Sun, Mar 23, 2008 page23

• FEATURE: Ski-mountaineering races gain popularity in the US

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  On a frosty Saturday morning earlier this winter, a posse of skiers lined up at the base of Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming. The 30 men and four women were mainly in their late 20s to early 40s and embodied the unstudied athleticism of someone who might just run up a mountain for fun.

  Their dress ranged from one-piece spandex speed suits to duct-tape-patched ski pants. Everyone wore helmets and avalanche beacons, as well as small backpacks holding avalanche probes and shovels. Most were on Alpine-touring skis and bindings -- the heels release for climbs and lock down for descents -- though some used telemark gear.

  At the word "go," the skiers surged up the hill, bindings clinking, skis -- with nylon climbing skins affixed for traction -- thudding on the packed powder.

  Have these people never heard of chairlifts?

  As the skiers ascended the mountain, enveloped in a thick fog, they paralleled the route of Targhee's Dreamcatcher quad. This was the first Grand Targhee Ski Mountaineering Classic, a race that would alternately test uphill climbing endurance and steep skiing skills, on an 13km course that yo-yoed up and down and in and out of the ski area boundary.

  Ski-mountaineering races, also known as randonnee races (after the French term for ski touring), became popular in Europe during the 1990s. The first world championship, held in 2002 in France, drew racers from 22 countries. This winter more than 250 European races were scheduled.

  Such rallies have been slower to catch on in North America, but momentum is building. One of the first races was held at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, eight years ago. Now the nonprofit US Ski Mountaineering Association sponsors a national series of 12 races; at least a half-dozen others are scheduled around the country.

  The Grand Targhee race was the first for teams of two, a format common in Europe and one that captures the backcountry ethic of having a partner.

  Before the race, Grant Helgeson and Jim Harris, both of Park City, Utah, scoped out their fellow competitors through the windows of Snorkel's Cafe. The two friends, who regularly ski the backcountry together, had decided to do the race "sort of on a lark," Harris said.

  "We expect to be in the bottom tier," Helgeson said as they headed to the start.

  "It'll be a learning experience," he said.

  Part of the appeal of ski-mountaineering competition is that it's still a grass-roots movement and two avid skiers can decide on the spur of the moment to enter a race.

  Even so, the caliber of athletes has improved, as skiers who are also competitive trail runners, bikers and triathletes use the races as a way to maintain their fitness in winter.

  "When I first started, I could count on a top-five finish," said Steve Romeo, of Jackson, Wyoming, who started racing in 2000. "Now I'm battling for top 10."

  "We're putting them into some pretty precarious situations," Andy Williams, head of special events at Grand Targhee, said of the racecourse he helped lay out.

  Near the end, for instance, competitors had to negotiate a 40-degree chute, only 5m wide at its narrowest part.

  About 30 minutes -- and 600 vertical meters -- after the start, teams began to emerge from the fog at the top of Fred's Mountain, one of Targhee's three peaks. This was the first of seven transition areas, where racers strip the skins from their skis and switch their bindings to descent mode -- or vice versa -- optimally in less than a minute. It's brief but significant -- like pit stops in stock car racing -- where time is lost or gained.

  Helgeson and Harris were all smiles when they arrived. They shared some water, then moved onto the next leg, a 300m ski descent. Next they'd hike, or "bootpack," with their skis strapped to their packs.

  When the first racers reached the Peaked Mountain summit at around the one-and-a-half-hour mark, it was a brisk 18 degrees. The Grand Teton, usually visible to the north, was hidden by the milky fog. There was talk of cold hands and frozen hydration-system tubes. But a reward lay ahead: 610m of virtually untracked powder in an area usually reserved for snowcat skiing. That kind of big-mountain skiing is what distinguishes ski-mountaineering races from other winter competitions, said Pete Swenson, a former pro mountain bike racer who won the national ski mountaineering title in 2006.

  At the 2006 world championships in Italy, he recalled: "There were about 80 of us in the elite field, but just behind us were 400 raging citizen racers. I thought: `Man, we need to bring this here, we have so many good athletes.' This sport will be very popular in the US. You just have to get people to see it."
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