Team Salomon/Crested Butte

Click on the photo to see more shots from Matt Lanning's gallery.

Shame on you for missing this race. Let the bike rest for one morning.........

Days like today are the reason you ski tour. Fresh snow from a storm system that just wouldn’t leave, couloirs visible from the parking lot, and not a groomer/chair lift in sight! Not to mention its mid April in the San Juans and the skies are crystal clear with vistas of the (not so) “little Alps”.

Race director Pete Swenson scouted the course last Spring with the Silverton Cat ski guides and proclaimed “this could be the best venue for a ski mountaineering race in all of North America!” ….he didn’t lie! This is a typical venue for most European ski races, as they too never see a chair lift. It’s the first race of its type to be held entirely in the backcountry.

The race started at around 10,700ft at the Molas Lakes Trail Head on the NW side of HWY 550. With no ski area management forcing Pete’s hand for a pre sunrise start, the gun went off at a leisurely 9AM. The first 600ft up took us to tree line and into the Molas Creek basin, and a brief view of the couloir we would come back down. Once getting to the top of the Col about 2500 vertical feet from the start line, it was an untracked line down at 20ft wide tube of joy, for one of the best moments in North American racing. It was maybe only 700 vertical feet but it felt like forever, as the snow was unbelievable for mid April!

Continuing on down out of the couloir to the basin floor for a quick re-skin and on back up to the top of Sultan Mountain and the Grand Turk at near 13,000 ft. At this point in the race Travis Scheefer, and Bryan Wickenhauser had made a clear separation from the field and continued on up swapping the lead to help break trail. The last 400 ft saw a mandatory boot pack up alpine scree and tundra to the top. From here it was a 2300ft descent to the finish, down a beautiful backcountry line with fresh winter snow. Travis Scheefer, took the opportunity to display his fearless downhill abilities to get to the finish line first followed closely by Bryan for 2nd, in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. Taking the women's race was Gretchen Reeves in her first victory of the season!

The descent was no cake walk down a groomer as can happen at most ski resort races. All the finishers relished and giggled inside knowing that this was a shinning moment for the sport! The stars, sun and moon all came together to make this COSMIC race a “not to miss” event for 2010.

It was soooo good several competitors went back up with the big sticks after the awards (& beers) to ski more couloirs! Thanks to Pine Needle Mountaineering & Silverton Powdercats for helping to make this race possible!

The final race in the COSMIC series, 4/25/09 at Arapahoe Basin for the Marmot Grind, and beach life in the parking lot!

We are as giddy as kids the night before Christmas over here in Crested Butte. With a double shot, epic winter storm crashing down on the Elk Mountains of Central Colorado, Uller is playing with our heads! Will the conditions be safe enough for the race to go over to Aspen?? Only once in the 12 years of this race have we not been able to complete the full course. That year was labeled the “Grand Reverse” as we only got to go to the Fiends Hut and back to CB….not quite the same as the full course!

This is a 42 mile backcountry ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen traveling in pairs of two across some of the harshest backcountry terrain Colorado has to offer, but the need for a safe snow pack is paramount as the risks are too great!

Gear list are put together for the safety of the racers incase they are required to bivy down for up to 20 hours without support. Physically & mentally this race eats at you as there are so many variables to deal with. The goal is to get you name on the trophy!

A Tale of a Cannon & a Sniper…..

The US Ski Mountaineering National Championships is the culmination of randonee races taking place all across the US, including both coasts but with a concentration of racing in Colorado and Rocky Mountains.

To appreciate the course you have to understand the terrain at Jackson Hole and the weather leading up to race day. The preceding two days prior to the race saw very balmy, sunny days with cool, clear nights. The terrain….well it’s legendary from the Crags to Corbet’s Couloir, it’s all a test of any great skiers ability, not to mention the view of the Tetons!

Race day saw a coming together of probably the deepest field ever assembled in the nine years of the National Championships at Jackson Hole. Nearly all the big guns from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and even a couple Canadians to top it off! (it certainly would be great to see a few folks from the East & West Coast on the line....).

With the prior day’s high temperatures in the 50F’s and cold night leaving a variable “death cookie”, refrozen crust for athletes to deal with, it was certainly going to be a technical race. To top it off, the course has two boot packs and over 5600 vertical feet of total climbing.

At the 8AM race start it was Monique Merrill (Dynafit) leading the women’s field, with Pete Swenson (Ski Trab), Bryan Wickenhauser (Goode), Travis Scheefer (Goode), Brandon French (Ski Trab), & Ben Parsons establishing a lead men’s pack up (2170ft) the first climb to the top of the Après Vous Mountain. After a quick descent down a groomer to the second skin change, Pete Swenson led a charge like he was shot out of a cannon leaving the rest of the men’s field to battle for second. With Brandon, Travis & Bryan skinning up the Crags it was a technical battle of skill to see who could nail their “skin purchase” across each side hill on the refrozen surface, billy goating on up Sheridan Bowl (~1800 ft) to transition three.

The first technical descent down refrozen death cookies on a run in the Crags called C1, and into the first boot pack didn’t see any changes in position for the men. The boot pack (~1600 ft) up Casper Bowl brought the athletes up to the top of the Headwall skiing past (Doug) Coombs run, where we traversed over and down into Ten Sleep Bowl and to the base of the famous Corbet’s Coulior.

Prior to getting to Corbets, there was one last skin change to bring us up into the throat of Corbet’s (~900ft). At the boot transition, the battle for 2nd – 4th was tight with about 10-20 seconds between each of the positions, with Pete Swenson already 200ft up Corbet’s he was clearly untouchable today. Near the top of this legendary run, athletes saw the now famous ladder for the last 30 vertical feet, prior to topping out. At the base of the ladder… Brandon was topping out, with Bryan next out, having passed Travis on the boot climb for 3rd.

Legs are throbbing at this point but in front of you and the finish line is the largest descent (nearly 4139 ft) in all of North American racing. Pete Swenson is out front on Rendezvous Bowl enjoying his cushion, while the battle for second unfolds behind him.

When descending its always beneficial to have someone in front to key off of, just like mountain biking or road cycling. The person up front might as well have a target on their back! Rallying down at speeds approaching 45-50 MPH and then shutting it down to negotiate technical mogul, death cookie sections, it’s a constant battle to feather the throttle and the brake while your legs are screaming at you to stay on the brakes! …but that’s not what win’s races!

On the final 2000 vertical feet down Lower Sublette Ridge, Travis and Bryan made contact with Brandon and passed him, with the young sniper Travis Scheefer, showing everybody how to lay it down across refrozen mank, making large high speed GS turns, nearly skipping across the terrain! Bryan and Brandon were in hot pursuit, but no chance of closing the gap, Travis was fearless. At the bottom of the run it was everything you could do to carry some speed on to a cat walk below Union Pass Quad. It’s a long gradual hill which required 400ft of painfully slow, V1 skating technique, just to make sure you were fully tapped out at the line.

The gaps were established on the last descent, and even though you could see your opponent up in front of you, no one had the energy to close a gap down. At the finish line it was Pete Swenson resting comfortably in 1st, Travis Scheefer, the sniper in 2nd, Bryan Wickenhauser in 3rd and Brandon French 4th after holding 2nd position for more than 90% of the race. Rounding out the top five was Ben Parsons out dueling Carey Smith by two seconds at the line!

In the women’s race, it was Monique across the line first for your National Champion with Amy Fulwyler in 2nd and Kris Walker in third.

With 5656ft of descent and 5633ft of ascent, its one race not to miss…just don’t forget to bring your “guns” to this wild West show!

The week leading up to Saturday’s race at Monarch started with warm snow and rain (yes rain in Gunnison, CO in February!) basically ruining our prized Winter snow for the rest of the week. Midweek dawn patrol missions were put on hold with this weather and rumors of road bikes were being whispered amongst the community. The saving grace for rando racing was that the Crested Butte Town Rando Series was starting on Thursday (2/28) and offered a refreshing and fun “locals series” ….along with Saturday’s Monarch race.

The CB Town Rando race went off really well, with a surprisingly great course Thursday evening! Travis Scheefer won it over rando legend Ethan Passant. In the woman’s race it was Carol Quinn winning it over Sarah Gillis.


On to the main event….


With clear sunny skies and a cold start to the inaugural Monarch event, 53 racers headed to the top of Merkwood Bowl reaching the 1162 ft climb in under 20 mins. (to give you an idea of what the average person does to get here…they take a chair lift for 12 mins then hike up a cat road 10-15 minutes to make the final 300 vertical foot climb (1200 linear feet) to the edge of Merkwood.

Something in the Gunnison Valley water as Brian Smith (Goode) was once again the first to the top, followed by series organizer Pete Swenson (Breckenridge), Travis Scheefer, Jon Brown (Goode) and Bryan Wickenhauser (Goode).

Skins were ripped in windy conditions each time we topped out above tree line at 11,952ft on the Continental Divide. From there it was a series of quick descents down and back up North facing slopes. Some were with in the resort boundary and others were on the famed Monarch Snowcat Tours terrain. Thank goodness for the cold night time temperatures Friday night, as it helped to lock up the snow pack and make it quite fun skiing/skinning. It really had a good backcountry feel to the race, as there was never a chair lift in sight except for the Start/Finish.

Due to the shorter descent/climbs, transition skills were paramount. In total there were 4 descents and 4 climbs, with each descent/climb about 600-700 ft. Brian Smith’s lead was chipped away at by Pete Swenson throughout the race, while the battle for 3rd between Wick, and Travis Scheefer played out in front of Jon Brown. At the top of the final climb, Brian Smith had a 20+ second lead over Pete Swenson, with the descent down Merkwood Bowl and a cat road to the finish line all that was left. Brian, unfortunately double ejected in his speedy attempt to get down, allowing Pete Swenson to take first ….with a dejected Brian Smith following up in 2nd. The race for 3rd has a similar fate with Wick entering Merkwood Bowl first over Travis, but by the time the flat cat road came into play it was a game of cat and mouse with Travis edging out Wick at the finish line for 3rd, followed by Jon Brown rounding out the top five. The winning time for the men was just over an hour and 4 minutes with +/- 2800 ft of climbing & descending

In the woman’s race in was Monique Merrill leading it from start to finish, followed by Janelle Smiley winning the “CB local women’s crown”, and Gretchen Reeves (Goode) placing 3rd and Jari Kirkland (Goode) and Sarah Gillis battling out for 4th & 5th respectively.

Next COSMIC stop is Loveland this Saturday…more racing on the Continental Divide!

There must be something in the water here in the Gunnison Valley as the domination continued this week in the COSMIC series. The Valley posted 4 out of the 5 top spots in the mens field with the “youngster” Travis Scheefer leading the way.

This weeks’ race in Snowmass is always highly anticipated and hotly contested. The course is the only point to point on the circuit and features some great varied terrain; both groomed and ungroomed climbs, steep off piste descents, back country traversing and even a bit of kick and glide to test everyone’s skills.

First out of the blocks was Wick with the usual suspects trailing his tails. It didn’t take long to reach the first real pitch and sort things out a bit with Brian Smith and Travis, then Wick and I and Max Taam a few seconds back. This is pretty much how it stayed up until the first short descent at Rock Island. I had pulled up on Travis and Wick had dropped back a couple of seconds but going in to the descent I bobbled a little and left the transition with Smithy, Travis and Wick up ahead and Max right with me. Up the next climb we went off piste and the more technical climbing brought the chase group together until the cat road at the top. At that point, Smithy was still about a minute up but Travis and Wick through down a little serge of kick and glide to the next downhill transition and pulled away from Max and I. The descent was steep and then into a fun little glade. I couldn’t believe how fast those guys disappeared but was happy to see all but Smithy still in the transition when I pulled up.

The next climb was up a series of groomers to the backcountry gate leading to a traverse over to the top of Buttermilk. I knew this was going to be the last chance to bridge up to Max or Wick and Travis but as I crested the top I could see that Trav and Wick had the same thoughts and heading up the last pitch they had caught on to Brian. From that point I lost contact and didn’t see them until slapping 5 after the finish. Too bad for me since it turned out to be such a tight finish – I would have loved to see it!

As for me, I hit the BC gate and had a great ski through the “Ewok” forest portion -ducking and dodging at high rate of speed. At one point I was thankful not to be ripping through there with 4 other guys tip to tail! There was one last uphill transition that came and went without incident and knowing I only had about 10 minutes of traversing the last bit of ridge before the high speed groomer to the finish, I made sure to enjoy the scenery.

So at the finish I got the low down on what played out up front and again, sure wish I was part of it! I guess after Wick and Travis bridged they all went ripping through the woods together and hit Buttermilk at the same time. Travis and Smithy got a little bit of an edge on Wick and went down at terminal velocity. Travis must have had a tighter tuck and flew across the finish less than a second ahead of Brian for the closest finish this year and maybe in any COSMIC race (?)!

Congratulations goes out to everyone that competed and a big thanks to Pete and Mona and all of the volunteers that helped put on another great event!

*click on the pic and scroll to the bottom of the page for complete results

After a few anxious weeks of waiting and gear tweaking since the first randonee race at Sunlight everyone was excited to have another go at it. I like the analogy Jason Stubbe said to me the other day about randonee racing, "it is like doing a mountain bike race and changing 3 flats, fixing a broken chain, and replacing a headset." Getting my gear ready in the morning I realize the truth to his statement; skis, boots, poles, two sets of skins, beacon, probe, shovel, jacket, gloves, helmet, hat, glasses, race suit, water, gels, and just when I think I have everything I realize I need my race bib too.
The storm that was supposed to roll in the night before the race dissipated giving way to a starry clear night. The morning temperature is perfect for the 8am start with everyone nervously warming up and doing final gear adjustments.
The race starts with the traditional Le Mans style start with everyone running to their skis and testing their skills to click into their Dynafit bindings as fast as they can. Brian Smith from Gunnison is quick to take the lead at the top of the first pitch. Pete Swenson from Breckenridge jumps on his tails with Gunnison locals Jon Brown, Bryan Wickenhauser, and Travis Scheefer close behind. The course climbs straight up International, a 35 degree groomed run that pushes the limit of what one can skin straight up while testing ones anaerobic threshold at the same time. At the top of International, we get a little rest as we cut across the cat track to the re-frozen bumps of the Peel (part of CB’s Extreme Limits terrain). The skinning proves to be a challenge through the steep moguls with no easy line to be found. Brian Smith is the first to the top of the climb, taking about 40 minutes to skin the 2,300 vertical feet. Pete Swenson is next about a minute behind followed by Wickenhauser, Brown, and Scheefer close together a couple of minutes behind.
It is a quick ski down the Headwall with good firm snow conditions making for ideal skiing on the short race skis. It is a quick skin to the top of the North Face lift before another decent down CB’s double diamond terrain, and transition to begin the final climb all way the peak. Smith keeps his lead through the rest of race with Pete following closely but never quite making contact. Wickenhauser, Brown, and Scheefer are all neck and neck until the final climb up Teocalli Bowl when things begin to spread out a little. There is no skin track going up Teocalli, just hard slab snow, making for lots of side-stepping. Brown and Scheefer pull away a little from Wickenhauser in the guerilla skinning conditions. On the final boot pack up the peak Scheefer gains a little lead on Brown with Wickenhauser following close enough behind to be a threat on the downhill.
The descent off the peak is exciting with sections of hard wind slab and no tracks to follow since the mountain just opened the peak for the event, true ski mountaineering! It is a leg burner down the 2,500 vertical feet to the finish in the firm snow littered with sections of hard ice bumps from being refrozen during the night and not yet warming up for the day. There is one final obstacle before the finish, a steep hundred yards uphill to the line with most people opting to take their skis off and bootpack one foot in front of the other with their hamstrings screaming until they reach the line.
Brian Smith finishes first coming in at exactly 2 hours, a minute behind is Pete Swenson. Travis Scheefer comes in third at 2 hours and 5 minutes. Bryan Wickenhauser catches John Brown halfway down the final decent to come in forth place, two and half minutes behind Scheefer. Brown finishes strong coming in less than a minute behind Wick. The rest of the top ten has a strong Crested Butte locals showing, with seven of the spots being filled by athletes from the valley.

The women’s race is a close battle with Monique Merrill (Breckenridge), finishing in 2 hours 21 minutes edging out Sari Anderson (Carbondale), by just under 2 minutes. Karen Kingsley (Ophir),coming off of an ankle injury and a year long absence from racing, finishes third at 2 hours 26 minutes. 5075 ft of ascent...we're a little tired!
The next race will be February 21st at Snowmass.
Story by Travis Scheefer

For more race photos click on the photo above.

Were going to need a miracle this year….

The first race of the year for Team Crested Butte was the opening stop on the COSMIC Tour, at Sunlight Ski Resort near Aspen. Everyone was sporting the newest gear, with our team on the new Goode’s, SCARPA F1 race boots and Low Tech bindings. The race opened up with 1711ft of climbing to the top of the resort at 8AM under beautiful “blue bird” skies and 13F degrees.

With a mix of groomed slopes and off piste climbing Wick lead the race to the top by about 10 seconds over the packing containing 2-6th place, but where was Brian Smith (Goode)? The sound of skins being ripped was all you could hear at the top and then soon it was finding the perfect tuck for 20 seconds before throwing the brakes on for the long technical descent down the double diamond run, The Heathen. The 2nd climb retraced the route of the opening climb with Wick still hanging on to a 10 second lead, Brian Smith was still no where to be found.

The second descent lead us down another off piste double diamond for the final skin change at the bottom. As Wick and Max Tam were heading up for the final 1831ft climb, Brian Smith finally showed his face. Binding issues at the start forced him to battle back through the pack and now 85 minutes into the race he found the lead group.

This technical last climb found us negotiating 32 switch back kick turns (thank Goode-ness for light, short skis) and then into a 5 minute boot pack. The boot pack is where Brian Smith ultimately took the lead and never looked back as he skied away to the top. It was now a race for 2nd. At the top of the final climb Wick had a 10 second lead over Aspen ski patroller Max Tam, but that lead was whittled down near the end of the descent to a dead heat. With Max taking a more aggressive line he pulled through the finish line 3 seconds in front to grab 2nd, with Wick settling for 3rd. Coming in 4 minutes later was Jon Brown (Goode) and 24 Hour World Record holder Sully (Goode) coming in another 5 minutes later for 8th. With Brian Smith coming from behind and passing the entire field, it may take a miracle to beat him!

In the woman’s race it was Jari Kirkland (Goode) coming in 3rd for her first race of the season, only a minute plus out of 2nd. So close!!

Stats for the race totaled 5,253ft of climbing and 5,240ft of descent in under 2 hours for the top five men and under 2 ½ hours for the top 3 women. Next stop for the COSMIC Tour is the Crested Butte Rando Rally February 7th. www.cosmicski.com

With the anticipation of Pete Swenson’s first COSMIC randonee ski race this weekend at Sunlight Ski Area, the buzz is super high here in Crested Butte for Team Salomon/Crested Butte consisting of Jari Kirkland, Bryan Wickenhauser, Jon Brown and Eric “Sully” Sullivan.
Thanks to Goode Skis, the team is outfitted with the new and improved 160 cm Goode Rando skis freshly mounted with Dynafit’s Lo-Tech race bindings. The team is ready to go do battle with the fastest skiers all looking for a shot at dethroning last years series champion Bryan “Wick” Wickenhauser. After winning last years series and proving he can get er’ done, I guess the question is can he once again bring the skill and speed to stand on top of the podium. There’s no question as to whether or not the gear is up to the task.
After a lot of “preparing” or modifying as some might say to shave ounces and even grams to the boots, skins, and even skis the team is ready for anything. The ski modification involved dremel tooling out a ¼ inch wide by ¾ inch deep slot at the tip of the Goode Rando ski to accommodate the quick release skin clip, which consists of a little bungee chord and plastic washer for easy skin stripping. Then a little epoxy and a split wine cork for the forefoot and heel block and the new skis are race ready.
With all of the modifications done, now I guess it’s just who wants it the most since the Goode skis, Dynafit bindings, and Scarpa F-1 Race boots are simply the best set-ups that will be lining up at the COSMIC series this year. See ya at the starting line!!
More results to follow after the race. Thanks to Xavi Fane for the photo!

The team has carbon fiber bikes, paddles and (hopefully carbon SCARPA F1's in the future)....so why not carbon fiber skis! Sully was on Goode's last year in his 24 Hour record breaking achievement, so why not get the whole team on them this year? Welcome to the team Goode & Company. They are also making carbon fiber ski poles for our races, so check back later in the season for a full report on both skis and poles.

In the mean time its still dumping in Crested Butte, so get out and enjoy the snow.

Happy Holidays from the team! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Ski ya later!

Sounds like from reports around the Net, the team survived a 107km Kiwa Desert trek over the last 24 hours. No reports of camels so it sounds like Sully should be able to avoid any possible jail time this year. Last year he was ready to kill the beast (that the race organizers made us travel with in the 2007 version) and just carry it on his back. It was souch a bad experience last year for teams, the organizers canceled the section!

The team trails 7th place Orion Health (NZ) by only 45 minutes, so anything could happen yet. Today, to prove that point Nike killed this sand dune section, placing 3rd over all and moved up to 5th from 9th.

Tomorrow is the last day with a long 5-7hr "desert mountain" section with ropes work and lots of vertical, followed by a mass bike and run to the finish. Anything could happen...though I guarantee it won't snow there like it is here in Crested Butte!

Carbon paddle? Check! Carbon Mtn bike? Check! Carbon Raod bike? Check! Carbon rando ski? Check! ....Carbon ski boot...? Coming in 2009!

A quick update from the race over in Abu Dhabi. Sounds like the team is battling for 10th spot with Nike. Tough to tell what the issues are with either of the teams but I know one thing for sure, neither team is happy. Its certainly been tough for both Colorado based teams to get in good paddling with Winter conditions, its quite evident the teams doing well here have strong paddling skill sets. The teams are going through the desert sand dunes now for days 4 & 5 where its tough to make up any time. The harder you go the slower you go in the sand (that was my experience last year). Go Team CB!.....Its dumping here kids!

The team is gearing up fo the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi Dec 12-17th. Training has been going well but its always difficult when Winter begins to have its way and skiing becomes more of the focus Vs. opeing water paddling in 7F degree weather.

Its our second year of racing hear and the team is hoping to finish with a much stronger result. Who knows what will happen with the camel leg, hopefully no one goes to an Abu Dahbi jail for killing the stubborn animal! Click on the picture to take you to the race website!

The racing was as fast and furious as ever in France, with 39 teams competing for over $120,000.00 USD prize purse. The weather was spectacular this year with beautiful sunshine nearly everydayand views of Mt. Blanc throughout the race. The team put forth two teams again this year with Jari, Lisa Lieb (Durango, CO), and Deanna Blegg (Australia) comprising the all womens team which finished 2 in the womens category. The mens team was made up of Jon, Wick and Travis Macy which finished 9th overall.

To read all about the highlights check out the article in the Crested Butte News
www.crestedbuttenews.com

....and for some beautiful photos by photographer/journalist Mike Bitton

Girls - www.flickr.com

Guys - www.flickr.com

Next up some R&R before we head off to Brazil in November for the AR World Championships.

Rest and reload. It feels like we were just in Europe! ...and I guess we were. Last year it was quite wet (notice all the mud on the photo of JB from last year's race)

Time to head back over the pond for a tirp to the Mont Blanc Region (Savoie - Haute/Savoie Regions). We will be fielding two teams over there for the action. Jari is putting together an all female team- Team Salomon/Crested Butties. The all male team of Jon, Wick, and Travis Macy (Sully is taking on the Cal-multi Sports Seies put on by Paul & Karen of Team Sole! ...and then he is off to the Bull of Africa in August) hopes to be right up there with the best! Jari's female team is coming back as the champions in the all female category as they go for the two in a row!

Check back for updates on our racing and be sure to watch it all unfold in France at
www.mountainxrace.com

Thanks to everyone who has helped us out this year. With all the great support we were able to have an almost perfect race and place 3rd. There will always be room for improvement and we will always have the desire to be the best in the world but it is good to know that we are on the right track. We are heading off to France in a few weeks for the Mountain X Race. It is a completely different kind of adventure race, stage this time instead of nonstop. Which means more sleep but much faster sections. We are looking forward to the different kind of format. Hopefully it will go just as well as the Turas.

This past weekend in Moab, Team Salomon/CB led nearly 60 campers in a "how to" Adeventure Racing 101 camp. For three days we talked about all the history, skills, trials/tribulations and gear that makes our team one of the top in the world! If you missed it this year, I know we'll be doing it again next year. Contact us or
www.gravityplay.com to get info on next year's dates. Moab is a great place for multi sport activities and provided a great back drop for newbies and seasoned vets.

Above you'll see Jari showing folks how to "take the plunge" and rappel of rock. Some folks can get fearful of this but doing it over and over can help gain confidence. Thank you to all our sponsors for supply us with the great gear we got to show off!

Now its back to Winter for the team as we get prepared for the Elk Mountian Grand Traverse!

www.elkmountaintraverse.org

Check out the last record by Eric Sullivan of Team Salomon/Crested Butte. Eric recent set the new record previously held by Greg Hill of Canada and Jimmy Faust of Crested Butte, CO.

A new stud is on the horizon! Take that Euros!

www.superhumanmag.com

Ski Fast!

Wow - I don't think I would feel safe ripping down the Headwall in these things!!!!

All the athletes on Team Salomon/Crested Butte enjoy mixing it up depending upon that day's weather. Hence all the toys! Submit your gear room photos to us and we'll post a few of the best toy rooms.



Submit photos to:

wick@teamcrestebutte.com

Thanks to JC Leacock for the photos of our gear rooms.
www.leacockphoto.com

Randonee racing has a lot of complexities to it: equipment selection, uphill and down hill skiing abilities, and transitions.

Click on the Youtube.com link below to see several team members demonstrate transitions at the top and bottom of Cranor Hill outside of Gunnison, CO. It's vertical drop is only 327ft which is perfect for lots of transition practice. When we want sustained climbs of 2000ft or more we head up to Crested Butte Mountain Resort or the Crested Butte backcountry to play.

Check back early next week for results from this Saturday's COSMIC race here in at Crested Butte Mountain Resort. We're reporting a 90" base so the conditions should be sick!

Note the flow of movements during the transitions, there's a mantra to it all. Find the groove folks! When ripping skins at the top for instance think....
BOOT(buckle 'em up)
BINDING (set the binding up for DH skiing)
RIP SKIN (be sure to snap the heel in when ripping the skin) and repeat on other ski......



www.youtube.com

Photo is of Sully leaving the transition of last years 24 Hours of Sunlight Race.


Ski Fast!