1St World Cup Experience

The last Sunday was the 4^th edition of the Marmotta Trophy in Martell Italy and for the first time, the event was part of the World Cup Series. It sure was a beautiful day out there, ideal for a race actually.We woke up really early in order to get ready for our 1^st World Cup event. As the sun was slowly rising over the impressive peaks of Martell, we made our way up the narrow and twisty road to get to the end of the valley where the start/finish area, which was actually near Hotel Paradiso, an abandon establishment from the 1900’s. There was different categories forthe event. The ISMF (World Cup) women, junior and cadets were the first to ski the course with a challenging 1362m of positive gain, followed 30 minutes later by the ISMF senior men. Then all the other athletes (from different European Ski Associations) lined up at the start only 5 minutes after the ISMF athletes.The course was really fun, one of the nicest events we raced in I would say. The first ascent was steady through the trees for it’s first section but was quickly opening up to

great alpine bowls since we started at 1770m of elevation. The climb brought us up 500m higher where we transitioned for our first descent down a nice wide gully feature. Then skins back on for about 100m and bootpack with fix rope for about 200m. The rest of the 450m climb was done on icy steep switchbacks to finish on a nice knoll under the sun. A quick ski down a rocky corridor brought us to our 3^rd transition where we traversed a flatter meadow section. This is where the men took a different route to add close to 400m of climbing to their course… looking up at the terrain, they had to climb at least 40 switchbacks in order to get to the top and then ski down a narrow passage through the rocks, contour just above the Marteller Hutte where we previously stayed and gain the junction to come back on the women course. From there, a bit of technical skinning and some kick glide traversing brought the athletes to the 2^nd boot pack up a nice long couloir. We thought at first that crampons would be required for this section but at our greatest surprise, they were not necessary. From the top, a quick skin brought us to the highest section of the race just below 3000m of elevation. It was then skins off for an amazing 815m of descent. The first section of descent was fairly flat and somewhat bumpy but the middle

section was where the fun was! We had to ski as fast as we could down a narrow couloir to end up in an open meadow, back down in the trees for some fast out of control turns and then, to add to the race, we had to put our skins back on for an additional 15m of sprinting to the finish line.On the men side, Reiner had a great performance taking the 18^th place followed minutes later by Andrew who took the 24^th place. James also had a solid race taking the 26^th place. The race went well on my side even if affected a bit by the elevation and the end of a sinus flue. I still had a great time. It was an amazing experience to line up once again with the fastest women in the sport. It truly is motivating and inspiring to ski along them. I took the 9^th place just behind Veronica from Austria… we battled till the end but I dropped my ski at the last transition trying to put my skins on as fast as I could… it was funny we hugged and laughed at the finish line! We all had big smiles on our face after the race as we drove down to one of the restaurant to have our post race meal… yes of course pasta again!!! We wondered back to the race for the award ceremony and catch a bit of sun before taking the road back to Landeck, Austria.

Great food and a night of rest later, we drove back down to Venice for the last leg of our trip. We cleaned our little Panda car and left it behind to catch a bit of the Venice Carnaval action. First thing we knew, we were in the air, direction Canada. It sure was a great month full of excitement and emotions. We all learnt a lot once again and we take great memories back with us.

A week in Val Martello

Soon after the world championships, we packed our multiple bags as well as we could in our very small rental car (Fiat Panda) and drove towards our next stop: Val Martello. A drive through Cortina, the “Whistler of the Dolomites” was necessary while making our way to our next destination. The area being really thinly covered by snow this year, we only stopped for lunch and for some really entertaining people (and pet) watching…also still recovering from a week of events, we stopped in Merano for a rejuvenating water therapy session. Relaxed but still tired, we made it to Martello where really comfy beds and amazing hospitality was awaiting.

We woke up to snow the following day. We slowly prepared our bags for our hut trip, waiting for our 4^th friend to complete our happy group. As we took the twisty narrow road to get to the end of the valley, it was really clear that the “Panda” would not like the winter conditions. Chains on, we finally made it to the trail head where we found out that the cable cart that was going to carry our multi-day bags up to the hut was not working for the day and we would have to carry everything we needed with us. Reiner was going to bring his roller travel bag and we had pretty generous backpacks. No need to say that we revisited our packs and then undertook the 600m ascent to the hut in a whiteout.

The hut was amazing, big enough to accommodate 50 guests at the time, with 2 fulltime cooks getting dinner feasts together and light breakfasts. We did not sleep very well in our bunk-beds the first night but waking up to Italian powder and a blue bird skies made up for the lack of sleep. We were really glad to see James coming up to the hut early morning after having his own adventure trying to make his way to the hut the previous day. Our group completed, we were ready to start exploring the area.

We climbed a fairly flat glacier and got to one of the lower summits of the area. The bigger objectives were gettng hammered by strong wind, so we decided to take it easy. To our greatest surprise, there was an other really large hotel as we got to 3200m ?!? They are just about everywhere. We skied back down to the hut fairly early and enjoyed a siestas & cappuccinos.

The following day, the sun was shining again and the winds finally calmed down. We decided that it was prime time for some glacier walking and peak bagging. Funny enough, it seemed like pretty much everyone in the hut had a similar objective in mind and multiple groups ended up in the same area (through different routes). It was then a race to the summits! We walked cautiously on the glacier and the gained the ridge for a long bootpack to finally stand on the 3767m high Zuflaspitze . We quickly realized that you can’t really go to the top of this mountain without visiting its closest neighbor, the Cevedale which only required an additional 20 minutes walk on a dodgy glacier. After a long ski day, we all decided that the comfort of the “ Bengfrieden Hotel” the amazing hotel where we spent the first night was what we needed to fully recover before the next race. A full rest day later, fresh snow covered the entire valley and brought amazing condition for our course inspection on Friday. By then, familiar faces from the World Championships started to appear in projection of the upcoming Sunday event. We definitively treated ourselves during the days before the race (Physio therme, saunas, steams, hot tub, amazing food), for the first time in the trip, this really felt like a vacation. Then the day of the race came and it was really one of a kind event.

Race report to follow!

World Championship Report

It sure was a week full of great emotions here in Italy. After the sprint race of Wednesday was one of our favorite event of all, the individual race. This is where the stronger racers of each country battle over a course of around 1300m of vertical gain for the women and 1500m for the men. The race usually starts with a longer first climb and has at least 3 descents and a bootpack section. Well this race was no exception. We woke up on Thursday to perfect weather for our individual race. We warmed up going to the start line skinning about 300m…then we all warmed up to a faster pace, trying to focus on the job ahead and not get intimidated by one another. The men started at 10am and right from the beginning, carbon poles were braking, bindings were exploding, bodies were stumped over…it was war!!! Then, 10 minutes later the ladies took position on the start line. We had to go up on a logging road for about 200m before merging in the forest on a double track, which finally broke in the open where a crowd was awaiting cheering with large cowbells at the first transition point. A quick 100m descent/skate took us to the second transition. From there, a steeper climb with switchbacks took us to flatter terrain. We then gained the alpine and traversed a meadow. We could see the transition point from afar but it just seemed at that point in time that it kept on being further and further away… At that point, team Canada supporters were really encouraging and helped keeping the focus. A nice descent in the meadows and bumps took us to the 3^rd transition point. From there, 130 m of climbing took us to the bootpack section and ridge walk, We then had to down climb a ladder attached on a fix rope and ran for a while in deep facet. We put the skis back on of another 190m of climbing… wow, that section felt long. The men kept going for an extra 100m to the top of the ridge as the women course turned around just before an additional bootpack. The last descent was a pure blast. We were zigzagging in thetrees, moguls, sharp corners. We then met with a long logging road that was just line a bobsled track…. SO FAST and so narrow!!!

Our Nation was well represented with Reiner taking the 30^th place, then Andrew right at his tale was 36^th. Then James and Alex finished 59^th and 60^th respectively. On the ladies side, the race was close till the end as I managed to pass an Austrian girl on the skating part just before the finish line to end up in 10^th position. As for Julie, she took the 24^th place. Big congrats to Janelle from the USA who had a great race finishing in 9^th place.

Following the individual was the relay race. We unfortunately did not compete in the race since we needed a 3^rd woman. The men (Reiner, Andrew, Stano and James) did very well with an 11^th place. The battle was hard with a really fast field. It was amazing to watch! We took a day to catch up on some sleep and relax a bit then took the rode to Martello, a beautiful valley in Italy close to the Austrian border. We have been enjoying some of the culture while spending 2 day in an alpine hut at 2610m and climbing up the local peaks.

http://www.martellerhuette.com/

We are resting before the next event, the Marmotta Trophy this coming Sunday!

Races report for the Vertical and the Sprint

The least we can say is that it’s been a rather emotional last couple of days here in Italy. Yesterday was the vertical race, which was pretty short. The course started fairly flat, with some steep kicks and a short steep bootpack then back to ascending on skis for a total of 540m of vertical gain. For a similar event, we were estimating the times to be more or less 30 minutes. Unfortunately we got misinformed on the start time for men and women. So I was hanging out, relaxing an getting ready to warm up for a 11:30am race start when I got told that we were actually starting at 11:00am…. It was then 10:35. It was also bad for all the men racing at the event since they all warmed up too early. I had just about 15 minutes to warm up the muscle and deal with the mental frustrations and there I was at the start line trying to get ready… not a good was to start a race I sure tell you! I guess I learnt that you can control some parts of the racing scene but

there are still parts you can’t control… and those are exterior factors.

I had a good start being with the lead for a little while and pushing hard but as expected, I started to fall apart a bit.

Our Canadians altogether still did an amazing job. Congrats to Reiner Thoni for his 34^th place and Andrew McNab for his 41^st place. Also congrats to Stano for his 53^rd place and Steve for his 61^st place. I still came in 15^th place as Julie finished in 23^rd. Great work Canadians. Even if a bit disappointed and upset about the early event, I calmed myself down and got some great rest.

Picture by Alex Wigley

skitheoryblogspot.com

Today was a new day and was time to race in a new race in the ski mountaineering list of event. The sprint is a “ give it all type of race”. The course start in a flatter section, then gets steeper, move you onto technical switch backs then you have to transition to a short bootpack. Put your skis back on for more skinning, then transition to ski down GS style then finish with a skating part. Then whole thing covers 100m of vertical gain and takes between 3-5 minutes. No need to say that this is really exciting t watch and event more to race. We started off with the qualifiers where each racers goes every 30 seconds. On the ladies side, the 12 first moved on to semi finals and on the gent side, 30 moved on to quarter. Then from there the heat of 6 racers start. This is where it becomes interesting!

Congrats to Andrew McNab for almost making the quarter finals and to Luke Nelson from the States. Congrats also to Reiner, James and Alex for a solid race. You guys looked strong out there. Congrats also to Julie for a great effort. This race is highly technical as you can imagine and there is no room for mistakes. As for myself, I moved on from the qualifier in 12^th place. Then I finished 3^rd in the semi final heat. I then ended up in final with a really strong line up of really experienced racers…the world champs. The pressure was on and I was a bit nervous. I had a good start and was 2^nd after the first part of the course but then I started to slide a bit in the switchbacks and lost some time there. I managed to finish 6^th today which I am pretty happy about. Experience will help!

Now is time to recover for the next and really important event: The individual Race tomorrow!

World Champ team Race report

We woke up to cloudy sky this morning in Claut. We have been blessed with amazing weather so far to do course inspections. After the sprint race has been moved from yesterday to this coming Wednesday, we had an additional day to get things ready and organized. Today was then the first event of 5 in the World Championships with the pairs race. Our country was well represented with 3 men team and one women team. The race started at low elevation just pass the town of Claut. We had a short ascent right off the start followed by a bootpack in the forest (on about 5 cm of snow….) then a short descent in a bobsled type trail and off we were… we had 2 long ascents to complete with a bootpack in each one of them. The descents were quite something with a mix of moguls, ice and powder. To add to the difficulty level, it was a complete whiteout at the top so it was quite hard to navigate. The longest and 3^rd descent took us down to the start where we were far from being done yet. We had a cross a bridge skis in hand and run for a while then skate a flat section. Climb in the trees again (where we executed kick turns on grass and leaves. Then down again, a bootpack to the road then down again and up to the finish line… It was the race that would never end!!! The overall race was 2200m of positive gain and the top teams completed the course in 2:30 (M) and 3:00 (W).

Congratulations to all the racers and specially the Canadians.

Reiner and Andrew finished with an amazing time in 16^th place. Congrats to Steve and Stano and Alex and James. As for Julie and myself, we took the 9^th place. We had a great time playing in the trees, in the leaves and in the rocks…. Oh and of course in the snow!!!!

Next race is the vertical on Tuesday… we have a day to rest and recharge the batteries before the rest of the events.

Full results at http://www.claut2011.org/en/

And pictures to come!

Europia so far

So here we are only a day before the start of the World Championships here in Italy. We have been here for just over a week now to give a chance to our body to adjust to time change but most importantly to diet-change. We left Calgary on the 8^th of February and flew to Venice. After about 24 hours of traveling, we found a nice “Aubergo” downtown Venice were we absolutely crashed. A good night of rest later, we woke up early to go for a run along the canals of Venice, one of the nicest run we ever had actually. It was just spectacular. We then made our way to pick up our traveling partner in Landeck Austria.

We spent 3 wonderful days in Reiner’s family in Winnebach in the valley of OtZtal, on a hotel/farm getting immerse in the Austrian Culture.

We made the most of the Austrian snow. On the first ski day, we climbed up the valley just behind the hotel towards a nice summer hut and kept going up the valley and ended up at the top of a 500m long 45 degrees couloir; which we skied with our race skies of course. It was a great warm up run on our first ski day in Europe!

The following day was more training oriented. We skied up a nice mellow trail towards a nice alpine Café called the Nissl Hut, had a coffee break, skied down and climbed up to an other alpine hut (Amberger Hut) where we had amazing cappuccinos and shared traditional food! We also scoped the itinerary for the following day.

On day 3, we woke up to beautiful sunny skies. We climbed back to the Amberger Hut, had an espresso and then undertook the climb up the highest peak of the area, the SchranKroger 3498m. It was amazing! Back down the glacier, we had to stop at the hut once again and get a last great meal before heading back to the hotel. Then, we took the road back to Landeck to have a last minute vertical race against the local Search and Rescue team and drove back to a little town in Italy called Belluno.

Now, the pre-race shopping is done, we are quasi rested and definitively carb loading… I think it is fair to say that we are ready to race! We could definitively hope for more snow as things here are not really covered so racing should be really interesting. Please some some energy our way as we have a week long filled of event coming up!

video of the Ridge Walk up on the SchranKroger to come... Internet is hard to access here!!!

Sunshine 5000 Race Report

The Sunshine 5000 is the oldest race in our Canadian Circuit. For the 7^th year, the resort has been hosting a great event, which usually draws the biggest crowd to the Canadian Ski mo scene. With around 30 racers, this year, the event was a success. With great snow, mild weather and a group of great racer and organizers, nothing could really go wrong!

We traveled mid-day friday and made it through just before highway closure due to heavy snowfall between Revelstoke and Golden… We got to Sunshine village in one piece happy to check in at the Sunshine Mountain Lodge (thx to the Resort for great rate)! Sunshine Village has been getting really good snow coverage this year and we were all pleased to see that this year, we would be able to ski the steeper part of the course without being scared for our carbon skis!!! Speaking of carbon skis, it is now really nice to see how much the gear has evolved with the years. At the start line, there was half the crowd with light gear and 6 with full carbon boots. I am so thrilled to see that the sport is growing in our country!!!!

Saturday morning, the weather was just perfect for a race. We gathered at the start line at mid-station just after 9am. The start of this race is always quite interesting since it is relatively flat for an extended period of time and it takes a while for people to really space out. The course was the same as last year with the exception of the Delirium Dive, which has been closed all season due to very low snow coverage.

Reiner took the lead of the race pretty quickly followed by Andrew McNab (2^nd) (Great work sweet heart!). Just behind were James Minifie (3^rd), Alex Wigley (4^th), Ian Gale and Stano Faban, all pretty close one to the other. On my side, I was just behind Stano! I tried very hard to catch up to the 4 guys ahead but it just did not happen that day!

I think it is fair to say that everyone had a great race and we are now building up steam for our big events next month: the World Championships in Claut Italy.

Congrats to Julie Matteau (2^nd), Billie Velisek (3^rd) and Martha Burley (4^th) on the ladies side. Here are the results and a few pictures after the race!

To follow events in Italy, you can check the following link: http://www.claut2011.org/en/