Team Salomon/Crested Butte

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.

The team is headed off to Ireland on June 11th for The Turas June 15-21st. www.theturas.com

Click on the picture above for more details on the race. We had debated doing Pirmal Quest June 22nd -30th but due to several factors we decided to pursue Ireland.

1) Its Ireland!
2) We could pull it off for less money than Primal Quest
3) It gives us more recovery time for the Salomon Mtn X Race July 21-26th in France
4) Its going to be way more wet in Ireland (UGH!)!! Pray for sun!
5) Bigger prize purse in Ireland

For all those reasons the team decided to go to Ireland. Plus we wanted to learn some Gaelic! Bring your Gore Tex!

So its been a bit but we've been racing our tails off and trainingl. Its the start of the Crested Butte/Gunnison communitie's "off-season" we're in, as the ski area is closed but still lots of skiing up high in the back country. Running trails are starting to open up, but Hartman's Rocks area (our Mtn Bike area) is closed still, due to snow...and the rivers are starting to come up. Here are some highlights from the last several weeks for the team:

Sully just scored a 2nd place at The Rage Half Ironman in Las Vegas three weeks ago (didn't know he could swim!)
www.bbsctri.com.com


Wick, two weeks ago at A-Basin ski resort took top honors at the final COSMIC race of the season along with the overall series title. Jon Brown was 4th in the race and 2nd overall in the series. Jari placed second at the race and took 2nd over all in the series
www.coskicski.com

And finally.......over in Fruita (where Jari has taken up some off-season residence) Jari just won the 18 Hours of Fruita mtn. bike race and nearly beat all the guys! She would have placed 3rd in the Men's category. Sounds like JB, Wick, & Sully will have to show up at these races to give Jari some competition (and in the process hopefully try and stay ahead of her!)
www.emgcolorado.com

So with all that said what the hell is up next for the team? On deck this coming weekend is a "tune up" 24 hour adventure race in Buena Vista, CO this May 9th/10th www.gravityplay.com
Its our first adventure race of the season and possibly our first time in a river or mountian biking (for the boys anyways) as its still melting out around here!

The next big prize for the team is June 15th-21st in Ireland for a AR World Qualifier event
www.theturas.com where we will be gunning for a big victory!
The race means we won't be going to the Primal Quest in Montana this year. The draw in Ireland is a much bigger prize purse and the opportunity to get to race in Ireland! Wish us luck!

O' and we're still skiing. This picture of Jon skiing up near the Taylor Reservior was taken on 5/4/08....its going to be a long Summer of snowy trails & skiing!!

The 11th edition of the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse is completed and once again the team did quite well. Jari Kirkland and Olympic nordic skier Rebecca Dessault took home top honors in the women's category in 10:58:10! Jari battled through some hypothermia later in the race otherwise the some more mens teams would have been caught by this duo for sure.

In the men's race it was probably one of the closest finishes for the top four overall teams, all being separated by about five minutes in a 9+ hour race! Sully & Wick teamed up again on randonee gear to take 3rd place, while Jon Brown & Brian Smith (2005 overall winners) teamed up to take 4th position by only 30 seconds.

For a race recap click on the picture above of Sully & Wick to read all about "The Lost A/T Years".
www.teamcrestedbutte.com



One more ski race yet this year for the team, A-Basin April 26th which will wrap up the COSMIC Series. With all the snow around here, we'll be Spring touring till July around here. That should also coincide with the mountain bike trails opening (finally!) in Crested Butte.

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

No, the picture above isn't from this past weekend's Loveland race; instead it was the World Championship-Pairs race. Racing this past weekend wasn't that picturesque unless you consider a picture of a "milk jug" a great photo. Any of you who did last year's race at Loveland will recall the weather was "challenging", and this year was no different. Lots of flat light and wind made for difficult conditions at times, not to mention the 11,000+ ft. evelation at the base area!

This year it was a similar course with the addition of a boot climb up some sugary snow and frozen tundra for 100+ft, prior to the final descent that saw the podium positions solidified. Most of the men's race saw JB, Wick, Jake Jones, Andre Willy and eventual winner Dominque Mutch (Summit County), "swap punches" for the lead at every transition. The snow skied pretty well as most of the course had a descent wind blown pow covering the piste, while the off-piste sections were nice untracked "Winter pow".

In the woman's race, Jari Kirkland and Sue King had a battle with Sue coming out on top. Racing along the Continental Divide saw the course reach a high point of nearly 12,328 ft. and a total evelvation gain of almost 3,900 ft. (thanks to the Suunto!).

Next up for Team Salomon/Crested Butte is Moab this coming weekend where we will be putting on an Adventure Racing Camp for up and coming racers.

www.gravityplay.com

Unfortunately we won't be at the Powder Keg in Alta, UT. Good luck there folks! See ya at the next stop on the COSMIC Series - Silverton!

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!

This is Steve Romeo and Zahan Billimoria of the US during tuesdays team race.
Click on the picture to see great coverage of the ski mountaineering world champs!

Here's a few photos. The Euros are soo fast! They train so focused for this sport- its crazy. Plus they told us how they are hot waxing their skins for much better glide....more on this when I get back.

Ben from Saab/Salomon is here racing for the UK. Lundhags has two racers here, their girl and the tall guy. The girl beat Mona in the vertical race today. She was also the top Scandinavian girl. Emma Rocca is racing for Spain and doing quite well.

Today I did the hill climb and was the top North American, and now found out Kroeger doesn't want to do the long course tomorrow so I'm in! 9000ft of climbing over 4+ hours....and the terrain is so sick! Its going to hurt!

Mona is doing well, she had a rough go the first day on the short course as she just did the Winter World Tri the day before in Germany. Hopefully she can do well tomorrow.

Sully nice job on the world record! Folks are asking about you over here....they want a piece of you (and not just the chicks!) Tell Goode to lighten up the ski to 700g and make some carbon boots for us, everybody has them over here!



Snow is thin down low here. Better up high, I miss the CO pow! Everyone says "hi" to you guys..including Nicolet

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.

Yes boys Jari is single.........

Submit photos to:

wick@teamcrestebutte.com

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

It you weren't from Crested Butte it was a tough day! Home field advantage can be huge in randonee racing, just knowing when and where to rip or reapply skins is so critical in this sport. The results can testify to this. Had some of the boys from Jackson Hole been down to the race (and they know our course) who knows what would have happened. Take note of Monique's time, that placed her in 5th overall! Freak of the week for sure! Watch out boys! We are all expecting big things out of Monique and "The Ethan Passant Show" in Switzerland at the World Championships February 23 - March 1st.

Many "Thank Yous!" to the Crested Butte Ski Patrol for getting the Peak opened for us so that we could include it in this year's race course. That climb helped push the vertical for the race to 4,875ft!

Check back for photos of the race shortly.

Ski Fast!

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!

Team Crested Butte got "the call" the other day from Race director Pete Swenson! The entire team except for Eric Sullivan, qualified for the World Championships in Switzerland February 23-29th. Eric was unable to attend last weekends qualifiers or he too may have been on the team. Read about it in the Crested Butte News

www.crestedbuttenews.com


For info on the Randonee World Championships follow this link below.

www.smwc2008.com

Ski Fast!

With coveted spots for the US Ski Mountaineering team on the line, and over 10,000 feet of vertical completed Team Crested Butte represented themselves well both days.

Team CB scouted the Snowmass course Friday with cold temps and soft snow, made for fun but tough conditions. It is always a plus to know the course ahead of time, giving you valuable knowledge as to where the skin transitions are and how to lay out race tactics and navigation.

With a 7AM start on Saturday, the team was in bed by 9PM and up at 5AM for oatmeal & coffee. With a quick warm at the base area the gun went off and Ethan Passant & Brian Smith led it to the top of the first 45 minute climb with Jon Brown, Carry Smith, Scott Coldiron, and Bryan Wickenhauser closely behind the leading two. The first short 350ft descent was skied with skins on in soft snow. The fist skin rip came at the top of the second descent where we did two soft powder descents to an uphill transition. At this point Ethan built a commanding lead as Brian Smith had his first of many skin troubles on the climb and Cary Smith & Bryan Wickenhauser now challenged for 2nd place. Another skin transition down some more backcountry powder filled fields and tight tree skiing lead to the final skin change. This was where 2nd place in the men's race was decided as Cary Smith had a great skin transition and Bryan Wickenhauser's skins just weren't given the attention they deserved. The lesson here for Wick was, "you make up seconds only to give away minutes later, with faulty skin transitions". Brian Smith learned this lesson as well as he eventually slid back to finish 10th. Ethan came through in 1st (again!) with Cary Smith in 2nd and Wick a minute behind Cary for 3rd place.

In the women's race Monique Merrill cruised to another victory with rookie racer Sari Anderson taking 2nd over Team CB's Jari Kirkland in a hard fought 3rd place. The race was cold with temps in the single digits at the start and light winds up high making "(ski) skin management" critical. If the skins aren't applied properly in cold, snowy conditions you will pay the price!

A quick recovery in the hot tub that evening and lots of good pasta made for another early evening for the team, in bed by 9PM. Up at 5:50AM for another hearty breakfast and on the line at Sunlight by 8AM. This time race organizer Pete Swenson started us in a "Lemans style" format with a 50 foot run to our skis for the start. This lead to a Team CB train up front for the first several minutes until the heavies, Brian Smith & Ethan Passant opened a gap that couldn't be touched for a bit. The first two laps repeated themselves with some on piste uphill skinning, followed by a more back country feel of some off-piste skiing to the top. All three downhills were on challenging, soft and some times untracked off piste skiing. Conditions only got tougher as the legs for each successive lap would get more and more tired. Folks, its not very "pretty" downhill skiing that wins these races; it’s the ability to just get your carcass down the hill by any means necessary. The third skin transition saw Ethan out front with Wick & Cary Smith fighting for 2nd and Brian Smith a close 4th and Jon Brown in about 7th. An impatient skin change by Wick saw him blow his skins up no more than two minutes into that last climb and then costly extra skin changes blew his chances of repeating yesterday's result. Taking full advantage of this opportunity was Brian Smith who put the hammer down and caught Cary Smith & Ethan at the top of the last climb as it turned into a classic "Chinese Downhill" to the finish with Ethan taking 1st, Cary in 2nd and Brian Smith placing 3rd with 20 seconds separating the top three at the line. Wick held on for 7th and Jon Brown 8th.
In the women's racing Monique sat this one out, and allowed Sari Anderson to take first followed closely again by Team CB's own Jari Kirkland! The racing was fast for both girls with both alternating lead changes throughout the race.

So who's going to Switzerland for the World Championships? Currently Ethan and Cary Smith are automatics with Wick, Brian Smith getting "the wink" from Race Director Pete Swenson. On the Women's side Monique Merrill is a shoe in followed closely by Sari & Jari for the other spots. Official announcements for the team aren't made until the end of January so stay tuned!

Next race........February 9th in Crested Butte! Drop us a line if you're coming out as we would love to help you out, if possible! We've got great snow this year so think about making the trip out to ski CB in one of its best years in some time!

This weekend the team is headed over to the Aspen Valley for two US Team qualifiers and a chance to punch a ticket to the Ski Mountaineering World Championships in Switzerland this late February.

The fist race is at Snowmass on Saturday with 5,100 feet of elevation gain. If your not tired from this race Sunday's incarnation will have over 5,300 vertical feet of gain at Sunlight. Thanks (race director) Pete Swenson....UGH! Racing should be fast & furious with athletes showing up from all over the US. New gear has arrived for the team (see photo above).

This year the team is racing on Atomic Tour Race skis, Dynafit Low Tech bindings, SCARPA F1 Race boots, and CAMP Mohair skins, and a CAMP XLP 290 race pack. Get out and earn your turns!

Check back for results and stories.

Ski Fast,
Team Salomon/Crested Butte
Go Packers!

Randonee Season is upon us folks. Team Salomon/Crested Butte is attacking the Randonee season with full vigor. Racing starts off this weekend at Grand Targhee resort with two days of racing, where Jon Brown & Jason Stubbie will be, as they get a "training race" in before two of the biggest races of the season happen.

Next weekend January 19th & 20th are US Ski Mountaineering team qualifiers at Snowmass & Sunlight. For full details on this year's race schedule go to:

www.ussma.org

www.cosmicski.com

Check back for results, gear reviews and race reports. Also go to our blog for training and general fun from the team.

Ski Fast!
Team Salomon/Crested Butte

Team Salomon/Crested Butte wishes each and everyone of you a Happy Holiday season. Thank you to all our wonderful sponsors & supporters. Come out and ski with us!

Crested Butte has been blessed during the month of December with some of the most snow in all of Colorado. That means all the extreme terrain is open before Christmas which rarely happens, come & get it!

Happy Holidays,
Team Salomon/Crested Butte

Folks back in the Winter Wonderland called Crested Butte. For fear of repeating ourselves...go to our blog by clicking on the tab on the left side of this page to read about our experience there, it was amazing!

Stay tuned for new Winter Randonee gear reveiws coming shortly. Come ski with us!

Happy Holidays!

Looks like the team is doing great out in the Arabian desert. After three days of racing a top 5 may be with in reach.
The competition is stacked with the best teams in the world and Salomon/Crested Butte is right there in the thick of things!
For more info on the race and some great pictures of one of the more exotic venues the team has traveled to click on the screen shot above. Wish 'em luck!

So like a lot of people we've been talking to you're probably like "Where in the heck Abu Dhabi"? Well its situated about 70km south of Dubai along the Persian Gulf. Not to far of from where a lot of our US Military is currently stationed in the current Middle East situation. So you ask your self, "is it safe over there"? Well to be honest it really is. Its ruled by a wealthy Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum who rules this region with an iron fist towards crime. With in the Middle East, its the most modern with reagards to its Western ways. They have seen lots of foreign investments and now have a triving tourism economy, to rival their oil export business. Which is where our race comes into play.

They realize their oil will run out at some point so they are aggressively developing new economies and tourism is a thriving market for them, as they are situated in a warm, dry climate with some beautiful beaches for the rich and famous to play. Not that Team Salomon/Crested Butte is rich & famous but we like to play! Follow along on the race website as we go for a piece of the largest prize purse in 2008....over $200,000 USD!

The race starts December 9th-14th. Jon Brown won't be able to make it so we are taking Dave Mackey along. He's raced with Spyder over the years and won the Raid World Cup in Australia in 2006 so he knows how to race in dry, hot climates. As for the rest of the team, we'll take a break from our ski season, and put the hammer down! Click on the map above to go to the race website.

Folks if you don't understand the headlines try to comprehend that she beat every single female (including the 24 Hour Italian Champion and Rebecca Reusch) AND EVERY SINGLE MALE EXCEPT 24 HOUR NATIONAL CHAMPION CHRIS EATOUGH!! The story abound the Moab area quickly changed from Jari leading the woman's race to.....Can she catch Chris Eatough?

For full details on the blow by blow throw down in the desert click here.....

www.grannygear.com

Velo News has a good report here as well, though they got Jari's placing in the Men's filed wrong. She was 2nd in the Men's

www.velonews.com

The team knows Sully is a rock star in Adventure Racing ....now the rest of the world knows it as well!

From "Hells Bells" to secret training techniques, Sully gives away all the racing tips.


www.denverpost.com

Nice work Sully!

Check back next week as Sully gives us reports from Brazil's Eco Motion Adventure Race, where he'll be racing once again with Team Sole.

After 4 days, 300 miles and over 32,000 feet of vertical gain Team Salomon/Crested Butte are the winners of the Adventure Xtreme - Moab Expedition race and overall series champions!!

Starting and finishing at the Red Cliffs Lodge on the shore of the Colorado River, Team Salomon/Crested Butte led the race from start to finish. The Moab area is starting to become our home away from home, as we've found some great success there over the past years. As the racing gets longer we only become stronger, as we were the only team to complete the entire course (all other competitors were "short coursed" along the way. Many thanks to our support crew, Brian Krill, & Karen.

Next up....Jari will be at the 24 Hours of Moab, then ski season and Abu Dhabi December 9-14th

Read about it in the Denver Post....

www.denverpost.com