Reports & Results

This report was submitted by our SkinTrack corespondent Jonathan Shefftz who is also the driving force behind the East Coast skimo series.
After kicking off the Northeastern U.S. skimo season at Berkshire East MA on January 24:
http://www.skintrack.com/skimo-racing/reports-results/report-berkshire-east-rando-race-2015/
… followed by five more races in February and March throughout Western Massachusetts and Vermont:
Stano’s note: somehow forgot to post but will get back to it. My apologies.
… the season wrapped up with three races in Vermont during the last two weekends of March.

Bromley, VT skimo race

On Saturday March 21, the NE Rando Race Series returned to its traditional venue of Bromley VT, expecting the traditional big soft moguls on the south-facing terrain.  Unfortunately, during all the usual hectic pre-race planning and coordination, we forgot to notify Mother Nature that spring traditionally starts by that weekend.
The early-morning flagging of the descent route down the horribly refrozen moguls made for some doubtful moments, and the first race descent was rather jarring, both physically and psychologically.  But fortunately the sun started to peek through for the next two descents, rendering the skiing conditions still challenging yet asymptotically approaching enjoyable.  (A fourth full descent was curtailed because of possible rain showers later in the morning, a possibility that did not come true . . .but which of course would have had we not cut short the course layout!)
Competitively, a group of four charged out ahead on the first lap in a 2×2 formation so perfectly arrayed that it looked like a deliberate attempt at some new sport of syncro skinning.  I was close enough on the second lap to see the formation still perfectly arrayed, and eventually all four finished within 52 seconds of each other:  a Team Hagan potential podium sweep of Jerimy Arnold, Josh Flanagan, and Brian MacIlvain broken up only by U.K. national team member Daniel Gay snagging the last podium spot.

Back from the 2×2 syncro skinners, I was passed on the first ascent by James Kovacs, a veteran of the COSMIC series while working on his PhD, but after relocating to the Boston area a victim of being too busy with work on a vaccine for HIV.  I passed James on the first descent, then he caught up with me on the second ascent, and we repeated this exciting back-and-forth pattern throughout the race.  I eventually held onto the lead to give Team Hagan four out of the top five spots.
Further back, we had record participation for the Bromley venue, almost 75 percent more than last year, which in turn had been a near-record year.
After the race, Team Hagan rented a house for the night, joined by U.K. Dan and Denali Ed (i.e., the FKT before Kilian’s new record last year).  Activities including eating, sleeping, gear preparation, trying to avoid mixing up all our nearly identical gear, and trying to figure out car shuttle logistics for complicated course layout the following day.

Mad River Valley skimo race

March 22, Sunday, was the tenth running of the rando race between three separate ski areas:  Mad River Glen, Sugarbush’s Mount Ellen, and Sugarbush’s Lincoln Peak.  Originally laid out by Andrew McLean as part of the national series organized by Life-Link (then the Dynafit distributor), the race in many years since then has unfortunately suffered from a lack of challenging skiing and a lack of coordination among the two ski resorts, neither of which has any assistance from any actual rando racers.  (And ironically so this year, with two race organizers competing in the race, i.e., myself and the Quebec Dynafit rep Jeff Rivest.)
Fortunately, Mad River Glen has started to listen to our input, and hence that part of the course was set up well, including a start line with by far the fastest racers ever in an East Coast race as the Massachusetts and Quebec contingents met up in nearly full force:  easily over two dozen with full-on or nearly so race gear, and even two pairs of full-carbon Dynafit RC1 boots.
Unfortunately, after the ascent up Mad River Glen and then past the section of the ridgeline Long Trail traverse where Mad River had partially pruned back the tree branches, we entered a section where Sugarbush’s lack of any trail maintenance was a slap in the face, both literally and figuratively.  At least though that eventually added to the post-race banter, i.e., comparing torn packs, clothing, faces, eyeballs, etc.

The weather conditions up on the ridgeline were also brutal, with the rescheduled date adding insult to injury:  the originally scheduled date of February 1 had been deemed too cold, and now the March 22 rescheduled date must have been setting all sorts of records.  The forecasted “high” at elevation was about 0F, and the sparse tree cover was just enough to block the sun while doing little or nothing to block the high winds.
After emerging at Sugarbush’s Mount Ellen, this year we were allowed to bootpack up Upper FIS for a short stretch of a few hundred vertical feet of interesting skiing.  But that was it for the entire race:  afterwards we cruised down a low-angle groomer to enter a low-angle ungroomed trail, which led us onto even flatter work roads.
And then worse, as we were subjected to a new loop in the Slidebrook backcountry area between Sugarbush’s separate Mount Ellen and Lincoln Peak areas.  When the pre-race briefing on this loop was presented by a woman in telemark boots, I immediately knew that something had to be wrong with this change to the course layout.  Fortunately I was far enough back that I could follow the many skintracks without getting lost at the vaguely marked intersections.  Then at what seemed like the height of land I deskinned to point ‘em straight down what looked like some pitch … only to immediately throw them sideways for a sharp turn to the left onto the correct (and unmarked) descent.  That initial turn was my final for this loop, which was all tucking, often at slow speed.  (The previous weekend our five-year-old daughter had skied steeper hills:  on edgeless nordic skis.)
Emerging from the Slidebrook backcountry, we were not allowed to skin up to the summit of Sugarbush’s Lincoln Peak, or even to one of its subpeaks as in most prior years.  Instead, we had a long skate up a nearly flat beginner trail, and then a long traverse to the finish.
Competitively, Team Hagan was shut out of the podium, although still took three out of the top eight.  Equipe Quebec was prevented from yet another Vermont podium sweep – after Burke and Jay – only by former alpine racer and current nordic racer Jan Wellford of the Adirondacks of Northern NY.  On the women’s side, former Canadian Olympic cyclist Lyne Bessette probably would have cracked the top ten overall but DNF’ed after a sudden deceleration from her ski tip slamming into some tricky wind slab on Upper FIS triggered a recurrence of her previously dislocated shoulder.

Overall, the top 25 finishers for this tenth running of the race presented a stark contrast to its inaugural running in 2006.  Back then, the top 25 were – well, actually only 18 racers did the full race that year, all American and nearly half from Vermont.  This year, only two-fifths were American and none were from Vermont.  Instead, 84 percent of the racers were from Quebec or Massachusetts, reflecting the focus of the two race circuits.

The latter of these two circuits then wrapped up the season with the second Magic Mountain VT make-up race the following weekend on Saturday March 28.  Once again Spring had not yet sprung, as refrozen conditions delayed opening the most challenging terrain in time for the race, which also took out the bootpack.  Nevertheless, morning-of-race reflagging was able to incorporate just enough ungroomed skiing with just enough pitch to make most of us grateful we weren’t subjecting ourselves to any more of that.
Competitively, Team Hagan members Josh Flanagan and Jerimy Arnold were out with housing-related issues (Colorado hut trip and new home closing, respectively).  Brian MacIlvain still took the win for Team Hagan, with Ed Warren closed behind.  Team Hagan was denied another podium spot by James Kovacs, who kept lengthening his lead on me with each ascent, while the skiing wasn’t quite tricky enough for me to make it up on the descents as I had done with our first race against each other the prior weekend at Bromley.
Fifth place was an exciting back-and-forth between newcomer Whitney Withington and master’s mountain bike racer Pete Crisci, with Whitney ultimately aided by a wrong turn on the first descent and then an Achilles tear by Pete on the final descent (which left him hobbling in the lodge afterwards).

Also of note was newcomer Tim Mather rounding out a record seven full-on race setups for such a traditionally small venue.  Tim was prompted to gear up for this season by the Mount Washington Son of Inferno Pentathlon, which concludes with a skin and climb up into the mountain’s Tuckerman Ravine, followed by a ski descent.  This will complete Tim’s quest to race up Mount Washington every possible way, including the auto road races via nordic skiing (to treeline), running, bike, and even driving (with a PR of 7:26 for what usually takes a summer tourist about half an hour of white knuckle driving).
For the last-minute prep award, Ed was the runner-up by stopping at my house the prior night to remount his bindings for new race boots.  But Whitney crushed him for the definitive win by texting me on the drive to the race asking if I had an extra set of race skis and skins for her to use with her new boots (tags even still attached in the lodge), which amazingly enough I did.
Looking back on the season as a whole, the growth at the top was unprecedented, especially when both the Massachusetts and Quebec contingents met up with each other:  at the Mad River Valley race this year, I was 14^th despite *winning* the race in both 2011 and 2012.  For the venues in the NE Rando Race Series that I’ve been organizing since 2009, I had never before been shut out of the podium, yet this year that happened in half of the races.
Overall participation in the NE Rando Race Series was also up to 176 starts from last year’s 58, generating almost $8,300 in entry fee revenue for our hosts at the four different venues, i.e., three ski resorts plus a local trail maintenance non-profit.  Even netting out the big impact from the Greylock 100-percent backcountry race this season, our starts for the series were still up by over 50 percent from the prior three-year average.
The NE Rando Race Series is very grateful for the support not only of our venue hosts but also the especially generous prize donations from many of our sponsors, most notably Skimo Co, Dynafit, Backcountry Access (continuously since the start of the series in 2009), Off Piste Mag (also since 2009), Toko (ditto), Hammer Nutrition, and Cripple Creek Backcountry, plus Hagan USA for many racer sponsorships.
Looking ahead to next season, we should have the same line-up of venues, plus possibly Bolton Valley in Northern VT for yet another meeting of the full Massachusetts and Quebec contingents.

Since the 2015 Pierra Menta started on Wednesday, instead of traditionally on Thursday, the usual Saturday’s stage over and around Grand Mont was the final venue in this 30th edition of the race.

Stage 4

The top positions shuffled a bit today but not enough time was lost by the overall leading teams to spoil catching of the grand prize.
In men’s race, the French duo, William Bon Mardion & Xavier Gachet raced their hearts out in front of the huge home crowds to win the stage by 1 minute. Second today, but champions overall, were the strong Italians Damiano Lenzi & Matteo Eydalin.
The top 3 overall looked like this:

1. M. Eydallin (IT) / D. Lenzi (IT) – 9h 22min 27s
2. W. Bon Mardion (FR) / X. Gachet (FR) – 9h 25min 42s
3. M. Boscacci / R. Antonioli – 9h 38min 54s

Women’s race also had a different winner than the last few days. Emelie Forsberg with Axelle Mollaret went for it today and won the stage by almost 3 min. The overall winners, Laetitia Roux & Mireia Miro, did a controlled race today and came in second.
Overall top 3 women teams:

1. L. Roux (FR) / M. Miro (ES) – 11h43min10s
2. A. Mollaret (FR) / E. Forsberg (S) – 11h51min17s
3. S. Pont-Combe (SUI) / J. Fiechter (SUI) – 12h21min31s

North Americans

As links to the official results are broken I don’t know how the North American teams did today. Except, a brief email summary from Eric Carter explains well how the Squamish boys raced today:

We got 15th today and clinched 15th overall! Grand Mont was f*** cool!
The first climb was essentially 1600m, split with just a short descent. Then another huge steep icy descent. Then up onto Grand Mont. First some super icy switchbacks. I started to struggle and asked for a tow but Nick said “No” 🙂 Then we hit the boot-pack and started charging again.
The via Ferrata was pretty crazy. It would have been pretty scary but we were rushing so much I didn’t look down much.
The crowds were nuts. Not only did they line the course but they were like 20 people deep in places. Every summit was packed and they screamed and funnelled us down to single file.
Pretty stoked with where we finished. A little shocked that we made it through four days without any real issues in terms of gear breakage or bodily harm considering the course so stoked about that! Now looking forward to a party!
Next race is the World Cup at Prato Nevoso in Italy. Then Mezzalama!

To put the 15th place in perspective, Eric and Nick matched the best North American placing at Pierra Menta when in 2013, the Canadian duo, Reiner Thoni and Andrew McNab finished 15th as well.

Today saw the second day of the 30th Pierra Menta. It brought a much longer stage than yesterday and so the time differences were bigger as well.

Stage 2

The Italian team of Damiano Lenzi & Matteo Eydalin won again, this time with a 2 min margin over the home French boys, William Bon Mardion & Xavier Gachet. Close third went to another Italian team of Robert Antonioli & Michele Boscacci.
In women’s race, after a tight battle yesterday, Laetitia Roux (FRA) with Mireia Miro (SPA) pulled off a great performance to win over Emelie Forsberg (SWE) and Axelle Mollaret (FRA) by almost 5 minutes. Third went to a Swiss team consisting of Jennifer Flechter & Severine Pont Combe.

North Americans:

All North American teams improved on their performances from yesterday, which were already quite good, and moved up the overall rankings.
Eric Carter (USA) and Nick Elson (CAN) finished 18th, two positions higher than yesterday, and felt good about their efforts. Below, read more from what Eric sent me.
Melanie Bernier (CAN) with her Norwegian partner Malene Blikken took 6th, thus improving by one position.
Nick Francis and Eric Bunce (both USA) came in 144th today.
» Full results – stage 2
Quoting Eric:

Today was a ~2800m day that took us much higher into the alpine. We were stoked that our finish yesterday got us a spot on the front line. We charged the first climb – potentially a bit too fast but after that we setttled into a reasonable pace that we were able to maintain for the entire day. We traded off with a couple of teams who would out ski us (me) on the descents but then we would pull ahead on the climbs.
The descents were nuts. Super steep and incredibly icy. They made the icy couloir in the teams race in Verbier look like a bunny hill. We passed Kilian and his partner at the steepest section. Mark had lost a ski and was putting on crampons to down climb. We finished decently and are pretty stoked about where we are sitting. Trying to keep it in control and just keep up the pace the next two days. Nick is doing a good job of keeping the pace steady.
Other than that, there was lots of carnage. Our roommates abandoned after one had his skis disengage from his pack along the ridge crest. They fell all the way into the next valley and they had to be rescued by helicopter.

 

 

Today marked the last day of the 2015 Ski Mountaineering World Championships in Verbier and as the tradition dictates the relay races were going to squeeze the last bit of energy out of the athletes.
» Full results are here but keep reading for a detailed account and photos of the super close fights from today.

Course details and How the relay works:

Men race the relay in a team of four and women in a team of three. Youth race as a three person team that combines two men and one woman. Each team member does the course lap once and then hands off the relay (by touching a teammate) at the start & finish area.
Today’s course was the same for all and featured 145 m of climbing, with the same for descending, spread over two small climbs, including a short boot-pack on the second climb.

Women’s race

Top two teams, France and Switzerland, put on a fantastic show today. The home Swiss girls were in a gold medal position with the two currently fastest women in the world going into the last lap. Maude Mathys (SWI) dug deep to fend off the skimo queen Laetitia Roux (FRA) but had to bow at the end, and France took gold. The difference was only 8 seconds after 32 minutes of racing! Spanish women claimed bronze about 30 seconds ahead of Italy.

The usual North American rivalry didn’t disappoint once again, this time the U.S. girls catching and then passing their Canadian friends, finishing 5th and 6th respectively, 90 seconds apart.
Canada seeded Melanie Bernier, currently the best female sprint in North America, first to build up a gap for the other two. Team USA, thanks to its depth, had a more even team and slowly clawed back the time over the lap two and three.
Team USA raced in this order – Meredith Edwards, Sarah Cookler, Jessie Young.
Canadian team – Melanie Bernier, Kylee Ohler, Michell Roberts.

Men’s race

Skimo is often perceived as a sport where athletes set into a fast rhythm with not much changing beyond the first 30 minutes despite lots going on. It’s kind of hard for a complete outsider to see where the adrenaline comes from. But never mind…
If there is an equivalent of a “military combat” in skimo then today’s men’s race was it – the top three teams finished within 8 seconds after 35 minutes of racing! With so many good sprinters on the Swiss, Italian, and French teams, the strategy was going to be important. Usually the fastest racers are seeded for the first or last leg but ultimately you don’t know who you gonna face until you line up.

Germany was also in the mix during the first few laps as they had Josef Rottmoser, one of the two best sprinters in the world right now, to start their race. Italy sent yesterday’s teams race world champion Matteo Eydallin while saving their ace Robert Antonioli for the last leg. William Bon Mardion (FRA) and Iwan Arnold (SWI) aren’t specialized sprinters, however, they are fast starters and so their were first to go for their teams.

After the top positions changed few times it was Robert Antonioli, the new sprint world champion from a week ago, that put in an impressive performance to take Italy from third to capture the gold! France’s finishing man, Didier Blanc, first tried to go with Antonioli but later had to worry about holding off Switzerland’s sprint specialist Marcel Marti. At the end it was – Italy, France, Switzerland.

For North American’s the usual script played out when the USA and Canada were super close throughout the race. The Canadian boys went out to seek a “revenge” for the women’s race and at the end beat the U.S. team by 50 seconds, with both teams finishing at 9th and 10th respectively.
Today, I have a super quote for you from my friend Nick Elson, describing how he raced arguably the best sprinter in the world during the first leg today 🙂

I started behind Rottmoser. It was good. He was not in my way.

Usually very little spoken but always on point, I award Nick with “The Best 2015 Skimo Worlds SkinTrack statement” 🙂
Canadian team raced in this order – Nick Elson (Squamish), Peter Knight (Edmonton), Oliver Bibby (only a junior, Vancouver), Travis Brown (Calgary)
Team USA – Andy Dorais (SLC), Colin Cares, Teague Holmes (SLC/CO), William Laird

Wrap-up

Watch out for a wrap-up report from the 2015 Skimo Worlds coming in few days as I gather more quotes from racers on the US and Canadian teams.