Utah Ski Mountaineering

Given the success of our little Tuesday night races, we felt it was time to get organized and make the Wasatch Ski Mountaineering Citizen Series a real entity.  A few of us that have put a good deal of time into setting the races, obtaining prizes, and getting the word out have banded together to form an LLC that we are calling Utah Ski Mountaineering or Skimo or something equally dorky sounding.


The goal is to provide some protection and organization to make the series sustainable.  One of the major concerns has been the question of insurance as we typically have 50-75 people careening through the night with dinky headlamps as their only guide.  Another concern was the lack of "voice" amongst the Wasatch "Skimo" crowd and the lack of accepted uphill traffic at most of Utah's resorts.  Our hope is that this organization will solve both issues as well as open doors for further opportunities.  Here's how:

First, we will be asking for a small donation/race entry this year.  This is really nominal at $30 for ALL EIGHT RACES!  For those who have been in the past, your chances of winning something worth $30 is pretty significant...not to mention the value of racing your friends until you taste blood, laughing it off at Molly Green's, and then trying to crawl into bed and sleep without waking family and loved ones...it's a great midweek rush.

Alternatively, for those only able to come to a race or two, we think $5 per event is reasonable.  We will be set up to accept payments by paypal, and card, cash, or check at the event.  Of course if you don't have the means, come race anyway.  I would hate to turn people away as the whole point of these shenanigans was to create a community of folks interested in getting faster with ALL people being welcome regardless of gear, skill, etc.

But, we need to create some funding to cover insurance which has been quoted at $2500 for the entire series and will cover anyone who shows up. 

Also, we are still awaiting non profit status and if granted, any and all tax deductible donations will be gladly and thankfully accepted. 

Just to highlight all the great benefits beyond just the racing, this year we anticipate ongoing great support from many of the big players in the ski industry as well as from some more local companies.

The Sport Loft will take a prominent role with great prizes weekly.  Skimo.co, Gear 30, Kirkham's, and other local companies have had a generous presence giving a number of quality prizes in the past and we hope for their ongoing support.  Bigger companies like Scarpa/Ski Trab, La Sportiva, Outdoor Research, Powerbar, and others are also lined up to make this little race series a great well supported tradition.

So, head to the Citizen Series website to check out the dates for the year and then to utahskimo.org for more info on our organizing body and to sign up for the series/make a donation.   Our first race is Thanksgiving morning at Brighton at 8:00 AM.  Be there and earn your turkey!

Maybe you'll win a pie for your Thanksgiving feast!

In the same vein of trying to move fast, this coming Friday (Nov 22nd) at 6:30 PM, Jason and I will be giving a brief interactive talk at the Sport Loft, mainly talking about how to speed up in the backcountry be it by gear, training, or other time saving tricks.  For many people speeding up is counter to their reasons for being out, there but others might find being able to ski more powder in a given amount of time a good thing.  We hope to see some of you there besides our mom.