Tag Archive for 'Racing'

2009 PowderKeg

Published on March 16, 2009 in Events. 13 Comments Tags: .

Last Saturday, for the first time in seven years, I was on the other side of the starting line of the Wasatch PowderKeg as a racer instead of an organizer. I love this event and thought it was a goner when Black Diamond and Patagonia pulled their backing out of it this season, but fortunately Chad & Emily Brackelsberg along with Mark & G Christopherson stepped in, stepped up and not only kept the tradition alive, but improved it.  It was a fun event and I’m glad to see that it is now in the sustainable grassroots mode so it stands a good chance of continuing on in the future.

Photos courtesy of Jay Beyer – http://jaybeyer.com

The start, and my moment of glory near the front of the pack. It didn't last long.

As an organizer, the race reminded me of a high-stakes version of the dominoes tip-over game where you set everything up, hope for the best, then when the starting gun goes off, there is not much to do aside from stand back and pray that everything/everybody falls in place accordingly.  The years when the avalanche danger was considerable to high were nerve wracking, and the year that we ran it through the moguls which unfortunately iced-over during the night and almost took out the entire pack were especially memorable.  The ideal is to create a race which is fair, safe and challenging, of which any two variables are easy to achieve, but hitting all three is incredibly difficult.

Casually sniffing around the edges of the Pain Cave, before deciding not to go in.

I’ve always thought that American racers can compete with the best of the Europeans once they/we learned all the tricks of the trade, got the right gear and started to train for racing, and that prediction is starting to come true.  It use to be that if you had the right gear (Dynafit bindings, racing skis and F1 boots), you were guaranteed a podium finish.  Now the majority of the serious racers all have it.  Six years ago, if you were behind on a climb but knew the tricks to a 40 second de-skinning transition, you could regain lost ground.  Now you will be losing time if you can’t transition in 30 seconds or less.  Training in the past entailed a good touring base plus abstaining from excessive beer drinking the night before the race, whereas now people actually train and the results are obvious and impressive.  People are getting consistently faster, which is great to see.

For my part, I ate shit, which was kind of a relief.  I saw Steve Cook, aka Silver Steve at the finish line who is the top medalist in US history for disabled Nordic Skiing, who asked me “Did you visit the Pain Cave?”  The Pain Cave is where you have to go if you really want to win, but when you are looking at the difference between 9th, 10th or 11th place, just looking at the entrance to the cave is fine.  I had a fun time trading places with Chris Covenington from Alta and Eric from Jackson Hole, and didn’t suffer any lung damage as a result, so my race was a success.

Chris Covenington (behind me) kept passing me on the downhills, so I tried to take his eye out with a skin tip loop. It didn't work.

As a confession, on the eve of the race I was debating not doing it as I wasn’t prepared, we had visitors and I had other pressing commitments.  Plus, I knew I was going to get my ass waxed.  But, I’m glad I did as the energy of the event itself is excellent and just being part of it is really what it is all about – thanks Chad, Emily, Mark & G!  Details on the race and info for next year can be found at www.wasatchpowderkeg.com

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The Big Four-Oh

Published on February 13, 2009 in Racing. 10 Comments Tags: .

Having hit 40,000′ of climbing and skiing at the 24 Hours of Sunlight, I’d like to say I can now rest easy, except I’m still in too much pain.  Someday, hopefully soon, I’ll rest easy, but the best I can do until then is just to be very psyched.

The first year I did the race I had absolutely no idea how much vertical I could do as my biggest day of touring before that had been about 12,000′.  So, 20k?  30?  I ended up hitting about 36,000′ that year and right at the end realized if I had been more consistent, I might have hit 40.

40k and not an inch more. I can skin no more forever. Photo by Lou Dawson - WildSnow.com

Having a goal for a race like this is incredibly useful as it helps with pacing.  Forty thousand feet means a lap average of 53 minutes, or climbing at an average of about 1,850′ per hour.  This isn’t bad at first, but at least in my case, I had to assume that I was going to slow down towards the end, so the first laps would have to be a bit faster, the middle would have to be right on average, then the end could get a little slower.  The subtleties of this is that if you start out too fast, you’ll burn out faster as well.

My main interest in hitting 40k was that;
    a) it is a nice round number,
    b) I came close to it last time
    c) One of the first times I met Greg HIll he had recently done a 40k and I thought,and still think, it was a very cool goal
    d) There is/was no way in hell I will ever hit 50k.

The good hearted announcer kept referring to me as a "cagey veteran" although at this point it was more like "the crippled veteran." Photo by Courtney Phillips.

The good hearted announcer kept referring to me as a "cagey veteran" although "crippled veteran" was closer to it at this point. Photo by Courtney Phillips.

While the race itself was fun and all (??!?), one of the great things about busting out a new personal high is that now a “big” day of touring, like 15,000′, no longer seems so daunting, especially as you now know what to expect.  It’s a bit like rock climbing exposure in that after you have climbed something like the 3,000′ El Cap in Yosemite, little 1,200′ walls in Zion seem like child’s play.

As a soloist, the race itself is pure drudgery.  Contestants go up one groomer, then down another, then repeat until they explode.  At one point my stomach was so hammered that I ended up doing a progressive four-part hurl on the course, which alarmed the racer nearby me much more than myself.  “Hey #1 – are you alright?  Do you need help?”  I actually felt much better and kept going.

Comparative lap charts from the two years I've done the race. The one on the top is the first year, which was erratic. The one below was from this year which was more consistent (my goal).

In the Misery Loves Company department, it was interesting to hear Eric Sullivan (the race winner and course record setter with 51,000′+ a year ago) say that he had withdrawn for a few laps as his stomach was punched out as well.  He said something to the effect of “You need to consume a lot of high energy food and drink, but it is hard to digest a stomach full of it in a single lap.” Keeping solid food down is definitely my biggest challenge during 24 hour races and it would probably be well worth it to stop in the future and just force something down.

From a techie standpoint, there are quite a few little tricks of the suffering trade if you are interested in giving it a try.  An attentive pit-crew is essential, and in this case we were lucky to have Courtney Phillips from Salt Lake City and Lou and Lisa Dawson from Carbondale helping us (Polly, Andrew and Rick) out.  Having two pairs of skis and multiple pairs of skins helps so that you can step out of one and go directly into another.  An outside tent vastly increases the creature comfort of the pit crew, especially if you can set it up with heaters and a stove.  It gets fairly cold at night, so drinking warm (but not hot) fluids is a luxury.

Polly, Courtney and Lou looking at the real-time results in our tent.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of hitting 40,000′ is now I don’t feel compelled to do the race ever again.  :)  But, it is a great adventure in human endurance & spirit, so I hope to be back next year either as part of a team or better yet, to help someone else hit their goal (Courtney… Griber…).

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24 Hours of Pain… coming up.

Published on February 6, 2009 in Racing. 6 Comments Tags: .

It’s been four years since I partook in the inaugural 24 Hours of Sunlight race in 2005, which is just long enough to forget the painful memories and do it again.  Through bad luck, I had a schedule change  that fell through this weekend (I was going to give the dog a bath) which meant I had no excuse not to go, especially as Polly was going back for the forth year in a row.  To add to the guilt, Rick Angell from Park City was also going, then Lou and Lisa Dawson signed up to help support the show, and at the last second, Courtney Phillips decided to come along as well.  Suddenly, it’s a full-fledged party of pain.

My goal for this year - DO NOT SIT DOWN... EVER! photo: photo: lou dawson

One of the cool aspects of the 2006 race was being there when Greg Hill and Jimmy Faust broke 50,000′ vertical feet in a day.  I had no idea what I was capable of and as such didn’t strategize or pace myself very well until the end, at which point it was too late.  A fun (?) thing about this race is that it is 100% about the up – there is no trail breaking, safety equipment or anything else to worry about aside from putting in another lap. 

Greg Hill's watch showing 50,520'. Not bad for a day tour.

Lou will be posting updates throughout the weekend on WildSnow.com and the race can also be followed in real time at 24 Hours of Sunlight.

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Help support StraightChuter.com and track every inch of your vertical with a Suunto Observer Stainless Steel Altimeter Watch from Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…
 

The Wasatch PowderKeg Lives!

Published on January 8, 2009 in Racing. 6 Comments Tags: .

Snatched from the jaws of financial abandonment, I’m psyched to say the Wasatch PowderKeg Ski Mountaineering race will be back again this year by popular demand!  The race was resurrected by a group of my neighbors here in Summit Park (aka Somewhat Dark, or The Alpine Slum), including Chad Brackelsberg, G and Mark Christopherson (of Voile) and many others.  I am the dedicated Spiritual Advisor and for once, perhaps I’ll have a chance to actual partake in the race.

Catagories for almost everyone, including Women’s AT Rec w/child.

The PowderKeg is being reborn as a grassroots effort and Race Director Brackelsberg would love to have any and all help, volunteers (probably no coats this year – sorry), prize donations, and most importantly, racers show up and rock some phat pow on March 14th.  The race is similar to the past four or so years, with the start/finish at the Alta Ski Resort, a variety of equipment categories and a booting section.  Oh, and how could I forget… the moguls will be back as well.  :)

The 2008 PowderKeg start almost had to be delayed as Mt. Superior was in full bloom right at the 7:00am starting gun.

For further details and sign up info, please see www.wasatchpowderkeg.com

Good job Chad, Mark, G and everyone else! 

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Ski Mountaineering Racing Info

Published on September 12, 2008 in Racing. 4 Comments Tags: .

A few years ago I was very involved with ski mountaineering racing, both as a participant and later as a race organizer.  It is an incredibly fun sport and aside from the events themselves, there is a a huge amount of carry-over as far as general ski touring goes.  After only a single race or two, you can pick up enough tricks to add thousands of feet to your daily touring regime.  In an effort to help people get into the sport, learn some of the tricks and organize races, I’ve compiled some of my previous web-based tutorials under the “Gear & Food” tab.

Ski Mountaineering Race Info - click here.

Ski Mountaineering racing is huge in Europe where it is almost a blood sport with national rivalries, fan clubs, drug testing and some inconceivably fast skiers.  I didn’t believe it until I saw it myself, but some of the top racer can routinely climb at over 5,000′ per hour.  The U.S. racers have the horsepower, but we are lacking the country-wide infrastructure where people can race every weekend if they want and attend races which all have the same basic lengths and vertical (homologation). 

The video below shows World Champion Stephen Brosse ripping his skins in 16 seconds at the Black Diamond PowderKeg when it was a World Cup event.  Note that he barely stops!

 

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2008-2009 ISMF Racing Schedule

Published on September 6, 2008 in Racing. 0 Comments Tags: .

Hot off the LCD monitor, here’s the International Ski Mountaineering Federation 08/09 race schedule.  These are all the ISMF sanctioned races, including World Cups and National Championships.  Most of the races are in Europe, but there is one in Korea and another up in Whistler, BC if you happen to be traveling that way this winter.

2008-2009 International Ski Mountaineering Federation Racing Calendar

Go dog go! The Swiss Pairs teams pulling into a checkpoint in Cuneo, Italy.
Go dog go! The Swiss Pairs team pulling into a checkpoint in Cuneo, Italy.

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