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2014 Canadian SkiMo Champs

Photos, Results, Report from Dogtooth Dash – 2014 BUFF Canadian SkiMo Championships

April 4, 2014 By Stano Faban Leave a Comment

The results and lots of photos were posted through Facebook and Twitter within few hours after the Dogtooth Dash race party, however, I want to apologize that I slacked with writing up a nice race report for you. Here it is.
Secondly, one more big shout out to all 26 volunteers that came out to help marshal the race course on Saturday!
Thirdly, big Thanks to main sponsors goes to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for their unwavering support, BUFF Headwear for keeping the Dash going for another year, Live Out There store for superb enthusiasm, and Clif Bar and Hammer Nutrition for fueling the participants and volunteers.
»For reference here’s the original 2014 Dogtooth Dash event page

Friday’s vertical: Thight margins

The new addition to the Dogtooth Dash was an 800 m (2625 feet) vertical race that featured a steep 200 m section sandwiched between rolling and flat terrain.

Marg Fedyna on her winning path.
Marg Fedyna on her winning path.
Gun went off just after 5pm and 24 racers charged from the start line. I was standing at the beginning of the steep section to cheer and brief everyone of what was to come. All racers were grinding and grimacing but everyone appeared to have good times.
In the men’s race, everything was kept very tight all the way up to the finish. At the end, Reiner Thoni managed to get a small gap to secure his vertical national title (in 35:52), but behind him there was an Olympic-like diving finish for second between Nick Elson and Pascal Egli (from Switzerland). After some discussion, even 3 pairs of sharp eyes could not pick one over the other and so we had two second place finishers! Fourth went to a great Canadian trail runner, Adam Campbell, who was trying his luck in skimo this past season. My SkinTrack’s co-author, Eric Carter, finished fifth.
The women’s race started to take shape much earlier as Marg Fedyna used her known climbing abilities well. Mid-way through the steep section she already started to establish a nice gap. Eventually, she took the vertical national title ahead of Lizanne Bussieres and Michelle Roberts who were separated by only 35 sec after a 53 min of climbing! Fourth went to a young Katarina Kuba and fifth to Jean Ann Berkenpas.

Saturday’s individual: Full on ski mountaineering

After taking over the Dogtooth Dash, from the very competent hands of Ian Gale, Eric and I knew the expectations will be high yet we decided to raise the bar for course setting even higher.

The unstoppable train, Reiner Thoni, collected his 5th Canadian individual race title.
The unstoppable train, Reiner Thoni, collected his 5th Canadian individual race title.
With the main 1890 m (6200 feet) course consisting of 6 downhills and 6 climbs – featuring 4 steep descents, 4 boot packs, and about 100 switchbacks – there was no question that technical skills will play as big of a role as conditioning.
With such a course, the single biggest challenge for us organizers was to keep all skin tracks and boot packs well set and marked. At the end we managed to pull it off!
With the traditional downhill start and not very long first climb the men’s race stayed quite close. Gaps started to appear on the second climb (the biggest of the day) when Reiner Thoni began to turn the screws and Nick Elson started to find himself in no-man’s land between Reiner and a group consisting of Eric Carter, Ben Parsons and trailing Travis Brown and Pascal Egli.
Very similar scenario was playing out in the women’s race as well when none of the girls were establishing significant gaps. This started to change on the third (and the most technical) climb where by the top Michelle Roberts was leading Katarina Kuba (only 19 years old) by about 4 min who managed to establish the same gap to Kylee Ohler by this point.
As all the top racers managed to take good care of their skins and fueling the order didn’t change. However, Ben and Eric had a great sprint battle with the later eventually snatching the third – a nice reward for all the organizational work.
On the Enduro course (about 800 m or 2625 f), the race for junior’s national title (under 20) played out with Brinton Wolever (16) taking the gold just in front of Tyler Gillson (19). Brinton’s brother Riley Wolever (16) took bronze a bit further behind the two. All three are new to skimo so we hope they like it and will stick around.

Full results

Below is a PDF with results, however, for an unexplained reason, the times from the vertical race are missing “1h”, thus, affecting all times that were more than 1h.
» 2014 DTD Official Results

Photo gallery

All individual race photos by Malcolm Taylor – thank you!
 
Once again, thank you everyone for coming!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Filed Under: Reports & Results Tagged With: 2014 Canadian SkiMo Champs, Dogtooth Dash, Eric Carter, Michelle Roberts, Reiner Thoni

Coming up this weekend: Two amazing courses at the 2014 BUFF Canadian SkiMo Champs

March 17, 2014 By Stano Faban Leave a Comment

One of the best things about skimo racing is that anyone can line up with the top athletes in their very first race.
Another one is that if you want lots of fun and challenge but are hesitant about going the full Elite course then you can get your moneys/legs/skis/skins worth on the Enduro course.

Race courses for the Dogtooth Dash

dogtooth-dash-280x210In case you haven’t heard it yet:
On March 21-23, the Dogtooth Dash event at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort will host the 2014 BUFF Canadian Ski Mountaineering Championships.
Why does the Dogtooth Dash get to host the Championships? Because of the awesome terrain and challenging courses!

Friday’s vertical race

Doing the vertical race is not mandatory but since it’s a standard discipline on the skimo racing World Cup circuit, we have decided to bring it to Canada as well.
Dogtooth’s vertical will be an 800m, single-climb event – from the KHMR base to the Heaven’s Door Yurt – and gives anyone a chance to try skimo racing in a very safe manner (without having to race downhill!).

Vertical race course map.
Vertical race course map.

Saturday’s 2 individual race courses

If Friday’s event will be the appetizer then Saturday’s race will be the main course… with the night party being the dinner 😉
The shorter, Enduro course is uniquely designed in a way that you still get to summit a peak despite racing a smaller version of the Dogtooth Dash!
The first downhill on a groomer is a great warm up for the black diamond run off the summit ridge of  Blue Heaven. This comes early in the race so your legs will still be fresh to take it on.
The whole Enduro course features about 780m of climbing spread over two climbs and one boot-pack up a narrow chute (end the end of 2nd climb).
As you can see on the map below, the race starts with a descent from the Eagle’s Eye restaurant at 2330m, followed by a 285m climb (about 30-40min) which brings you to the top of Blue Heaven. The long, beautiful descent first takes you down Whitewall and continues down the valley for a total of 625m of great skiing! The second and last climb features a nice boot-pack (yellow line) that brings you back to the finish at Eagle’s Eye (510m climb – about 1h to 1.5h).
Click image for a big map:

Individual race course map - Green is skinning, Red skiing, Yellow boot-packs.
Individual race course map – Green is skinning, Red skiing, Yellow boot-packs.
The Elite course is designed to challenge your fitness, skills and sense for adventure! It’s true that the whole Elite course is laid out within KHMR boundaries, thus, at first glance might not appear that adventurous. However, we designed it in a way that logically connects the most challenging and steep terrain (which KHMR is famous for) from bowl to bowl, from ridge to ridge, from peak to peak.
In total, it features around 1600m of climbing (usually around 2.5-3.5h) and you will get to summit 3 peaks, boot over 3 ridges, and travel through 4 distinct bowls!

Register Now

If you are up for the challenge or just want to have loads of fun make sure to register online to save $10 and so we can get your race package ready for you (Clif bars, a buff and more): http://secure.eventsonline.ca/events/dogtooth_dash/
For $90 (or $97 if doing the vertical as well) you will get an entry into the Saturday’s individual race, Saturday’s dinner and party, and lift tickets for Saturday & Sunday! Now, that is a best deal any skimo race ever offered.
You can also win a free entry into the Dogtooth Dash by showing us how much you really want it:
http://www.skintrack.com/contests-giveaways/free-entry-dogtooth-dash-2014/
win-free-entry-600-banner

Thank You our volunteers

There will be almost 20 volunteers out on the course during the Saturday’s race and others helping to set everything up during the days leading up to the Dogtooth Dash.
To everyone, on behalf of all racers, we want to say BIG Thank You for continuously supporting skimo racing, thus, keeping this sport alive in this great outdoor country.
Thank You,
Stano, Eric & KHMR crew

Filed Under: Events & Races Tagged With: 2014 Canadian SkiMo Champs, Canadian Skimo Championships, Dogtooth Dash

Win a FREE Entry into Dogtooth Dash – 2014 Canadian SkiMo Champs!

March 2, 2014 By Stano Faban Leave a Comment

Here’s a chance to win even before you race:
Sign up for the Dogtooth Dash now, post about your training on Facebook or Twitter and you can win one of 3 prizes.
And here’s all information about the whole event.
win-free-entry-600-banner
Helps us spread the news by re-tweeting this, Thanks a bunch!

Want a FREE entry into Dogtooth Dash? Or a free Buff? Or some Clif bars? http://t.co/2YwdHMYEJl @buyabuff @ClifBar @KickingHorseMtn
— Dogtooth Dash SkiMo (@dogtoothdash) March 2, 2014

We are looking forward to see you all there!

Filed Under: Contests & Giveaways Tagged With: 2014 Canadian SkiMo Champs, Dogtooth Dash

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Travelling through snowy mountains on skis is like flying… and experiencing life at its core.

Gear reviews, interviews, adventures, contests, skills, skimo training, race reports – we connect you to all things related to self-propelled skiing.

SkinTrack.com, created by Stano Faban, was born out of passion for ski mountaineering and ski touring. Over the years, it has become one of the most popular ski mountaineering blogs in North America.

Recent Articles

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