I recently acknowledged how much I enjoy this sport, became a little frustrated with my sub-standard gear so 8 days ago I picked up the phone (on the advice on a few of Canada's fastest skimo racers including Mel Bernier) and called Telemark-Pyrenees in Spain ... and spoke to a guy, "I'm 49 years old, love this sport, and will never win a race. What gear should I purchase?"
4 Business days later - I had some very light and fast new gear! $2,500 CDN bought me some skills!
On Saturday I lined up at the start with the usual small group of 20 or 30 people.
We went up, and down, up, and down, up and down ... and covered 15 km and 1750m of elevation. For me, the ups were faster, but the downs were much slower. This gear is so light ... it made skiing down a bit scarry. I felt like a beginner. Because it had rained in Fernie the day prior, the course was icy. While there were nice patches of snow, for the most part - it was icy (and scary). A fall would definitely hurt ... so speed control was my mojo.
In the end, I was faster. I was about 50 minutes behind the winning male Travis Brown and just 15 minutes slower than winning female Kyle Toth. Normally I think I am at least an hour slower than the top males. I'll have to look back on past years results .... hmmm ... yes, I do really care. Interesting!
While the course was probably the least interesting that I've ever skiied (we didn't get above alpine), I got to see a very old friend who I met in 1990 in Guyana. Was the same day out and back 3 hour drive to Fernie worth it? Absolutely!
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| LIZARD SKINNER SKI MOUNTAINEERING RACE - The Course - Jan 20, 2016 - Fernie, BC |
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