Canadian skimo returned after a year hiatus during the pandemic in 2022. I was only able to race Castle in 2022, but in 2023, I returned for a full season.
Castle Mountain Skimo
Castle Mountain Skimo kicks off the skimo season every year and has recently expanded into a 3 day event with a vertical on Friday, sprint on Saturday, and the classic individual race on Sunday.
The vertical race starts from the base of the Whiskeyjack run and finishes near the top of the Tbar, 450m later. Last year we had deep trailbreaking, this year was the opposite. A firm groomer necessitated improvised techniques near its top before gaining the cattrack. This technical element really shows who has the skills and finesse to make the skins grip and continue making uphill progress. I dangled off of Matt Ruta, who is strong this year and finished 20 seconds back in 2nd. A pretty good result for my first race back.
The sprint race is the longest running event of that discipline in Canada and the only sprint race this year. Usually, I don't mind sitting out the sprint (there are 2 previous years where I didn't race it), but with the sprint being the Olympic discipline, it is time to give it the attention that it deserves. In a sprint race, each person has to do a solo qualification run before seeding in the heats. In Canada, everyone usually qualifies for the heats, but in international competition, the qualifier is everything because we never make it into the heats! I qualified in 3rd. I then won my heat and was ready for a battle for the final. I quickly found myself on my back foot in 5th place at the top of the bootpack and it was up to giving everything on the top skinning section and a quick transition at the top to move up 3 places into 2nd.
It was a tricky snow year with a lack of snow and some cold temperatures earlier in the season but the typical Castle course was ready for us, except without the ridge bootpack. The descents were extremely firm but the snow was predictably hard. The Castle course consists of just 2 big climbs and 2 big descents. It is always good to be able to push the pace on the 2nd climb and I got to the top in 2nd. I held my position through the cat skiing area, but I was out of control on the ungroomed cat track and crashed after getting bucked. Akio a great skier and he passed me so I had to settle for 3rd. Not a bad result, I wish my skiing was better after not finding great skiing over Christmas.
Skimo Alberta Norquay Race
I attended the 1st of 4 Norquay Saturday night races. These races challenge skiers to complete as many laps as they can in 1hr, having to begin your final lap before the 1hr marker. This format is really good for dialing in transitions and finding out strengths and weaknesses. It can be frustrating because it doesn't have the long climbs to really show who has the legs, but it's a good break from the comfort zone. I had a decent race with no major mistakes and ended up winning, doing 5 laps of the ~200m course. In later weeks, the winner sometimes got in a 6th lap!
Whitewater Skimo
Whitewater is a long trip from Edmonton, but after Castle and Norquay, I was looking for another skimo fix. Whitewater was a 2 day event with a vertical race on Saturday and an individual on Sunday, which was similar course to some of the previous Roam Randonee Rally's. This course is notable for having all descents beyond the ski area boundary, which makes it a pretty special place to race.
The vertical was my first "encounter" with Jessie in 3 years. While I don't think I am quite back to my previous levels after chemotherapy, he has clearly gone beyond where I was before and he showed that all weekend. The race went up the cat track to the top of the Silverking lift, then beyond on a new cattrack to top out the ridge before a couple of switchbacks and a flat section to the finish. The vertical race started extremely hard and most of us using a skimo-running technique on the lower angle cattrack to eke out as much speed as possible. I finished 4th behind Jessie, Jeff Mogavero, and Matt, each of us separated by about 30 seconds. I have to think back to 2018 North American Championships where I haven't been right at the front of a domestic vertical race and although this lacked the glory of a podium, I enjoyed that I had been pushed by the other skiers the entire race.
10cms of snow fell before the individual and combined with softer conditions underneath, the skiing would be way better than at Castle. The race started on the same climb as the vertical the day before, except forking to the right at the ridge towards the Goat slide. I was ahead of Jeff at this point and not far behind Matt, but got lit up on the descent. I worked my way back into 3nd on the next climb, really trying to keep the speed up on the flat, traversing skin to the 2nd descent. Jeff caught me at the bottom of the final climb and I yo-yo'd behind him, but was still behind at the top of the final descent and further back at the finish, where I finished 4th again. This descent was a leg burner, but was enjoyable skiing. I think by the end of the weekend, I still wasn't feeling like I had got enough skiing in the legs this winter.
Steep Dreams
Marmot's Revenge
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