification to this contest in that people don’t

have to wait till next ski season to see the results – the winners will be able to ski on their

creations this winter season.”

This is the third year of G3’s Skigraphiks contest, and each year the company gets more

submissions. Last year’s winner, Andrew Dye of Vancouver, B.C., will have his ski graphics

appear on the 2011/2012 G3 Tonic, which will debut at the upcoming Outdoor Retailer and SIA

trade shows this January.

The contest in affiliation with Backcountry.com started Oct. 15 and will run until Nov. 14, when

a winner will be chosen. From Nov. 15 to Dec. 14, G3 will run a second contest in affiliation

with MountainGear.com. A third contest in affiliation with BentGate.com will run from Dec.

15 to Jan. 14. And a final contest will run from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 in affiliation with Backcountry

Magazine, via the publication’s web site. Affiliates will promote the contest on their web site

and link traffic to the contest page on G3’s web site.

Winners of each contest will have their graphics used on a current ski from the G3 line. The

graphics from the winner of the Backcountry.com contest will be used on the Manhattan, the

MountainGear.com contest of the Tonic, the BentGate.com contest on the Fever, and the

Backcountry Magazine contest the Zen Oxide. On all contests, G3’s logo must be used in the

design. In the three contests affiliated with the online retailers, their logo must also be used in

the respective contest that they are sponsoring.

At the end of the contest, one of the designs will be chosen as Grand Prize winner by G3. In

addition to skis, that artist will win a quiver of G3 gear, including their choice of telemark or

alpine-touring bindings, as well as an AviTech shovel, Carbon probe, Alpinist climbing skins, a

Bonesaw and G3 ski bag."

Last and not the less of the Series

Last Saturday in Squamish was the last race out of 5 events in the “Hell of a Series”. First off was the OreCrusher in May, then the North Shore Bike Fest at the beginning of June, then the famous and popular Test of Metal a few days after summer solstice. The Gearjammer was at the end of July and the new race in the series for this year: “Just Another Bike Race” was on August 21st.

Each of the events was really unique, testing the rider’s abilities at different levels and I have to say, that this last event was far from being the easiest! The course started at Quest University in Garibaldi Highlands and took us up the Garibaldi Park Road to the top of Half Nelson, a new bike park style trail that gives you the giggles from start to finish… The course then consisted of FSR climbs mixed in with lots of ripping single track, such as the rather challenging “Credit Line”, Roller Coaster, then up again on the FSR for the 3^rd time to Pseudo-Tsuga, then into the lower Power Smart and a then into a new trail to me called “Word of Mouth”… this one last trail was a blast.

It was a really fun 40 km race. Since it was the Series ender, the organizers went all out with the awards and the meal! The awards were not only for the race but also for the overall Series categories Champions. Awards were also given for the riders who raced in all 5 events. Congrats to my friend Michael who had another great race and won his category. He also did all 5 events and finished 1^st in every event he entered so he won his age group category of the Series! Congrats also to my friend Olivier who finished just behind Michael at the race. On my side, I was pretty happy finishing 1^st in my category and fastest time on the ladies side which also gave me enough points to win the 20-29 series age group. I guess crossing the finish line 1^st also drew some attention to my wound which I’m still nursing… which in the end gave me concert tickets, and a nice set of devil horns for being the Queen of the Series… thx for putting me on the spot Michael!… pictures to come soon!

For full results:

http://testofmetal.com/pages/jabr.php