El Vaquero Loco

First day out in the Crosslites…crushed! Good times and a solid 3rd place finish (2:46) in the 25K at the El Vaquero Loco 50K/25K race today down in Afton, Wyoming.  The rugged course travels through the amazing Salt River Range, which though difficult to access in the winter, does hold some great skiing for those […]

2009 Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic

There are some pretty crazy races out there and the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic is another one to put on the lists of all you competitive endurance adventure buffs. Winter Wildlands Alliance (the one’s who keep our backcountry terrain peaceful and untracked by snowmobilers) Public Lands Director, Forrest McCarthy, recently spent his summer vacation competing […]

Swenson/Merrill Take JH Race and National Championship

Racers make their way up Ten Sleep Bowl. It looks like the best man and woman won at the Dyanfit US Ski Mountaineering National Championships. Fresh off the grueling four-day Pierra Menta stage race in Europe last week, both Pete Swenson and Monique Merrill were able to recover and recharge their batteries enough to come […]

New Men's and Women's Ski Climbing World Records

I knew it was just a matter of time before the men’s and women’s world records for ski climbing in a 24-hour period would be taken from American soil.  Unfortunately, I think it just happened a couple weeks ago at the Gastein 24-Hour Ski-Touring Race in Austria.  Held on Feb 27/28, Ekkehard Dörschlag (Austria) broke […]

Grand Targhee Randonnee Race This Weekend

Considering this season’s somewhat scary snowpack, it could be a great year to hit the United States Ski Mountaineering Association (USSMA) race circuit.  If you are a little nervous about breaking trail in the backcountry this weekend, why not put on your racing suit and head on over to Grand Targhee for the first western […]

2008 Ski Mountaineering World Championships

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Letters…Rando Race Training

Hi Steve. I have finally got my life situated enough that I can dedicate serious time to randonee racing. I plan to race quite a bit this year and want to train accordingly. I was hoping you could share with me some training ideas, whether they be specific exercises, workouts or even a general outline, […]

Doping in Rando Racing?

Is French ski mountaineering racer, Patrick Blanc, a dope(r)? You know the competition is competitive when athletes take drugs and cheat to gain an advantage. Recently, after the famous Patrouille des Glaciers race, 1 of 10 test results for doping have come back positive for one of the members of the winning French team. The […]

Black Diamond PowderKeg

It sounded like a great conditions for rando racing with about a foot of fresh powder before the race which allowed for nice wiggle turns down Gunsight. It sounded like a battle for the top three positions until the last transition between Brandon French, Pete Swenson and professional adventure racer (and first time rando racer) […]

2008 SMWC: Vertical Race

Frenchman Florent Perrier wins the Vertical Race. Click here for full race results. My legs were feeling pretty sore on Wednesday after my battle with dehydration and leg cramps in the Teams Race, so for the benefit of the team, I decided to hand my Vertical Race spot over to Zahan, who seemed to be […]

2008 SMWC: Teams Race

The Teton Tigers. Courtesy SMWC2008.ch I decided to let Zahan write today’s post on how the Teams Race went. For those that are getting a little sick of hearing about skinny rando skiers in lycra, I tried to get a little ChamperyAT in on today’s ‘rest day’, but morning rain, isothermic snow and socked in […]

2008 SMWC: Teams Relay

Click here for larger image. After a pretty chill morning of cruising the lifts and checking out some of the course for the Teams Race the next day, we arrived at the venue for the Teams Relay around 5:15pm. Relay rando races are one of the more spectator friendly races and this one was no […]

2008 SMWC: Individual Short Race

As expected, our American teammates finished in the middle of the pack of the field of 88 racers. I made this little video that shows a tight European battle at the last transition and some photos of the US racers. I was going to add some commentary..but I don’t have a microphone on my computer…so […]

SMWC 2008-Arriving in Champery

Things have finally gotten under way and we made our way to Champery today. We caught a bus shuttle from the airport and I saw some Spaniards, Manu, Toti and Javier (fast guys) who I met at the WC in 2006. Like the rest of the Spanish team, and many of the racers, these guys […]

US Women Take Second in TSF Millet

Courtesy: Ski Mountaineering.org Staying on the rando racing theme today…congrats to US Ski Mountaineering Team members Nina Silitch and Lyndsay Meyer on their 2nd place finish in the recent TSF (Tournette Sources du Fier) Millet in Les Aravis, France. The TSF has become one of the bigger races in the European rando race circuit and […]

Girl Power…Finally!

Monique Merrill – “Steve, You know, there are women on the team as well! Men…jeez. First a compliment…I do enjoy your website. I find out more information there than I do from my fiancee. Valuable information. Second… just had to give you shit since I do think our women’s team could score some top ten’s. […]

Help Support Randosteve in Switzerland

I just started looking for airline tickets to Switzerland and although they aren’t too bad right now, hopefuly I can get my itinerary dialed to pull the trigger soon. There is no doubt though, that this trip to race in the Ski Mountaineering World Championships is going to cost a pretty penny. And with the […]

North Face Heathen Challenge at Sunlight

After Saturday’s race, I got some decent rest in before the race at Sunlight on Sunday. We had five people crammed in our slope side room, a little crowed…but not too bad. Since my morning plan seemed to work the day before, I stayed the course and choked down a few calories before heading out […]

COSMIC: Aspen/Snowmass Winter Wild

Great USSMA race at Snowmass on Saturday. It was a qualifier for the US Ski Mountaineering Team to travel to Switzerland next month and race in the World Ski Mountaineering Championships. I’m trying to get on the team, along with many other fast racers, so this race was important and I wasn’t sure how I […]

Grand Targhee Ski Mountaineering Classic

Nice sunrise leaving Jackson. Fun ski mountaineering race at Grand Targhee this weekend and the first ever ‘Teams Race’ for the United States Ski Mountaineering Association. Close to forty racers showed up for the event, which is pretty good for the middle of nowhere Wyoming. It sounds like there’s going to be a story in […]