Wasatch Skimo Race #3

Tonight was a great night.  We counted 55 people that came out to join in the festivities.  It was cold with a faint glow in the air from the night lights of Brighton skiing reflecting off the clouds and people were jolly in spite of the hour of suffering they were about to endure.

Milling about before the start

We all sprinted from the start but quickly settled into a pace we could each sustain.  The course was almost entirely off piste and meandered through pines, made tight kick turns, sported a short boot track, and then subtly climbed to our high point.  From there, a quick transition sent skiers (and a few splitboarders) down a parallel path through fantastic powder.

The challenge was for the dorky looking folks in spandex (actually really good looking and fashionable) on skinny skis to do four laps and for everyone else to do three.  The cold air and dry powder stymied those who didn't have extra skins but I think everyone completed the course.   After crossing the always crooked start/finish line most made it to the official finish line...Molly Green's

There, we enjoyed food and drink and handed out some great prizes.  The Powderwhores donated a copy of their new movie, "Choose Your Adventure" and SCARPA donated the grand prize for the night which was a pair of Ski Trab Race Poles.  As always, pies were awarded to the winners and then shared with other hungry racers.

The movement is growing!  There seems to be solid interest in learning to move fast.  It makes sense though.  Climb faster to ski more and have more fun.

And, special thanks to Brighton, Brandon Dodge for being our advocate, Tom and Chad for help setting the course, SCARPA for the pin flags and the demo skis (3 pairs of Ski Trab Tour Rando skis which were well received and will be available at each future race on a first come first available basis), and to all of you for coming out and making these things so fun.

See you all next time (December 24th at 7:30 AM).

Below are some pics from the evening, most courtesy of D. Maack.  I'd like to get pics of everyone but these are the ones that turned out given the poor lighting and fast movement.  

Kick turn conga line (photo by MH)

Tom G smiling in the middle of a tough lap?

Watch out for this man in the future...

Is that who I think it is?

Another battle

Josh racing on Megawatts?

Newcomer Katie on the Ski Trab demo skis looking like she's having a good time

These awesome women braved the cold (along with a few others) to cheer us on with cow bells

Powderkeg President Chad through the lower trees

Hanging out at Molly Green's after 

Robert's Horn Ski and Ice Cragging

Almost exactly one year ago, Jason and Jared took pleasure in chasing a fun local adventure, while I was learning about sleep deprivation shortly after Lars was born.  They scratched their way up some early season ice that flows into Primrose Cirque from Robert's Horn and then tried to scratch their skis on the way down the back side.  Their day ended in the dark after a phone call to Jared's brother, Sam, asking for directions as to how to get back down without going over one of the many cliff bands that traverse the headwall.  

Today, not looking to spend the whole day out, Sam and I took more of a cragging approach and just climbed till the ice ran out and then rapped down to our skis.  Next time, I'd like to finish the route and enjoy a ski from the summit but time, a poor rock to snow ratio, and other responsibilities conspired against us today.  

Regardless, it was a blast and since I'll never climb "hard" ice, I prefer to add some skiing to the moderate variety that I enjoy.  

Skinning toward the "goods".  Note the large debris pile...apparently a lot of snow is not needed to have large avalanches

Sam getting started

A little higher up - it is a little steeper than it appears with short vertical steps punctuating the lower angle flow.

Looking dorky and getting confused by all the gear that used to feel second nature but now makes for a nice junk show.  Also trying out some new ice climbing boots

Now for some skiing...

White Baldy - A Classic Winter Scramble

Jason, Tom, and I went for a hike up White Pine this morning.  The guys wanted to stand on the summit of the Pfeiff but I convinced them that White Baldy would be more fun.  Besides, neither one of them had stood on the summit previously so a nice adventure was in store for all.  

The UAC had predicted high winds throughout the day with gusts to the 50 mph range.  We thought they were wrong as we left the parking lot under calm skies.  An hour later as we climbed high into the White Pine basin the wind picked up enough to make Jason pull over his hood since he forgot a hat (and sun glasses for that matter).  30 minutes later, the wind was sufficient to make us cower behind any boulder we could find on the exposed ridge, even if the relief was only temporary.  

In spite of the incessant biting wind, we enjoyed easy rock moves over the blocky granite ridge and Jason and Tom both stood on the summit for the first time. Unfortunately, my promise of good skiing on the Red Pine side appeared to be a lie.  From the top all we could see was endless talus dusted with too little snow.  However, a continued traverse allowed us to spy a shallow gully that seemed to hold enough.  Another 5 minutes of down climbing set us free. 

Not quite done, we bounced over to Lake Peak and sampled fantastic snow in the Lake Couloir and in another more NE facing line before braving the Alders on our exit.  

It was really nice to get in one more day in the high alpine before some more sustained weather moves in over the next few days.  Looks like our scheduled workout consisting of painful intervals just got pushed back another day. 

Skinning toward White Baldy as the winds begin to strengthen

Tom (blue) and Jason (orange) along the Baldy ridge

The way is up!

More fun moves

And a couple more with big exposure to the climber's right

Jason dancing around rocks on the descent

Tom and some cold powder

JD also forgot a helmet on top of sunglasses and a hat

Last one of the day

And just for fun if you have 30 seconds to waste, here are a couple clips showing the cool ridge and the wicked winds.

A few clips of a windy day on White Baldy from andy dorais on Vimeo.

A Classic Wasatch Tour

Today the weather was supposed to be moody but the morning was a gift from the gods.  Not sure what to expect after a few days of wicked winds and high rains, we started by taking the mellowest of routes to the summit of Patsy Marley.  The powder was dense, atop a slight crust, over a few other layers of varying rottenness but the skiing was fabulous.  The remainder of the day went as follows:

Descend to the parking lot - climb one of the Honeycomb peaks - descend into Silver Fork - climb Davenport - descend a nice chute into Day's (Jaws?) - climb Flagstaff - descend Holy Toledo - climb Cardiac Ridge - ski a nice chutelette - climb Superior via one of the north couloirs - descend the South Face - cheat into Suicide and climb to the col - ski Suicide and out.

The weather deteriorated throughout the day with the cloud deck lowering until it swallowed us while trying to figure out if the South Face would go or not.  It did, but not without some careful navigation and reliance on old memories.  Anything on the northern half of the compass skied quite well above 9000 feet or so.  Below that or on the southern aspects, the snow was getting heavy and I'm sure a stout crust will be prevalent in the morning but we didn't let that bother us today.

The whole day was filled with good company and great skiing.  I know this area is highly congested at times but those descents in those drainages are quintessential "Wasatch" and when combined, this tour is a classic!

Cold morning powder and bluebird skies

I think Jared wears a name tag so people quite confusing him with the me and Jason

Jaws?

Holy Toledo

Layne, about to end his wallowing and ski a cool chutelette on Cardiac Ridge,

Worsening weather but the snow is still great

"Big skis" and little boots...worked well today!

Josh, near Superior's summit

"Uhhh, are you sure we can get down this?"

A moment of incredible sharpness before the clouds made the descent "tricky"

Almost done with Suicide

Another teaser break in the swirling fog.  Jason and Josh are PSYCHED!

Heading home

To end on an equipment discussion, today I used the largest skis I've used in a long time.  The Ski Trab Volare is 99 mm under foot and mine are 178 in length.  They are reported to weigh 1480 grams per ski and with the Trab TR Race binding adding another 145 grams, this is still a fairly light total package (although it took some time to become accustomed to the added weight relative to my other skis).  I wanted to put in a decent day (ended up with just under 9000 vert) to see how I'd feel after toting around a bigger ski.  I'd say I'm slightly more fatigued than I would be if I were on light skis and it did take a little longer to complete the same tour.  But, I could definitely ski the down more aggressively and thoroughly enjoyed myself today.  They definitely have their place in the quiver.  Another question that arises is if lightweight boots like the Aliens are sufficient for such skis? Today they were given the pleasant snow conditions.  In fact, my bet is that they will always be sufficient in the backcountry for 99% of people.  In bounds would be a different story but I don't really spend much time there.

Anyway, my ultimate ski mountaineering quiver is coming along nicely.  I'll review each one and put up some pics and specs shortly.

Citizen Series Race #2

Whoa!  We just had a huge turn out in the spitting rain at our first Tuesday night race.  Thanks to all who endured the elements and raced!  These things are fun because of all the positive energy and support everyone offers each other.  Also thank you to all the wild family and friends that braved the cold and rain and cheered from the base with cow bells.  That made the night!

Blurry pic of a bunch of cool people, psyched to race in the rain!

I'd guess that in total well over 40 people raced the rainy dark course.  The format was new and I believe suggested by Courtney Phillips and was an instant hit.  We climbed to the top of the Milly lift via off piste skinning and then descended back to the base by headlamp.  Our second climb ascended the same skin track but stopped just short of the dam before once again descending to the base.  Finally, our last climb followed the now very well worn highway for only a few hundred vertical and then finished back at the Milly base.   There were no mishaps that I'm aware of and it seemed that everyone had a great time and workout.  Afterward, we mistakenly thought Molly Green's would be open for prizes, food, and drink but they had closed since there is no night skiing on Tuesdays.  We improvised and handed out cookies to the winners (Jason and Gemma) on the deck of the Milly Chalet.  A few newcomers earned a strawberry and an apple pie and other lucky folks walked away with a DVD courtesy of the Powderwhores or some skimo clothing schwag!

Next time, if we can't convince Molly Green's to stay open for a party, we'll move the show down to the Porcupine Grill (a bunch of people did just that tonight).  Also, as interest grows, we will add a page to the citizen series website that will hopefully include a gear swap listing as well as info for training, touring, carpooling, or racing for those looking for partners with similar schedules.

Thanks again to everyone for coming out, to Brandon Dodge and the rest of the Brighton patrollers for being so friendly and supportive, and to Brighton for being a real skiers resort!

See you all at the next gathering on December 18th at the same time (7:00 PM) and same place (by the church on the Milly side).

A lonely pin flag left on the course.  SCARPA is just one of the many great companies supporting our shenanigans.  Others will be highlighted in the future.

Tom on clean up duty after a solid 2nd place showing tonight!

The SCARPA Alien: The Future

Announcement: Tuesday (12/04) at 7:00 PM we will be having our second informal ski mountaineering race of the season.  It's free and all are invited.  Helmets and headlamps are required. Park along the row by the church at Brighton.  Be there ready to go for your chance to win a pie or prize.  Festivities at Molly Green's after!

In this sport that comprises backcountry skiing through the spectrum to ski mountaineering, I believe the single most important piece of equipment is one's boots (safety equipment and partners aside).  We spend well over 90 percent of our time skinning, climbing, scrambling, or simply walking and boots can ruin the day or enable grand success.  On the flip side, while skiing, our boots must perform at a standard that inspires confidence on potentially fatal terrain.  In the backcountry, they must endure and perform through powder, sastrugi, wind board, breakable crust, and every other form of frozen water.  

Where is the point of compromise?  Traditional mountaineering boots are great for technical climbing but suck for skiing as many folks have figured out over the years.  Alpine boots are great except when trying to go up hill.  

Testing out the Aliens

A few years ago, I walked into Bentgate Mountaineering in Golden, CO and tried on the Dynafit DyNAs.  My mind was sufficiently blown that I ended up with a pair only a few days later.  The walkability was incredible (touted at 60 degrees of cuff articulation) and they skied well enough to allow me to hack my way down enough classic descents to make me smile for years.  Eventually, they wore out and I moved on.  The TLT 5 was the next generation and while it didn't walk as well, it skied slightly better.  I relied on that boot for everything from the Grand Teton to skimo racing.  

Last year, it became obvious that the weight to performance ratio of the TLTs was no longer favorable.  Dynafit releasted the DyNA EVO.  SCARPA released the Alien series.  Sportiva improved the all carbon Stratos.  And, Pierre Gignoux still had the claim for the lightest boot in the world.  Ultimately, I raced in and selectively used the Stratos for some ski mountaineering projects but found it too fragile for my needs.  A friend has said that I'm like a gorilla on skis but I prefer to think I'm just hard on gear since I try my best to use it a lot in some fairly demanding places.  

The thing about this arms race for the lightest and best performing boot, is it's very hard to move backward.  Having skied in the the Stratos, I found the TLT to be very awkward and cumbersome.  Suddenly, the cuff articulation was inefficient and limited my range of motion.  And, the weight increase was noticeable although they continued to ski well in spite of over 200 outings in them.  A durable replacement was needed.  

Cue the SCARPA Alien.  

I knew the Alien 1.0 (separate review pending) would be a great race boot given it's weight, stiffness, and cuff articulation.  I figured the Alien (no carbon cuff) would also make a good race substitute, but was unsure of how either would perform in the real mountains under a variety of conditions.  

Over the last 3 days, I've been able to climb and ski over 20,000 vertical with the Alien and feel like I've put it through a good early test (I should probably wait and write a review after more testing, but I am pretty excited and want to share what I've found with those considering coming to the light side).  I used them skinning at the resort, doing a tempo style workout, booting up couloirs in variable snow, and scrambling on talus and pulling rock moves on granite.  The last three days have also provided nearly every condition imaginable for skiing and they were used for everything from tight turns on a bullet proof mid 40 degree slope to in-bounds bumps to powder (facets) to icy luge track type exits.  

My initial impression is that this boot performs as well or better than it's predecessors (all of the above), walks like a true race boot, and weighs in the very acceptable mid 800 gm range (853 for mine in a size 27).  Further, the cost is "reasonable" at $799 full retail.  Compare that to some of the above options and you could buy a pair for yourself and then one for a friend and still come out on top.  I'm convinced enough that I just dropped off all my skis (that still have functional edges) to be mounted for this one boot.  

Highlights:

Fully acceptable weight and true to advertising of 850 grams (I'll cut em 3 grams of slack).

It's BRIGHT!  

The Boa lace is quite revolutionary for the shell of a ski boot.  It's easy to use and dials down a perfect fit for both walk mode or skiing (although I tend to leave it as I like it for skiing)

Previous boots have demonstrated the importance of metal on metal at the main rivets.  These seem plenty beefy.

The single throw mechanism to change from ski to walk mode and back is the simplest, most elegant design.

Another view of the lever in walk mode.

Full Vibram sole for getting after it in the mountains!

Like many fine things, these boots are made in Italy.  Also note 287 is the sole length for a size 27 (whole sizes only).  This is quite short and the sole is rockered making for easy walking, scrambling, and climbing.  

Quick step tech inserts

With a quick lift of the lever, it's easy to adjust the cuff.  Also, note the power cuff, which I'll probably remove as I never secure it anyway = less weight.

Rear articulation is near my physical limit

Forward articulation maxes out my range of motion.  Perhaps more important is the lack of resistance when moving through the full range. 

A critical piece that appears simple to replace should something go wrong (in fact, all parts seem easy to replace).

Drawbacks:

It is not likely to be the high altitude boot of choice given it's open design but I think it's certainly warm enough for anywhere in the lower 48.  The Crested Butte guys all run them and they live in one of the coldest ski towns out there.  Although, with the boa lace system, it's rather easy to "open" the forefoot and improve circulation.  Perhaps by sizing up and using an overboot, these could be used on Denali or other like places?  Thoughts?  

It's still not a pure race boot for those looking for that sort of thing.  Weighing in at around 850 grams will put you at a 150-300 gram disadvantage per foot when compared to some of the lighter options for racing.  But that said, I have switched back and forth between the Alien and the Stratos and not noticed a significant difference when actually on my feet.  Also, when compared to the rest of the available touring options, the Alien is 200 grams to pounds lighter (except for the PDG). 

Finally, there is a lot of open space that allows such freedom of movement around the cuff.  This does allow some snow to accumulate (although this wasn't bothersome) but the boots come with a proprietary gaiter that fits perfectly around the boa, rear bar, and lever and thus far seems to keep the snow out quite well (only used it once skinning, booting, and scrambling up Superior and Caridac Ridge). 

The well fitting gaiter does a good job at keeping the snow out of the open shell.

Even though it's reinforced along the inside, it may not last nearly as long as the boots.  Perhaps some waterproof treatment like Nikwax would be the way to go?

Final thoughts:

I love it and I'm sure I'll love the 1.0 even more.  I think I've finally found a boot that appears durable, weighs less than any non race boot but walks like one, and is impressive on the downhill.  I'll try it out over the next few months with a variety of skis while using it for all of my skiing and then report back.  But preliminarily, they seem to be game changers by stepping up how far and fast we can go on what seems to be a reliable well performing boot!

So to close, here's a quote from the SCARPA web page that sums it up well,

"This new movement of merging rando race efficiency with ski mountaineering is changing the way we look at skiing on a big scale, even our backyard hills. This new freedom is taking the slog out of big days and turning large, formidable objectives into realities. Half of the adventure is simply getting there. And to have the tools that’ll take you farther than you thought? Higher than you’ve been? Oh, the places you’ll go."