Whitefish Whiteout

Back from another US skimo race, and what an eventful race it was. After meeting up with Stano and Peter we made for the border, driving into the dark of the night. The next morning when we finally dragged ourselves out of bed we were greeted with a beautiful sunny day. We headed up to the Whitefish Resort to stretch our legs and check out the course before the following day's race. After a great skin to the top of the resort on a designated uphill route we skied down. 

Stretching my legs the day before the race.

The race started at 10:00am so we had a fairly relaxing start to the morning. It was the best turnout ever for the Whitefish Whiteout with over 70 participants. With the word go, I was off and leading the pack. I led to the top of the first climb and was about 1min from braking Reiner's uphill record for the first climb set in 2010. This is when things started to go wrong. On the first descent I broke a pole and was then passed on the second climb by Ben, Peter, and Stano. It was a technical climb and I was having a hard pushing the pace while down one pole. At the top of the technical skinning section I was able to commandeer a pole off of a friend. While it was a little on the short side, it had a basket on it, so off I went to close the gap.

On the next decent I really opened it up and passed Peter. Things were starting to turn around. Then  my boot broke while hammering down the steep descent. I was now skiing with one foot in walk mode and one locked in ski mode. I was still able to make it to the transition ahead of Peter but was passed by him as I fumbled with my boot.  By the boot pack I was able to close the gap again. Not wanting to lose time on Peter, I pushed on with a failing skin from the top of the boot pack.

Out for a tour the day after the race with some Skimo legends.

I was able to make it to the top of the last descent just ahead of Peter. Knowing Peter would be right on my tail, I skied as fast as I could down the last descent and powered up the last climb to the finish with Peter right behind me. Results

I had some gear problems in Whitefish but I was still happy with my race and I had a great time. Next up is World Championships in Pelvoux France. Stay tuned for update from Pelvoux, here and on my twitter feed.