Last year, we posted our picks for the best ski mountaineering trip reports from North America in the 2013/2014 season. We decided to do it again this year with the following criteria: a well written report with exciting photos and true ski mountaineering, not just ski touring.
While last year was marked by a series of exciting reports on FKTs in North America, this year that front was much quieter. Instead, we have a handful of cool trip reports to take your mind off the unbearable summer heat.
I was lucky enough to spend a day skiing in the Sky Pilot area (near Squamish, BC) with Dynafit athlete Trevor Hunt. While warming up on an easy couloir, we got a good view of Ledge Mountain and a series of steep ramps above cliffs. Conditions were perfect and Trevor returned the next day to solo it for the first descent. His report is as emotion filled as it is possible to convey via the internet and his spectacular photos barely reveal the seriousness of the descent. Check it out here.
Next up is a report from our Utah friends, the Dorais brothers. Jason and Andy have been fixtures on the skimo racing podiums in the US and have also been stepping up their game in big mountain terrain. After returning from the Ski Mountaineering World Championships in Switzerland, along with Tom Goth, another top US skimo racer, they ticked off the Teton Trifecta in excellent style. A technically demanding series of descents, presented with words from Andy and excellent photos from the group here.
Also be sure to check out the recent film documenting the Dorais bro’s approach to life and skiing by Duct Tape Then Beer Productions at the end of this post.
Continuing… Carl Kohnstamm is a 21-year old Montana native transplanted to Squamish BC. Carl is a stand out solid-at-everything ski mountaineer with some serious lines on his resume in Montana, the Tetons, and on the Coast. His understated reports reveal just enough to comprehend his motivations and his photos speak for themselves. While on a semester at University of Montana, he took his breaks seriously and made a couple of great trips to the Tetons including a strong solo outing on the Middle Teton that he details on his blog.
Another report is from Noah Howell, formerly of Powderwhore Productions, is well versed in story telling and generally an impressive photographer. While he may look a rather unlikely skimo racer, he seems to be one of the few who truly race for the fun of it. When he isn’t racing skinny skis on the North American series, he seems to have an affinity for getting a little further afield than most of us and embracing the suffering that accompanies such trips. His report from a spring trip to the Beartooth Mountains is illustrative of this approach to technical ski mountaineering descents.
Last up, not a specific trip report but a blog to follow for its beautiful pictures and excellent beta if you find yourself skiing in the Cooke City area, the Cook City Chronicle by Beau Fredlund.
And that should be enough reading to stoke the excitement for winter! 🙂
If you have any other awesome trip reports that you think must be included, link them in the comments below!
Archives for July 2015
2015 Skimo Summer Training Camp
If you are reading this then you are invited 🙂
We have decided to change things a little with basing one or two days around Whistler and beyond. This will provide us with new trails and mountain objectives.
The camp will partly serve as the fall training camp for Canadian National Skimo Team but most importantly it will also be open to public.
Not a skier? No problem! This will be a trail running focused camp so trail, mountain, and ultra runners are encouraged to join us!
» Sign up for updates further down «
Quick overview
- Training for 3-4 days around Squamish and Whistler, BC with fellow skimo racers and members of the USA and Canadian national teams.
- Dates are September 4-7, 2015.
- Activities will mainly involve trail running, light mountaineering, with cycling, swimming and roller-skiing as options as well.
- Costs will be kept to minimum as we as organizers (Eric and Stano) are fully volunteering our time.
- Optional Vertical Mountain Running race at Whistler Blackcomb!
- We are really excited for our Escape Route evening presentation by the one and only Trevor Hunt!
- Couple of generous sponsors will keep us fueled, geared up and tired.
Sign up for updates
As we are finalizing the exact schedule, please sign up below to keep you updated.
* Also, include information such as:
- for which days you would like to join,
- which activities (running, roller skiing) you cannot participate in (cause of injury or don’t have gear),
- where are you coming from,
- and how fast can you run a beer mile 🙂
Logistics and Gear
The camp will officially begin Friday afternoon but we understand work schedules may prevent some from joining us then. Feel free to come Friday night or catch up with us Saturday morning.
Athletes are responsible for finding their own housing during the camp but we will do everything we can to help you find a place. If you have friends to stay with in town, great, if not, let us know and we will try to figure something out!
Here is a basic gear list for the camp:
- Running Shoes
- Training clothing
- Sandals, post workout clothing, and beach gear
- Ski/running poles
- Food for fuel during workouts
- Preferred snacks for meals
- Helmet
- Roller-skis (optional)
- Mountain or road bike (optional)
- Rock climbing gear (optional)
Can I handle it? You should be able to complete 3 days of endurance exercise, with up to 2-3h of running per day in order to attend. Most of our long runs have extended periods of hiking involved so are not as intense as they may sound. If you are unsure if you should attend send us an email!
» Here is how the the first Canadian Team summer training camp in Squamish went two year’s ago.
» Here is how a Canadian Team summer training camp looked like in Revelstoke in 2012.
» To improve your training in the meantime checkout these:
- Our Skimo Racing Manual e-book
- Summer training tips for skimo racers from Adam Campbell (professional mountain runner)
- “Bread and butter” summer training for rando racing…
- Hiko-run: Skimo racer’s best summer friend
20 Questions for Stevie Kremer: Training, Racing, Plans
Stevie’s racing outfit changes as seasons pass and her ever present smile and white pearl earrings can easily fool anyone into thinking that she’s not a force to be reckoned with. In reality though, they will quickly be surprised.
After somehow not having interviewed Stevie yet, I emailed her with a request just as she was packing for a trip. She kindly agreed, so we are all fortunate to have her share some of her training methods and thoughts on life as a working pro.
Enter Stevie Kremer
Q: Summer is here and you are back to trail running racing. How was your recent trip for a Sky Ultra to Madeira?
My time in Portugal was incredible! Madeira is absolutely beautiful and the people are so friendly and welcoming. As for the terrain and trails – they are insane! Technical, steep, yet fun and adventurous!
Q: What are your goals for 2015?
I would like to continue to travel and compete in new mountain races around the World.
Q: Every winter, you compete in a number of skimo races but mostly in the US. As fast as you are, aren’t you attracted to compete in Europe?
I would love to compete more in Europe, but because of my work schedule, it is difficult to travel that far. If I can make it work, I definitely would, and will!
Q: How long have you been trail running and ski mountaineering? What attracted you to start racing as well?
I have been competitively running for about 4 years now. Although I competed in some smaller mountain and trail races a few years prior to that, I didn’t get really competitive until the summer of 2011. In regards to ski mountaineering, I have been competing for 5 years.
Q: You are a teacher but also a Salomon Team athlete. What else defines you? What else would you like to try or do in the future?
Honestly, I would like to continue running and skiing forever 😉 But in between, I would really like to introduce a family to this world 🙂
Q: Today, the North American trail community appears to be obsessed with ultras, the longer the better. You seem to prefer Skyrunning and mountain running races over other the longer events. Is it because you like more technical trails or because racing 10+ hours does not appeal to you as much?
I do not like running more than 5 hours! I will compete in something around 6h if it’s an appealing course (not too much technical downhill 😉 ) but typically 4-5 hours is the maximum I like to run!
Q: Do you have any plans to run in one of the iconic ultras at some point, like Western States 100 or Hard Rock 100?
I have so much respect for those athletes running these incredible distances and times, but I have no desire to ever do one.
Q: You won the overall Skyrunner series titles in 2013 and 2014, and a combined title at the 2014 Skyrunning World Championships in Chamonix. Did you live in Europe during those two seasons or were you mostly “commuting” from Colorado?
I lived in Europe (Italy) for the 2012-2013 year to teach at an International school, and moved back to Colorado in August of 2013. I have traveled for races since then, but have lived in Colorado.
Training
Q: Do you have a coach?
No
Q: Do you follow a strict training schedule or do you “freestyle” mostly?
I “freestyle” mostly. I just love to run on trails in the mountains, and I think if I had a schedule I wouldn’t enjoy it as much. Don’t get me wrong, there is some routine to my running, for example I run every morning before school at 5:00 am, but I never know exactly what I will be running, etc.
Here is a short 5min video about Stevie’s life and how she spend’s her days.
Interview continues below.
Q: Do you train with a heart-rate monitor or by feel?
By feel.
Q: How does your summer training month looks like? What kind of sessions do you do? How many hours in total?
A typical “work day” for me is to get up a little bit before 5:00 am, go for about an hour run, I am back by 6:15. Then I get ready for teaching and I am at work (school) at 7:15 am. School ends around 4:00 pm, so I’m typically back on the trails by 4:30 pm until about 5:30/6:00 pm.
Q: Do you run year-round or do you fully switch to skis for couple of months like Kilian Jornet usually does?
For the most part, I switch sports when the snow starts falling. But I am never 100% done with running. In the winter months, I probably run 2 hours per week, not more.
Q: Do you run your high intensity interval sessions on smooth surfaces and non-technical trails so you can go full gas the whole interval, or do you run them on technical trails like you encounter in Skyraces?
I don’t do much high intensity stuff, but when I do, I incorporate them on the trails. I’ll set out for a typical trail run and in between add some speed work for a few minutes.
Q: How do you practice downhills? Obviously you run down, but do you just continuously run or do you break it up into shorter intervals at maximum speed, with breaks in between?
No, but I should DEFINITELY do more speed work on the downhill!
Q: What other sports do you practice besides running and ski mountaineering?
I like to play tennis and golf 🙂 And in the winter, I like to downhill ski too!
Q: Do you focus any part of the year on strength training? If yes, what kind of exercises do you focus on?
No, but I should work more on my arms and my core. I try to do something once a week, but it doesn’t always happen.
Q: For recovery, do you frequently seek a massage? How much do you sleep?
No, I never get massages. I try to sleep about 7 hours per night.
Q: Do you follow any distinctive diet – vegan, paleo, vegetarian, KFC…?
No, I try to eat healthy though.
Q: What mistakes did you do at the beginning when you started training? What should others pay attention to?
I think the most important thing to do in training (something I need to do more of) is speed work. Speed work is so essential to becoming a faster runner, I think at least 🙂
Thank you
Thank you very much to Stevie for taking time to provide us with answers and I hope you enjoyed it as much as me.
Mount Marathon 2015 Race Preview
In 2013, the Mount Marathon garnered significant attention as the course record, set by Bill Spencer 32 years prior, was smashed by Alaska local Eric Strabel. Strabel, the head Nordic Ski Coach at APU, trained specifically for the race, both in terms of his fitness and sussing out the best possible course. Unique to the Mount Marathon are the course rules which essentially state that, aside from starting and finishing at the line, you must just run around the rock at the top of the course, choosing your own line as you go. With racers picking their own line through small cliff bands and down scree, this absolutely has an effect on the outcome of the race, especially on the descent.
Also of note in 2013 was the second place finisher, American ultra runner Rickey Gates. Gates actually led the race by a small margin until Strabel was able to overtake him on the descent (during which Gates fell and dislocated his shoulder see video linked at the bottom). Strabel out sprinted Gates who finished 2nd, also ahead of Spencer’s 1981 course record.
In 2014 both Gates and Strabel returned to the race for a rematch. Strabel again won with Gates finishing in 4th. As the notoriety of the race increases, bigger names will continue to show up and with the 2015 running, Seward will have the biggest name of all in attendance – Kilian Jornet! Jornet (ESP) is widely considered the best mountain runner in the world and is sure to do well at the Mount Marathon. Not only does he have one of the best engines in the world – routinely on top of skimo and sky running podiums – but also with a fantastic ability to run technical descents, a critical component of the Mount Marathon (See this shot of Jornet descending the Matterhorn – not 100% applicable but impressive nonetheless). The big question is: can Jornet knock Strabel off the top of the podium and set a new record time?
First looking at the uphill. The ascent requires approximately 33 minutes for the 880 meters of elevation gain. This is comparable time-wise to a vertical kilometre but is obviously less gain. It also includes a section of flat road at the beginning (for a total distance of 2.49 kilometres). The approximate grade of the climbing portion of the race is a fairly steep 35%! I’ll compare this to the vertical kilometre course in Chamonix which has an average grade of 26% for 1000 meters of gain. An interesting side note: the VK world record set in Fully, Switzerland by Urban Zemmer, is an amazing 1960 VAM! Fully is considered to be the most ideal VK course in the world with a direct ascent at a steady (and ideal) grade. VK racers also frequently use poles to ascend even faster.
Strabel’s fastest Mount Marathon ascent was 33.7 minutes. Because times between events like this are difficult to compare, it is easier to use a metric borrowed from cycling called VAM which is an estimation of ascent speed. Note the units are not m/sec but and arbitrary unit (VAM). Strabel’s ascent was at a mean VAM of 1567. Compare this to Jornet’s time of 34.9 minutes on the Chamonix VK climbing at a mean VAM of 1720. Significantly faster and with 120 additional meters of elevation gain. One thing to consider however is that the footing of most VK races (including in Chamonix) is significantly better than that of the Mount Marathon. Ascending well defined and groomed footpaths is much easier than loose scree. This certainly accounts for some loss in climbing speed.
Given Jornet’s fitness and the fact that he is regularly competing with and winning against the best athletes in the world, I would be hard pressed to bet against him being easily able to ascend the peak faster than anyone else. That being said, he may opt to race alongside the local athletes in order to follow their best line of descent back to the base and drop them once past any major technical difficulties. With such a short race however, (Strabel’s record descent is just over 11 minutes!) any small mistake could cause this strategy to backfire. A trip or fall like Ricky Gates’ in 2013 could jeopardize the race.
I suspect we will see Jornet recon the descent a few days prior to the race and then run ahead of the front runners to gain a healthy gap on the ascent and only increase that gap on the descent. I put Strabel in 2nd because of his history with the race but there may be several local athletes chasing his heels, waiting for a crack in the armour. Gates is returning as well and can’t be discounted for a good performance.
Besides SkinTrack’s general interest in mountain athletics, we are personally invested in this years Mount Marathon because one of the contenders is Squamish local and leader of the 2014-15 Canadian Ski Mountaineering National Team, Nick Elson! Nick applied for and was granted special permission to enter this year’s race and will be traveling to Seward shortly to start familiarizing himself with the course.
After chasing Jornet throughout the skimo season in Europe, Nick is familiar with his fitness and likely realizes that Jornet on top form will be unbeatable on the ascent. The top Alaskans however are certainly in Nick’s sights. If we look at the 2013 Grouse Grind race in which Nick placed third, the course tackles 853 meters of elevation with an average grade of 28% which is much closer to the Mount Marathon (by the numbers, the trace itself however is still very well defined- mostly stairs). Nick ran a mean VAM of 1786 – higher than Strabel’s 1567 VAM on Mount Marathon. We must also take into account the flat at the start of the Mount Marathon which reduces the VAM.
It is hard to compare performances on the descent as much of the Mount Marathon course features scree that can be almost skied down. Strabel’s amazing 11.01 minute descent has a VAM of -4795! Nick is well known as one of the strongest descenders in Canada and it will be interesting to see how he stacks up on the scree. In my opinion, Nick certainly has the potential to perform as one of the top three North Americans in the race. We caught up with Nick in the week leading up to the race.
Skintrack: What kind of specific training have you begun to prepare for Mount Marathon?
Nick: I’ve been trying to train as much as possible on the steepest trails around Squamish. To prepare for the climb, I’ve been doing some hard workouts on terrain where I’m forced to power-hike. For the descent, I’ve been doing some faster downhill running although I always try to stay in control enough that I don’t fall and hurt myself and also don’t get so sore that I can’t train the next day.
Skintrack: The descent is pretty daunting. Have you been training specifically for that and do you have any strategies?
Nick: I think that the descent is a big part of what makes the race so exciting. The upper portion is on loose scree which appears to allow you to reach pretty high speeds.
Lower down it gets more technical and there are a few options including “the cliffs” and “the falls”.
The fact that there are no course markings and you can choose your own route definitely adds an interesting tactical element to the race (and explains how a runner disappeared and was never found during the 2012 race). I’ll have three days prior to the race to preview the course and hopefully find the best route for me personally. I’m definitely a bit nervous because I know that to be competitive in such a strong field I’m going to have to take some chances on the descent.
Skintrack: What are you looking forward to most about the race and finally what plans do you have for racing the rest of the summer?
Nick: I’m looking forward to the whole scene surrounding the race. This will be my fifth time in Alaska so I think I have an idea of what to expect. However, I think the whole experience will be a little bit crazy. After the Mt. Marathon race, I plan on running the NACAC/Canadian Mountain Running Championships at Cypress on July 18th. Then I’ll try to shift my focus to longer distances in the lead-up to the Squamish 50.
Not to leave out the women, recent years have not seen heavy competition. The female course record was set in 1990 by Nancy Pease in a time of 50.5 minutes (which would have earned her 11th place in the 2014 mens race) and stands fairly uncontested. Olympian Holly Brooks gave several serious stabs at the record but struggled with difficulties in the heat. Something that could be a major factor in this year’s race. 2015 is likely to be dominated by sky and ultra running superstar Emelie Forsberg. Forsberg (SWE) is attending the race for the first time but routinely dominates anything she enters. My bets are hands down on Emelie for the win.
Follow the race live here!
Mt Marathon:
880m Ascent
35% Grade
33.68 min (Eric Strabel) 1567 VAM
Downhill: 11.01 min
Overal Record: 42.92
Female – Nancy Pease (1990) 50.5 min (11th place in 2014 Men’s Race)
Chamonix VK:
1000m
26%
34.88 min (Killian Jornet) 1720 VAM
VK RECORD:
Fully Switzerland
1000m
30.6 min (Urban Zemmer) 1960 VAM
Grouse Grind:
853m
28%
26.38 min (Joe Grey) 1940 VAM
28.6 min (Nick Elson) 1786 VAM
Calculations:
VAM = (vertical ascent in meters X 60) / minutes