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Travis Brown

Skimo News Jan 21-22: Carter racing in Andorra WC, Canada and East Coast races, Upcoming events

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With World Championships quickly approaching (Eric and Stano will be attenting as well) the athletes are entering their final preparations. Besides the west side of US, there were races happening in all corners of NA and Europe.
To read our previous Skimo News go here – Skimo News Jan 13-15: 2nd USA Team Qualifier, Mountain Attack, Upcoming Races and World Cups

USA Race News

We are waiting for more details from some east coast races that happened last weekend. We will update here as soon as we receive them.

Berkshire East – Massachusetts – Jan 21

With little over 5,600 feet of vertical gain, including five boot-pack segments and 25 transitions, the Berkshire East skimo race tested the local athletes once again athletes from six states – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. (Edit as per suggestions in a comment at the bottom of the article.)
The win in the men’s category on the main course went to Ed Warren who managed to build a 4min lead by the finish line. In the women’s category the title went to Jennifer Downing.
» Full results for the competitive category
berkshire-east-race-1

Canada Race News

Lizard Skinner – Fernie, BC – Jan 21

The following recap was submitted by Travis Brown, a fellow Canadian Ski Mountaineering Team teammate.
The second running of the Fernie Lizard Skinner was an exciting and hard fought battle on all fronts. The non technical course is a mix of steep groomer skinning, and flat hardpack with a distinct Nordic feel. Because all climbs involve a mix of these conditions, skin choice is key in having a fast race.
fernie-race-1
As always, in the men’s race Peter Knight took the race out hard from the gun, with Travis Brown chasing close behind. Peter built up a sizeable lead in the first third of the race, and Travis was unable to close the gap, finishing 4 minutes back. Master’s competitor Steve Sellers crashed out of the 2016 iteration of the race with a badly dislocated shoulder, but returned this year as strong as always, and managed a great 4th place finish, being passed on the last descent by eastern transplant Joel Desgreniers.
In the women’s race, Kylee Ohler was dominant from the start, building up a considerable lead over the rest of the women very early in the race. Kylee would finish 5th overall, giving Steve and Joel a run for their money. Fellow national team members Michelle Katchur-Roberts and Lori Anne Donald rounded out the podium positions.
Marcus Zamzow was the only junior racing, and came in first in the recreational category, followed by Martha Burley, a former Canadian team member returning to racing after having a baby and taking a few seasons off.
» Full results Lizard Skinner

International Race News

Font Blanca World Cup – Andorra – Jan 21-22

Last weekend saw the first World Cup of the season. Like very year, the always friendly and enthusiastic Andorrans put on a show with individual on Saturday and a vertical race on Sunday.
Eric Carter toed the start line after a busy travel schedule (Colorado to home in Squamish, BC to Andorra in a span of 4 days) and not surprisingly he performed less than he wished for. However, this will serve him as a good warm up before another World Cup this weekend, and the upcoming World Championships in February. He finished 48th in the individual and 46th in the vertical.

Forsberg overtaking Mollaret and Orgue in the vertical.
Forsberg overtaking Mollaret and Orgue in the vertical.
Individual:
Anton Palzer (GER) took the win after battling Damiano Lenzi (ITA) for the entire race. The Italian even crossed the finish line in first but was awarded a penalty and moved to second. Third place went to Xavier Gachet (FRA). Kilian Jornet (SPA) finished sixth.
In the women’s race, the domination of Laetitia Roux (FRA) on the World Cup scene continued and she won without much trouble. Second went to her young French teammate Axelle Mollaret with ultra-runner Emelie Forsberg (SWE) coming in third.
Vertical:
The men’s podium completely reshuffled from the day before and with close gaps this was one hell of a competitive race. Swiss vertical specialist Werner Marti won gold by 9 seconds  in front of Kilian Jornet who was another 13 seconds ahead of, still only an espoir, Remi Bonnet (SWI). Lenzi and Palzer came in 4th and 5th respectively.
Women’s race was no less exciting! Emelie Forsberg crossed the finish line first only by 4 seconds in front of  Axelle Mollaret. Spain’s vertical specialist and mountain runner Laura Orgue claimed bronze only another 19 seconds further back. Laetitia Roux didn’t start the race.
» Full results for all Andorra races (you will need to click few links to drill down)
Werner Marti leading Jornet and Bonnet to the finish line.
Werner Marti leading Jornet and Bonnet to the finish line.
 

Upcoming Races

World Cups:
This weekend, Eric Carter will join the world elite athletes at a World Cup at Cambre d’Aze in France. Individual race goes on Saturday followed by a sprint on Sunday.
USA and Canada:
» See our preview of Steep Dreams event at Panorama Resort, BC that will take place on Feb 4-5 (individual on Saturday and vertical on Sunday).
» Check out our skimo racing calendar
Over the next two weekends you can participate in one of these:
Jan 28 – CROWBAR SkiMo race, UT
Jan 28 – Défi des montagnes, QC
Jan 29 – Skin to Win Race At Bridger Bowl, MT
Feb 3-5 – US Nationals, NM
Feb 4-5 – Panorama Steep Dreams Skimo Race, BC
Feb 5 – Burke Backcountry Adventure, VT

Final 2015/16 Canadian Skimo Racing Rankings

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skimo-canada-cup-rankings
With the conclusion of skimo racing in Western Canada last weekend in Lake Louise, our governing body Ski Mountaineering Competition Canada (SMCC) has released the final rankings for this season. We will take a look at how the rankings are compiled and what it means.

Rankings and How they work

Canadian Cup Rankings:

This season’s Canadian Cup consisted of the six races (at five venues) that were sanctioned by the SMCC – those that conform with the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) and SMCC rules. For the first time ever, one of these races was a sprint event. No vertical races were held this year and so the other five were individual events.

Kylee Ohler on racing to her win.
Kylee Ohler racing on to her win at Canadian Nationals.
The Canadian Cup ranking list seeks to reward performance within these Cup events. Rankings are determined using the ISMF World Ranking system. Athletes of all nationalities are included as well as anyone who competed in any of the events – racing the long/elite events. Points are assigned to each place in the race results (1st = 100pts, 2nd = 80pts, 3rd = 60pts, etc…). Overall placement on the ranking list is the sum of the athlete’s best four results.
Top 3 Men:

  1. Eric Carter (USA) – 380 pts
  2. Travis Brown (CAN) – 330 pts
  3. Peter Knight (CAN) – 280 pts

Top 3 Women:

  1. Kylee Ohler (CAN) – 360 pts
  2. Michelle Katchur-Roberts (CAN) – 320 pts
  3. Melanie Bernier (CAN) – 300 pts

» Canada Cup Overall Rankings (PDF)

Canadian National Rankings:

The Canadian National Rankings are made up of a so called “Points List” that is designed to accurately rank athletes in comparison one to another using any possible race results for the purposes of aiding (not finalizing) in national team selection for next season.
The Points List results were compiled from all Canadian Cup races, US nationally sanctioned races (e.g. US Nationals or Powder Keg Continental Championships), and World Cup or ISMF events.
The points system was derived from that used by the Canadian Nordic Ski Team. Athletes are assigned points that represent the percentage of time they finished behind the leader. Points are handicapped by the ranking of the race winner – this means athletes who finish near the front of a highly competitive field will be rewarded with better points than finishing near the front of a weak field. For example, finishing within 20% of the winner (say Kilian Jornet) at a World Cup would be worth more points than finishing within 20% of the winner at a Canadian Cup race. The average of an athletes top three points is taken to be their overall ranking. If the athlete has only one or two races, a slight penalty is applied to their average (see notes in the below PDF sheet).
Top 3 Canadian Men:

  1. Nick Elson – 0.8803
  2. Rob Krar – 0.8383
  3. Peter Knight – 0.8080

Top 3 Canadian Women:

  1. Melanie Bernier – 0.8847
  2. Kylee Ohler – 0.8601
  3. Michelle Katchur-Roberts – 0.7828

» Canada National Points List Final (PDF)

What does it mean?

Canadian Cup:

The Canadian Cup does not seek to identify the absolute fastest Canadian skier, but rather any skier with the best and most consistent results within the Cup races. A good example of this is seen in the women’s ranking with Melanie Bernier winning every race she entered (3) but finishing ranked third because of her missing a fourth result. Had she raced one more and finished at least 3rd, she would have won the Cup.
The Vert180 appears to be a good place to get points. Only 2 of the top 8 attended. Similarly, Fernie and Nelson were less well attended than Castle or Lake Louise. It is interesting that Castle was so well attended as it is far away from almost everyone (but it’s closer for the Montana athletes). This suggests that the double race weekend – holding the sprint and individual race – is very attractive to many. Absolute ideal would be to see a minimum of two events at every race weekend in the Canadian Cup. Holding a vertical or a sprint, along an individual, does not add too much extra work for the organizers while greatly increasing attractiveness for racers from further away to attend.
Special mention should go to the very few athletes who attended every Canadian Cup race – by our count, this is only Michelle Katchur-Roberts, Travis Brown, and Peter Knight (forgive us if we missed anyone).

National Points List:

The current points list can be skewed in the event of a race like what happened at Nelson. With new snow and no set tracks, a large group of racers skied together, finishing much closer to the leader than shown in other races, thus, gaining more points than if there were well established skin tracks. This underlines the need for properly set courses and forerunners in the case of new snow. In our experience, as race organizers and athletes, we believe that a forerunner should be a must. Setting out about 1.5-2h before a race starts it gives this person plenty of time to refresh the tracks set day before and to repair any course markings that perhaps got buried or blown away overnight.
However, the points list provides valid information to the SMCC for national team selection purposes. A good example of this is Rob Krar (an accomplished ultra-runner) who is presumably hoping to race for Canada at the 2017 World Championships. With only one race in Canada (though a strong 2nd among Canadians at Nationals last week), his US results support his ranking of second fastest Canadian.

Race Recap: Vert180 Skimo Race

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“Oh great, now I get to be beaten by two people wearing tutu’s...” - Peter Knight
“Oh great, now I get to be beaten by two people wearing tutu’s…” – Peter Knight
The Vert180 is the annual season opener for the Canadian Skimo Calendar. While the setting may not be spectacular alpine peaks, there is no shortage of energy that descends on Calgary Olympic Park the first weekend in December.
Eighty-five racers toed the line at Winsport in Calgary on Saturday in three categories: solo, 2 person teams, and 4 person teams. Racers had 180 minutes to complete as many of the 150m ascent and descent laps as possible. The course was slightly different this year, climbing with skins almost to the top, then a bootpack to the top of the chairlift followed by a descent to the start/ finish area. As always the race involved less technical elements but a lot of mental strength as you lap again and again for three hours.
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Great to see some new faces making the transition into skimo!
Prior to the start of the race, National Team members held a clinic that started with a presentation by Melanie Bernier on the history of skimo racing, what the sport is all about and the race scene in Europe. The 10 athletes and their instructors then headed outside and practiced transitions; tips for race transitions but also useful tips for the backcountry. Strides and movement efficiency were discussed and kick-turns were demo’d and practiced.
As expected, National Team members Travis Brown and Peter Knight started the race hard with Melanie Bernier and Steve Sellers giving a strong chase. The laps took their toll, however, no-one could quite match Travis’ 18 total laps. Peter and Steve both finished with 17 laps (Steve placing well despite a ski lost into the trees during botched top-transition).
Hot dog!
Hot dog!
On the women’s side there was no surprise to see Melanie Bernier in good form, giving the boys a run for their money spinning 17 laps. The race for second and third was a bit more spread out with Kylee Ohler completing 16 laps and Michelle Roberts finishing with 15. Many impressive results by recreational back country skiers trying the sport for the first time. In addition to the elite spandex racer crew, there were 3 split boarders, tutu clad competitors, someone dressed as a giant hot dog, competitive rivalries between MEC teams, competitors from age 16-60, lots of high fives and laughter.
On the junior front, Marcus Zamzow got in 6 laps in 1.5 hours. A dramatic improvement over his race effort last year. No one pushed him for the victory. There were some other good efforts on pretty heavy gear!
Results HERE
The stoke is high as the snow is falling and people are getting geared up for the next four races on the Canadian circuit! Next up in Canada is the Castle Mountain Ski Mountaineering Race on Jan 9/10. This weekend, racing continues in Crested Butte with the Irwin Guides race cancelled due to lack of snow. Instead a vertical and ‘make-up’ individual race will take place at Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
12347884_10153246900160233_671854468609854052_nIMG_2433Thanks for Steve Sellers, Kylee Toth, and Melanie Bernier for contributing words and photos.
 

News Shorts: Aspen's Power of Four, NA racers in Marmotta Trophy World Cup, Upcoming races

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Laetitia Roux going for another gold in World Cup last weekend.
Laetitia Roux going for another gold in World Cup last weekend.

Audi Power of Four, Aspen (Feb 28, 2015)

Quickly growing into the biggest skimo race in North America, the Power of Four is already a Colorado classic. With vertical gain totaling 11,600 feet and course spread over three peaks covering 25.3 miles in distance, this race’s proportions resemble some of the big European classics such as Mezzalama in Italy. The route is not as technical but the altitudes most likely make up for it.
This year, once again, it was the home team of Max Taam & John Gaston that took the win. However, this time around, they put in a big gap (23 min) between them and 2nd placed Jon Brown & William Laird who only narrowly beat (1 min) a team of Pete Swenson & Rory Kelly. In 4th, was a notable duo as the team consisted of well known ultra-runners Mike Foote & Rob Krar.
The women’s race for first was a much more exciting affair. The newly married, Stevie Kremer partnered with Lindsay Plant to take the win by less than 2 minutes, in front of Jessie Young & Annie Gonzales. All this after 6 hours of racing! Third went to Darcy Piceu & Petra Pirc.
» Overall results and results for various categories are here

Marmotta Trophy World Cup, Italy (Mar 1-2, 2015)

Recap and photos submitted by Eric Carter who raced as well. Edits by Stano.
Set deep in the Martello Valley of South Tirol, Italy, the Marmotta Trophy World Cup featured both an Individual race and Sprint. The weather was kind to the organizers and athletes, with fresh snow falling the week before the race – a contrast to the low-snow, spring conditions of the previous edition.

Canadian Team: Michelle Roberts, Travis Brown, Melanie Bernier, Nick Elson.
Canadian Team: Michelle Roberts, Travis Brown, Melanie Bernier, Nick Elson.

Individual Race

The course featured three major climbs and descents. A wide track at the start quickly funneled into a double skin track. The first climb ascended out of the shadowy valley to the sunny South facing slopes before talking a direct but steep and narrow descent on breakable crust. The second climb started with a long flat stretch before tackling steep switchbacks to a hut where the women descended. The men continued up innumerable but gentle switchbacks to the glacier below Cima Marmotta before descending wide open powder fields at high speed. A flat traverse at the bottom took racers to the base of climb three. The climb was primarily switchbacks split in half by a bootpack up a steep couloir that would have likely been a pleasure to ski. Descending another long powder field before entering a steeply walled couloir, racers were again spit back onto open slopes that led to a final luge track descent through the trees. The last skins on transition was within sight of the finish, athletes put skins on frantically for a 15-meter climb to the line.

Melanie Bernier.
Melanie Bernier.
The women’s race was dominated as usual by Laetetia Roux (FRA) who led the race essentially from start to finish. Axelle Mollaret (FRA) chased behind with Emelie Forsberg (SWE) keping the French espoir in view to round out the podium. Behind the leaders was a pack that battled throughout the race including couple of Italian and Spanish women.
Melanie Bernier (CAN) skied strong on the last descent to gain contact with the Spaniards and Italians and the five women arrived in a group to the final transition before sprinting to the line within seconds of each other. Melanie finished 8th, only 7 seconds behind 6th, which is her top WC Individual result this season. The only other North American women to race was Michelle Roberts (CAN) who finished 20th.
» Women’s full results are here
The men’s race was also a battle between France, Italy, and Spain. Killian Jornet (SPA) led much of the race only to be passed on the final descent by one of the finest skiers William Bon Mardion (FRA). Xavier Gachet (FRA) rounded out the Frenchman sandwich with Michelle Boscacci and Damiano Lenzi (both ITA) skiing strong but not well enough for the podium.
Nick Elson (CAN) led the North American men with a 35th place finish. Eric Carter (USA) was 43rd and Travis Brown (CAN) 45th. A notable absence was super-German espoir Anton Palzer, sidelined since the World Championship relay race with a knee injury. However, Palzer is expected to be back skiing just in time to attend the Pierra Menta.
» Men’s full results are here
Sprint Race
Sunday began cloudy with Junior athletes racing before the Seniors, allowing an extra bit of rest and recovery. The men qualified first with 30 athletes advancing on to quarter-finals. The women followed quickly after with only 12 advancing on to semi-finals. Nick Elson led the North American field, however, failed to qualify for the heats along with Travis Brown and Michelle Roberts.
Melanie Bernier qualified with a strong time in 5th position. Melanie raced an amazing semi-final, falling behind to fourth place in the boot-pack but ripping down the descent and skating into a photo finish, ultimately placing third in the heat and continuing on to the final. The women’s final was led throughout the race by Laetitia Roux with Melanie finishing in 5th.
In the men’s heats, the usual players worked their way ahead with the notable addition of Kilian Jornet, rarely seen in a sprint race, who placed 13th overall. The Italians fought hard along with the French and Swiss racers but the day was dominated by the German Josef Rottmoser who decisively led every heat and settled the final uncontested.
» Sprint results: Men and Women
Melanie Bernier (on the left) during her semi-final heat.
Melanie Bernier (on the left) during her semi-final heat.

Upcoming races

Wasatch Powder Keg and US Skimo Nationals

Over three days, March 6-8, the whole US skimo scene will move to Brighton Resort close to Salt Lake City for the famous Wasatch Powder Keg. It will begin with a sprint race on Friday night, then continue with individual race on Saturday, and technical teams race on Sunday.
The very next weekend, March 13-15, everything and everyone will move to Crested Butte, CO for the 2015 Gore-Tex US Skimo Nationals that will also feature three days of competition – vertical race on Friday, individual on Saturday, and concluding with a teams race on Sunday.

East Coast

Skimo racers on the East Coast will also have their work cut out for them and they will line up for:

  • Mar 7 – Jay Peak Rando Race, VT
  • Mar 8 – Owl’s Head Quebec Touring Challenge, Quebec
  • Mar 14 – Magic Mountain Rando Race, VT
  • Mar 14 – Mt Orford Skimo Race, Quebec

Pierra Menta (Mar 11-14, 2015)

There will be couple of North American’s lining up for the 30th edition of Pierra Menta. Melanie Bernier is set to race once again, after collecting couple of top 5 finishes, and her partner should be a Norwegian athlete.
For men, North American will have an international team consisting of two good friends from Squamish, BC – Eric Carter will race with Nick Elson. Here is what they set in today:
Q: How are you and Nick feeling for Pierra Menta? What is your goal and what are you most excited about?

It’s the biggest event in skimo period. We are mostly stoked to race and test out all the training and preparation we have done. We of course want to place well. Reiner and Andrew’s 15th place in 2013 is certainly in the back of our heads but looking at the 2014 results it is very competitive and seems to be getting more so every year. We’re going to try to race a smart race and see what happens.

I believe the boys are in good shape and can definitely crack the top 20, so the question should be by how much. Melanie will be going strong as well since long and technical races suit her well.

Karl Egloff interview

In case you haven’t checked it out yet, I had the pleasure to interview the new Aconcagua speed climb record holder as Karl Egloff beat Kilian Jornet’s time by almost 1 hour few weeks ago!

Report from 2015 Canadian Skimo Champs: Kylee Ohler and Nick Elson take titles, German Philipp Schädler strikes again!

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The BUFF Canadian Ski Mountaineering Championships took place last Saturday at Kicking Horse Resort as part of the 7th edition of Dogtooth Dash skimo race. The race was founded in 2009 by Ian Gale and Eric & I took over two years ago, as race directors, to continue the most popular Canadian skimo race going after Ian retired from organizing.

Photo by Matt Hall.
Photo by Matt Hall.
Before I go on to report on the race itself, I would really like to acknowledge the great work and help of all the volunteers! Since Eric was already in Europe, racing in his first World Cup, I faced a big challenge to deliver a fantastic race course once again. Despite 25 cm of fresh snow over night, morning avalanche controls and some last minute issues, everyone pulled extra hard to get the job done. Thank you all very much for your help!
Beyond that, the race would have not happened without the generosity of Kicking Horse Resort, Buff Canada, Live Out There, and other smaller sponsors.
Special guest:
We were privileged to have Alexandre Pellicier, 2008 Skimo World Champion, to come and inspect our race preparations on behalf of ISMF over the three days. He turned out to be a great person and despite jet-lag helped tremendously to make the race a success. He left us with many great tips and suggestions of how we can take Dogtooth Dash into a world cup level in the years to come.
On top of that, Alex did a fantastic job during a 45 min Q & A session at the awards party where he answered many questions in great detail. Thank you Alex and we all hope to see you back soon!
Photo gallery:

How it all went down

» Full results Dogtooth Dash 2015 RESULTS
Due to lots of new snow we had to change the Elite (long) course to be two laps of the Enduro (short) course, but the beauty of KHMR terrain is that technical ascents and descents were still prominent.
Total vertical for the Elite course came to 1570 m over four climbs and four descents – including two steep bootpacks and two big descents – and half that for Enduro racers.
Elite:
As the race begins unusually on top of the mountain we had athletes run one lap around the Eagle’s Eye restaurant to spread them apart before the descent. First transition was chaotic as always, with 50+ people putting their skins on, but the top dogs already emerged out of it first – Philipp Schädler (GER) was leading Nick Elson, with Ben Parsons, Mike Foote (both USA) and couple of Canadian team members following behind.
During the first ascent, Phillip and Nick started to pull away while Kylee Ohler was creating a small gap on two ladies behind her. Blue skies and skinning on the ridge made many racers to look around as if they were on a powder ski tour deep in the mountains.
On the second climb, which was the longer one (little more than 500 m), Nick was leading Philipp into the bootpack transition but the positions switched as Nick struggled to hook skis to his pack. By this point, they had about 3 min gap on Ben Parsons who was being followed by Mike Foote further one minute behind. Kylee was extending her lead slowly on Michelle Roberts and Michela Adrian (USA) but they were all within about 2 min!

Nick Elson followed by Philipp Schaedler. Photo by Stano Faban.
Nick Elson followed by Philipp Schaedler. Photo by Stano Faban.
During the first climb of the second lap, Nick and Philipp were still glued together and by now had a sizable gap on Ben and the rest of the field. In the women’s race, Michelle appeared to lift her pace and I don’t think that among the 3 ladies  – Kylee, Michelle, Michela – anyone of them was certain of how it would eventually play out!
Michelle Roberts getting ready to ski. Photo by Matt Hall.
Michelle Roberts getting ready to ski. Photo by Matt Hall.
On the second climb (the longer and technical one) of the second lap Philipp and Nick were going for the same strategy – to shake the other guy before they reached the bootpack that led right to the finish. However, on the very technical section Nick had a skin failure and Philipp took it by the horns, carving about 40 second lead. Nick dug desperately very deep but at the end the gap stood and Philipp won his third race in the last three weekends. Ben Parsons came in 3rd, with Mike Foote in 4th, then Travis Brown in 5th. Nick became the Canadian Champion.
The ladies battle was as equally exciting, however, more for 2nd and 3rd as Kylee pulled away on the last climb for a respectable win, thus, becoming the 2015 Canadian Skimo Champion. I don’t exactly know how it went down between Michela (2nd) and Michelle (3rd) on that last climb but at the end they were separated only by 9 seconds! Martha Burley came in couple of minutes behind them but still delivering a big performance given the fact she was out whole last winter due to sever knee injury.
Enduro:
Athletes on the Enduro course (one lap with two climbs) all appeared to have great time while pushing their limits! That was our aim when Eric and I designed this shorter course two years ago – to give participants a taste of real skimo racing instead of defaulting to a more challenging “cross country ski race”.
The women’s category was won by Jennifer Parsons, followed by Caroline Reid who is just recovering from a knee injury, and Karina Benavides. The men’s prize went to Joe Magajna in front of Pascal Hinni, and only 16-years old Riley Wolever!
Junior race:
With that overall 3rd place on the Enduro course, Riley Wolever became the 2015 Canadian Junior Skimo Champion with Kevin Hinni taking 2nd only 1 min behind, and Riley’s brother Brinton Wolever taking 3rd. All three guys are becoming regulars on the Candian skimo circuit and it will be very exciting to watch them progress in the years to come!

16 women and 6 under 20!

Something I really noticed while refreshing the skin tracks and cheering on was that we had more women and junior racers participating than I ever saw in Canada before! This is even more impressive since Melanie Bernier and Katarina Kuba were already in Europe preparing for the World Championships.
Overall, it is an exciting sign that skimo racing in Canada is finally growing beyond the unshaven, hardy men that dominated the scene few years ago… and maybe that’s what attracted the ladies to the sport 🙂

2014 Canadian Skimo Team Camp at Rogers Pass

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This is a guest post from a recent Canadian Skimo Team training camp in Rogers Pass. I was unable to attend so I want to thank Peter Knight for the text and Travis Brown for the photos.
The Alpine Club of Canada had taken a page out of Alison Redford’s playbook and generously block-booked the hut for us so we would have lots of elbow room to eat and sleep as just Michelle Roberts, Martha Burley, Steve Sellers, and Travis and I were attending.

2014-asulkan-camp-travis-1

After a 3-hour ski up to the hut, through tracked out snow and watching numerous groups ski down, the sleeping bags and hut booties seemed more inviting than a couple of short laps above the hut in wind affected snow.
Monday brought a lazy start but with some ambitious goals. None of the weekend groups had skied above the hut and the weather and avalanche conditions were looking good, so we set our sights up to the top of Youngs Peak. Travis punched the track up the steep headwall and we quickly topped out.
2014-asulkan-camp-travis-2
I was expecting to pound out a couple of laps on the Steps of Paradise, but soon we were skiing down the other side towards the Forever Young couloir, which was untouched since the last snowfall. Meanwhile, some German ski mountaineering racers had topped out the couloir from the road so I had some company at the top while I waited my turn. We all made it down safely with varying levels of slough management techniques.

Michelle and Martha with Forever Young behind them.
Michelle and Martha with Forever Young behind them.
Typically these camps are a chance to ski lots of vertical, but with tired legs from racing two days before this adventure was an interesting diversion. After a couple of afternoon laps of the triangle moraine it was time for a classic staple of these SMCC Asulkan ski camps: the bonk-slog up the tree triangle back to the Asulkan hut at the end of the day.
Shortly after the last stragglers arrived back at the hut, the wind got much stronger and battered the hut all night. The wind sustained through the morning and brought warm temperatures along with it. Freezing levels rose above the hut, motivation levels did the opposite. Trees were uncovered by the wind and their snow was blown into the outhouse thanks to some broken locks. And it was raining. It was time to bail.
The ski down from the hut was interesting as the snow got slower and less supportive as we worked our way down. The snow could be described as elephant snot or fluffy powder depending on whether the person you were talking to was from Fernie or not. On the way down we encountered what is likely another full house at the Asulkan. Nobody was pumped to hear that it was raining at the hut.
Well at least I got back to Edmonton at a decent hour 😉

6h 34min: New speed record on the full Wapta Traverse by 1 hour!

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Back in 2012 my two good friends and Canadian Skimo Team members, Melanie Bernier and Ian Gale, partnered together for what at the end happened to be a new record for the full Wapta Traverse. They set it down to 7 h 35 min for this 43 km long and 2200 m of gain famous ski traverse in the Canadian Rockies.

By skiing down from Balfor Col guys were realizing a great time is in sight.
By skiing down from Balfor Col guys were realizing a great time is in sight.
Last Sunday, May 11th, a duo of another two skimo friends (that were still “novices” back in 2012) consisting of Peter Knight and Travis Brown took advantage of some fine weather and hit the traverse in what looks like stellar speed conditions. At the end, Peter and Travis shaved 1h of the old record and set the bar to 6 h 34 min!

When we got onto the glacier, there was 1-2cms of new snow on top of a very supportive crust and it was actually faster to ditch the old drifted in skintrack and make our own. – from Travis’ blog post

I like to think that the recent interview for Skintrack gave them the final boost of motivation that pushed them towards such a great performance – they had to match the hype with performance 🙂
And here is what Peter had to say about their effort in his usual style:

We weren’t feeling too bad afterwards and we contemplated doing a Bow Summit victory lap when picking up Travis’ car.

Wapta Traverse details

Here’s a screen picture after Travis uploaded their day from his Suunto Ambit 2 (watch review here).
wapta-speed-record
And here is a publicly available Wapta ski traverse map on Google maps:

For more info and photos from their day see their Suunto’s Movescount file and Travis’ blog post.

Wapta under 6h?

For over a year now, I have been long convinced the Wapta traverse can go under 6h, perhaps even close to 5h. However, everything would have to line up perfectly – conditions, people in shape in the right time, and sufficient snow pack that season.
What do you think? Can be Wapta done in 5h?

Interview with Travis Brown and Peter Knight – two young Canadian skimo hopefuls

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On the European skimo racing scene 24-years old racers are not considered youngsters anymore but in North American skimo terms that’s almost as young as they get.
Travis Brown and Peter Knight are two Canadian skimo racers with good potential – both of them have good engines and they are quick learners. On the interesting side, both of them are from prairies of Alberta and both of them came into skimo from different sports – one from running, the other from mountain biking.
Warning: In case some answers seem a bit weird then know that both of these guys have good sense of humour 😉

Travis and Peter on the summit of Mt Joffre in Alberta during their 11 hour mission. Details coming below.
Travis and Peter on the summit of Mt Joffre in Alberta during their 11 hour mission. Details coming below.

Enter Travis and Peter

Q: What is your athletic background? What are (or were) your main sports?

Travis on the track.
Travis on the track.
Travis: I ran track and cross-country for 5 years at the University of Calgary (1500m, 3000m and 10km XC). Then in need of something new, I picked up trail ultra-running when I graduated last spring.
Peter: I’ve been mountain bike racing more seriously since I was 16. I do some cyclocross races in the fall as well. I used to race on the road, but I got tired of playing silly mind games for 4 hours on a Sunday, so I got out of that before I got taken out in a big crash.
Q: What are your biggest (racing) accomplishments in those sports?
Travis: Won the Stampede Road Race 5km in 2012, Calgary; Mother’s Day race 5km; 3rd place CIS Academic All Canadian 2012; and most importantly I am a 3 time BSD Beer Mile champion (I have yet to attempt the Beer Skin, but I think my skills should transfer over well).
Peter: I’ve squeaked onto the provincial team a couple of times and I’ve battled for a couple of top 5’s in Alberta Cup races. The local mid-week mountain bike world championships win has thus far eluded me.
[Stano’s note: Beer Skin was a race I organized a week ago – involved drinking 4 beers over a 500m skin climb.]
Peter ripping the single track.
Peter ripping the single track.
Q: When did you start skiing and ski touring?
Travis: I started cross country skiing with my family when I was 2, and didn’t downhill ski until about 6 years ago. I dabbled in touring (read: slogging in alpine boots and Marker Dukes) during my first few years of University, but hadn’t done a ton until the last couple of years.
Peter: I think I was on skis when I was 4 and I started ski touring when I was 18.
Q: When did you discover skimo racing?
Peter during his first skimo race back in 2010.
Peter during his first skimo race back in 2010.
Travis: I first heard about skimo because some of the top trail runners use it as winter training (Killian Jornet, Luke Nelson, Max King etc.).  Being an injury prone runner always looking for low impact ways to boost my fitness I decided it was a perfect thing for me to try in the winter. My first race was the 2014 Castle Mountain Skimo Race and involved a lot of crashing and botched transitions.
Peter: My first race was the 2010 Dogtooth Dash. I was meaning to race the Sunshine 5000 in 2009 and 2010, but I had to do homework those weekends.
Q: Looks like both of you got hooked on skimo racing quite easily. What are the main reasons?
Travis: I love spending time in the mountains and skimo lets me get into all the areas I frequent in the summertime in a completely different way. When you can go touring and have fun with your friends for the day and call it training you know you’ve hit gold. I also love the mix between aerobic fitness, technical skills (transitions etc.), and finesse (downhill skiing).
Peter: Skiing up and down mountains as fast as possible and having races to keep me motivated is a much better way to stay fit through the winter than riding an indoor trainer, or struggling biking through the snow. I enjoy racing and I’ve met some interesting people, so I’m definitely hooked on the scene! That and “National Team member” will sound really good when I’m trying to launch my motivational speaking career.
Q: Which aspects of skimo racing were the most challenging to you? How did (or still do) you tackle them?
Travis: The technical side of the sport such as skinning technique, kick-turns, downhill skiing and transitions are still my weaknesses. Training at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary definitely helped my transitions because it’s only a 125m lap, so you end up doing lots. But the other stuff you can’t work on there, so I try and get out to the mountains as much as possible on weekends. I’ve also spent lots of time watching videos on sites like SkinTrack picking apart transitions .
Peter: I am certainly not fearless on the descents in either mountain biking or skimo and speed there will come with more skiing and leg strength. I sometimes have a bit of trouble skinning fast and opening up my stride on flatter sections, so I think I have to spend some more time on the classic XC skis.
Peter chasing Travis at the 2014 Canadian Skimo Cup final race.
Peter chasing Travis at the 2014 Canadian Skimo Cup final race.
Q: How do you think skimo training and racing is beneficial for your other sports?
Travis: Because skimo very closely mimics the bio-mechanics of running without the impact, I’ve noticed a big boost in my running strength and endurance so far this spring because I can maintain high volume of training all winter. I also find the change in sport helps to keep my motivation levels high, and by the end of ski season I am ready and excited to jump back into running.
Peter: The race length is about the same. On steeper climbs the motions are fairly similar. I’m getting some racing in while others are riding indoor bikes! The beating the legs take on the descents must be good for the bones!
Q: How do you train during the months without snow? Only running and biking or other activities as well?
Travis: In the summer, I stick to mostly trail running, with some time on the road bike and in the gym. I also spend some time out with friends climbing, hiking etc.
Peter: Only biking for me. Or sometimes I’ll hike up a mountain and ride my bike down and call it “training”. Not much running for me, I think the furthest that I have run is 8km! I keep telling myself to do more running to work on my stride but never get around to it.
travis-brown-running
Q: What do other athletes from your previous sports say about you racing skimo? Were they even aware of it before you exposed them to it?
Travis: I spend a lot of time explaining what skimo is, or they say “ohhh that’s that thing Killian does in the winter isn’t it?”. A lot of them think I’m a little crazy, but I try my best to convince them to give it a try.
Peter: I think everyone that I’ve talked to is intrigued by the sport, but I don’t think that they had heard about it before. Some have seen the videos. Maybe they’ll give it a more serious look if I could throw down an impressive early season result.
Q: Where do you guys live, work and train these days?
Travis doing what skimo racers can call training - ski touring.
Travis doing what skimo racers can call training – ski touring.
Travis: I’m currently living in Calgary, working as a personal trainer and during the week I trained at Canada Olympic Park (125 vertical meters of groomed ice) and got out to the mountains to ski in Banff and Kananaskis almost every weekend.
Peter: Edmonton. I do my skiing based out of Canmore on the weekends when I decide to make the drive.
Q: Ideally, where would you want to live, work and train in the future?
Travis: I would love to live out in the mountains, but will be going back to school soon, so that probably won’t happen. Calgary isn’t too bad because it’s about an hour and a half to get to the closest good skiing.
Peter: Anyone know of a ski town with mechanical engineering jobs?
Q: Do you have a coach? If not, where do you look for guidance and information?
Travis: I’m self-coached. I have a pretty good grasp on training concepts from training for track, getting a Kinesiology Degree and being a Certified Personal Trainer. I’ve also done a bit of reading on what others are doing for their skimo training (aka blog creeping) but for the most part I just adapt my typical running workouts to the skis.
Peter: Mountain bike racer Matt Hadley has been coaching me since the fall.
Q: From your point of view, is there anything specific skimo in Canada lacks to attract more new people? And is there anything specific that skimo in Canada has better over other sports?
Travis:
I think the biggest area for improvement is access to information about races, and race registration. Coming from running, where the racing scene is well established and race details and registration are available months in advance finding info on skimo was quite difficult. I’m used to planning my race season 6-8 months before, being able to easily look up previous results etc. and had to work very hard to find out information about skimo when I was first starting.
The best thing about this skimo community is how friendly and genuinely nice everyone is. I felt very welcome, even at my first race when I knew nobody, and have met a ton of great people from all over North America at every race since (Even the legendary Stano!). These friendships have led to some epic ski days, with more to come.
Peter:
Judging by what is popular these days, I think skimo is missing mud, barbed wire, electric cables, chasing zombies, coloured flour, standardized distances, mass marketing email lists, and $200 races. On a more serious note, a “grand” course or stage race and mid-week races might attract more people.
What does skimo have over other sports? In Skimo, you can race along alpine ridge lines, bomb down descents and it’s all over in couple of hours, so you still have time to do a couple of laps off the lift after. And not many sports in Canada have Stano!
Stano:
Thank you boys very much, but don’t get too friendly as I might have one more good season in me 🙂
Q: What would you advise to young trail runners and mountain bikers if they want to try skimo so they have a good experience right the first time?
Travis:

  • You don’t need the lightest gear to have lots of fun, but it definitely helps if you want to be competitive.
  • Practice with your gear to get it dialed in before you get to the start line. You can save a lot of time with efficient transitions.
  • Don’t forget to practice skiing downhill on your race skis too! I’ve always considered myself to be a good downhill skier, but felt like a 4 year old getting off the magic carpet my first time using race skis off-piste.

Peter:

  • Try a race. It doesn’t matter what you have for gear; if you are fast, you will pass people on lighter gear.
  • Find a good group to go skiing (“training”) with.
  • Understand that there are technical elements that make skimo unique: transitions, descents, steep skinning, kick-turns. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have these dialed right away, they will come with practice.
Peter manged to get a good form at the end of the 2013 season and became Canadian National Champion.
Peter manged to get a good form at the end of the 2013 season and became Canadian National Champion.
Q: You guys recently did a one day assault on Mt. Joffre in Kananaskis country, Alberta. You did in less than 11 hours, tell me about the adventure.
Peter:
Mt. Joffre (3450m) is located in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Kananaskis country. It is the highest mountain in K-country and one of the 11,000 footers of the Canadian Rockies. It is usually done over 3 days and the guidebook claims a round trip distance of 28km, but our GPS’s were reading closer to 40km and 2150m of vertical when we got back to the car just under 11 hours after starting.
I have been fascinated with this mountain ever since I read a trip report from a day trip 2 years ago. I made an attempt but bailed just 250m from the summit as we didn’t have the cojones to continue up the face. And I realized that having a good and fast partner would be crucial for a fast and successful attempt.
It seemed that Travis was keen on going for a long tour but it had snowed the day before so the Wapta traverse probably wouldn’t be very fast and there was the potential of getting shut down by clouds on the Balfour Col. He suggested going for Joffre, so we headed out from Canmore in the other direction!
Q: Compared to trail running gear, skimo gear is expensive, but compared to mountain biking or cycling it is fairly cheap. Can you provide brief summaries for both sports of what you need to enter with a total price at the end?
The below prices are for new gear.
Travis – trail running gear:

  • Trail Running Shoes $130-180
  • Hydration system: $30 (Handheld) $90-180 (pack)
  • Some longer and more remote races have required gear (Toque $20, lightweight windbreaker $70, gloves $20, survival blanket $10, headlamp $40-180)
  • Other than that, you can wear any regular running clothing you already have (shorts T-shirt) or spend up to $150 on each of those for fancier compression gear
  • Total: $400-450
  • Basic: $160
  • Top of the line everything: around $1000

Peter – mountain biking:

  • Bike: Hardtail – $2000+, Full suspension – $3000+. Add another $1000 each for Carbon frame/wheels.
  • Kit (shorts/jersey/socks): Usually ~$200, but you might want to have a couple of sets, unless you really like doing laundry!
  • Jacket: if you want to stay warm while training or racing when it is cold or wet: $100-200.
  • Shoes: $200. Some people have separate shoes for their road bike so double that.
  • Helmet: $100, does the trick.
  • Sunglasses: $75
  • Gloves: $40
  • Tube/pump/multitool: $40
  • Total: $2750+
  • And all of the parts you will break!

Stano – competitive skimo racing gear:

  • Race skis: $650 and up
  • Skimo boots: $750 and up
  • Bindings: $500 and up
  • Skins, 2 pairs: $250 and up
  • Skimo race suit: $300 and up
  • Pair of XC ski poles: depending on quality but as low as $40
  • Avalanche gear (beacon, probe, shovel): $350 and up
  • Helmet: $150, but cycling or climbing helmet is OK too
  • Wind breaker jacket and pants: $150 and up
  • Total: around $3000
  • And you probably own all the other things already (base layers, ski clothing, goggles, sun glasses…)

Q: What skimo gear are you currently racing on? Any plans to change or upgrade? If yes, then to what?
Travis:

I had some older gear for my first race but upgraded pretty quickly when I realized its limitations. I’ve really enjoyed my current setup, but might look into some Alien 1.0’s in the future when I win the lottery.
Peter:
Dynafit DyNa World Cup skis, Low Tech bindings, and Pierre Gignoux XP444 boots. If I was able to ski more, I’d think about getting a second pair of the entry level race boots for training, etc… Oh and 140 cm poles and I am 187 cm tall. You forgot to ask that!
Stano – just for comparison:

Wanna try skimo too?

Are you in a similar position as Travis and Peter were only few years ago? If yes, don’t hesitate to reach out via email or simply leave your question below and we will answer ASAP.