I know you think it is WAY too early to be talking about the US Ski Mountaineering National Championship Race, since it usually takes place towards the end of March. But, this year is a World Championship year, so the Jackson Hole event will be a qualifying race for US National Worlds Team and is happening quite a bit earlier than usual…January 8th to be exact.
There will be a few new things going on at this year’s race. For one, the course will be new, and in my opinion, will be the best so far. The bootpack up Corbet’s Couloir is back and it will also include a couple of the classic steep descents at JHMR, Tower Three Chute and Alta One Chute. The race class won’t be for the weak legged though and will include over 8K’ of elevation gain, so you better start training…now!!!
Race class course, click map for larger image.
Some other new additions to the event include a Team Relay, in which one person competes in the first part of the race, while a second finish’s it, with the exchange happening at the bottom of the Headwall bootpack. Also, there will be an aid-station this year, sponsored by Hammer Nutrition, which will also be at the bottom of the Headwall bootpack. There is no day-of-the-race registration though…so you must sign up before had to compete. Please visit JacksonRandoneeRace.blogspot.com for more information, registration and course maps.
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Steve you in?
I could be mistaken but the course looks to be the same as last year.
burly
derek…maybe. i’ve been on my race setup a couple days this year. will probably decide the week of…depending on the weather.
jerimy…my bad. looks like last year’s course…but still wicked hard.
ya, looks like a sweet course…wish I lived close enough to try it.
COURSE: Same "proposed" course as last year. However, due to extreme lack of snow we had to shorten some uphills and remove the Alta Chutes/Tower 3 descents. This year we’re looking great, so start training!
so basically the same as last year, just heading down A1 and T3 since we have so much AWESOME snow. Can’t wait. Heavy-metal division all the way!
thanks forest. i thought that things were different.
Long time reader first time commenter. This is going to be my first race, I’m registered for Rec. any key advice I probably don’t know? I’ve done quite a few mountain bike races so generally I’m approaching it like that except for the obvious.
brian…i think the key to the rec class is to be able to do transitions very fast. it’s a lot slower to buckle and unbuckle and got from ski to walk mode with regular boots…compared to race boots. skins on…skins off…FAST!!!
good luck…dig deep.