CHASING SLOVAKS THROUGH CASCADE SLUSH: A Rando TR

[coldiron]

 

I've grown accustomed to the camaraderie of a good meal on the eve of a race- a chance to catch up with friends. I relish the opportunity to connect with fellow Randonee Racers, the rare few who understand my fanaticism about one of America's lesser-known but most dynamic sports. Over pasta in Crested Butte, we share stories of peaks skied, or trade training tips in a funky Mexican restaurant in Cle Elum. Most important, we share a love of skiing and find it perfectly normal to toil uphill for hours to make turns on death-chunk strewn hard pack, or last week's powder dump turned to mashed potatoes.

 

Saturday night, it was burritos in a North Bend strip mall as the Traslin Brothers and I discussed course conditions for Sunday's race. Hours ago I had skied the course, a new and challenging route up the steep Southern boundary of Alpental. A ladder hanging over a cliff band added a bit of exposure to the climb, and a steep descent of Upper International promised to spice up the downhill portion of the race. It had been pissing rain since noon though, and the snowpack was a slushy mess on my last run. At the race meeting, organizer Martin Volken had caused quite a buzz by suggesting that a hard freeze overnight would make ski crampons the tool of choice Sunday morning.

 

After a good meal and store trip for pre-race provisions, we returned to the hotel, where we found ourselves still applying skin wax and laying out race clothes as midnight approached. Our roommates from last weekend, the Slovakians, had surely been in bed since nine, with race gear neatly stacked and ready. I guess their rigorous pre-race schedule had its merits after all.

 

We awoke to warm temperatures Sunday morning and realized that slush and rain, not ice, would be our hurdle to overcome today. Disorganized by nature, I had somehow managed to develop a system that left me well prepared for the five previous races of the season. That system collapsed disastrously on Sunday morning, and the last 5 minutes before start time found me making two frantic sprints back to the lodge for forgotten items. I burst back onto the start line just as Martin finished his countdown, a bit flustered but ready to go.

 

Conditions were not bad for the first climb, and light rain even gave way to occasional glimpses of the sun. The snow was soft, but not slushy enough to keep skins from gripping. The course went straight into steep switchbacks, relenting into low angle gliding just when you thought your quads would burst. Slovakian World Cup Racer Peter Svatorjansky took the lead, followed by Canadian Andy Traslin and myself, with a second chase group of Kevin Grove, Scott Putnam and Mike Traslin keeping the race for the podium spots interesting.

 

I stopped twice on the first climb to take off my gloves and tie my modified boot closure cord, annoyed that I hadn't done it before the race. No matter, I had scouted my line well and made good time down International and Snakedance, making big turns down the shoulders of the runs, which hadn't been carved up into moguls. Andy was still there when I reached the bottom checkpoint, and after a mediocre transition I charged out after him, less than a minute back. Andy is always strong late in the race, and I knew I'd have to suffer to catch him. I saw the gap slowly closing and was feeling good about the battle for second place until I felt my left ski begin to slip back with each stride. Looking down, I saw lots of skin tail flapping free. I knew I had about four minutes on Scott and Kevin so I took my pack off, jammed my ski in the snow, and swapped out for a dry skin. Up ahead, Andy had disappeared over a rise so I quickly gave chase. To my dismay the new skin was soon coming loose, but I pushed on, worried that I might be passed if I stopped again. The offending skin soon dropped off into the snow and I now had no choice but to stop. I was frantically wiping the bases dry with my bare hands and hardly noticed the sting of the cuts at first. My brand new Ski Trab race skis were supposed to have super hard edges and come with a race tune, but I didn't expect the six cuts on my hands, especially the one deep enough for stitches that proceeded to turn the snow red at my feet.

 

After another changeover, Scott and Kevin were right on my heels and I began to worry about finishing the race if my last backup should fail. I felt the slipping again minutes later, and looked down to see my skin tail flapping once again. I knew I had no choice but to push on, and that certainty pushed me to reach deep and ski faster. The loose skin tail soon balled up underfoot, but the soft snow allowed me to push through, and the gap between me and the two behind quickly widened. The traverse out to Piss Pass was accomplished with a kick-double-pole motion onto my good ski which was gliding well, and soon I was back at the downhill gate ripping skins and following my previous line down Snakedance, this time leaving a trail of blood drops on the snow from my cut-up hands.

 

I crossed the finish line comfortably in third place, a little bloody but happy to have dealt with all my gear problems and still finished well. After a too-short bit of conversation and exchanging stories at the lodge I was rushing to my car with an armload of Outdoor Research shwag and another weekend of good memories.

 

I had a plane to catch to Salt Lake City where I met up with my good friend Zahan Billimoria, who'd just raced in the Black Diamond Powderkeg. The trip back to Jackson Hole was filled with racing stories and excited plans to ski the backcountry. I'm looking forward to another great weekend of racing, story telling and visiting with friends new and old at the North American Championships in Jackson. If you're in the area join us on Saturday. You may suffer a bit on the course, but there's a beer waiting at the finish and plenty of people to commiserate with.

 

Scott Coldiron

 

you'll find results here: http://www.life-link.com/raceresults_alpental.htm

and lots of pictures here:

 

Many thanks to Martin Volken and his people at Pro Guiding for an exciting course and to the great folks at Outdoor Research for putting on the race. Kaj, Todd, Dan and many others from OR are really excited about Randonee Rally racing and it shows in the quality of the races they support.

[Weekend_Climberz]

Good job!! :tup:

 

Don't you love our conditions here in the PNW.

[Plinko]

It's not always soggy, like the big dump on Tues/Wed.