Long story short – Reiner and I did not summit even though that was the plan. It was possible and some other folks must have done it few days before as we found some footprints.
Overall a great trip that made us practice various mountaineering skills. As a bonus the changing clouds and December light created the most spectacular imagery I have ever seen on Mount Baker.
Access road
We drove to about 2km from the parking lot thanks to Reiner’s skill but otherwise were passed by surprised sledders once skinning. With Subaru or equivalent we would have been lucky to drive to about 4-5km from the parking lot.
Snow and glacier conditions
Everything was wind blasted from top to bottom. At some places it was super icy, whereas, at others a very hard wind slab has formed.
Glaciers are covered enough for a roped-up travel, nothing scary, easy to navigate. But in foggy conditions it can quickly turn into an epic.
Travel
Uphill required some technical-to-sketchy skinning even on low angle slopes. Skiing was not at its best but here and there some decent turns were possible – overall it was fun.
Roman Wall must be in almost unskiable conditions – likely sheer ice. We turned around at the Col which is at about 2750m as we were running out of time a bit and valley clouds started to foggy up the Coleman Glacier descent route.
Archives for December 2011
Results, video and report for Vert180 skimo race (Dec 3, 2011)
Fun, great snow and “go-go-go” were the words flying around at start/transition area of the Vert180 skimo race at Canada Olympic Park. As a great surprise (in Calgary terms) about 15cm of powder fell during the event and temperatures didn’t even drop below -8 C.
Over 70 racers competed in various categories – solo, 2 or 4 person relay teams. Race course lap was the same for all and tested everyone’s skimo racing skills. Yes, the downhill at COP is not the most exciting but the atmosphere of a lap night race easily makes up for it.
Race results and some interesting facts
The solo categories were won by Peter Knight in men’s and Heather Anderson in women’s. They managed to complete 15 and 13 laps respectively.
523 was the number of total laps climbed in all categories combined.
There were 4 youth and teenage racers spread around various teams – Anna Sellers, Stephanie Toft, Kate Kuba and Martin Carnogursky (3 girls, 1 guy).
Fastest lap recorded was by Reiner Thoni at 7 min 23 sec and happened around 1h into the race. For women, this honor likely went to Melanie Bernier but an official time wasn’t recorded.
Youngest racer was a 12 year-old Anna Sellers from Canmore, Alberta. It is worth to mention that Anna competed in a biathlon race earlier that day! And did a classic cross country race on Sunday!
Photos and a different spin on the report from Golden Skimo.
Were you there? Or weren’t but have questions?
If you participated or volunteered share your experience with others below.
If you missed the event but have questions about it or want to attend other skimo events ask via comments below.
Rando ski mountaineering (racing) transitions with Reiner Thoni
Ski mountaineering is as much about having fun as it is about efficiency. In fact, the more efficient you are the more time you can spend having fun. Hunting powder in the backcountry or during a skimo race lots of time can be saved on transitions – getting you set from uphill to downhill modes and the other way around.
There are couple of styles for wicked fast transitions and no style is really too much faster than the other – it all boils down to pick your style and practice it again and again. In the two videos below, Reiner Thoni (current Canadian and North American skimo racing champion) will talk you through his way of transitions.
There are separate articles about different rando ski mountaineering transitions coming on Skintrack – with more in depth analysis and videos from the last World Ski Mountaineering Championships 2011 in Italy.
Reiner’s skins off transition
It may seem that this transition is only possible with skimo race gear but in fact many of us are doing it the same way with any Dynafit style bindings. Of course, the boots might have more buckles or the skins might need to be ripped off from the back but otherwise the workflow is the same.
Reiner’s skins on transition
What was said below the “skins off” video applies for this transition as well. The same logic can be applied with non-racing gear but might require some additional steps – undo buckle 1, buckle 2, buckle 3… 😉
Small differences, and personal preferences
Since there are more ways of doing the fastest transitions differences occur mostly with personal preference. As you can see in “skins on” video, Reiner likes to bring up the whole ski to finish putting the skin on. Many of us do that with back end/toe of the ski being firm on the ground the whole time which I consider an advantage in crowded European race transitions where every inch is shared or has to be fought for.
What are your thoughts? Maybe you want your transition analyzed?
You are welcome to ask questions or share your advice through the comments below.
Also, if you want your transition analyzed I can help you two ways – meet you at a race or you can upload your video to a site like YouTube and send me the link. (If you can’t or don’t know how to upload to any video sharing site just drop me a line below and we’ll figure something out.)