The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Four locals headed to worlds
It’s starting to look like Gunnison Valley ski mountaineering racer Brian Smith is pretty much untouchable. Every race he’s entered this year he has won, including the most recent stop of the COSMIC race series, the CAMP Ski Mountaineering race at Crested Butte Mountain Resort on Saturday, January 29.
Meanwhile, Janelle Smiley continues her assault on the ski mountaineering circuit, taking second place among the women.
It was another strong showing of athletes at the Crested Butte event, with more and more endorphin junkies turning into serious ski mountaineering racers.
“The field was stout,” says reigning 2010 COSMIC series champion and local skier Bryan Wickenhauser. “There were more ‘suits’ [speed suits] on the start line than ever before.”
Competitors were met with sunny skies and near perfect temperatures. About the only thing standing in their way was a slick course rife with moguls, making for some difficult conditions both up and down.
“It was not so much a horsepower race—you had to finesse it, too,” says Wickenhauser.
“If you weren’t on top of your skins, you were going backwards,” adds Smith.
The race opened with a climb from the base area up International before detouring onto the Peel and over the top of the High Lift. From there it was down the Headwall and over to the bottom of Hawk’s Nest. Racers then turned back up to the top of Spellbound, down to the bottom of Teocalli Bowl, before climbing to the peak and then skiing all the way down the Peel to the finish line at the top of the West Wall Lift.
“I really think it’s one of the toughest courses on the COSMIC series,” says Smith.
After spending the day prior to the race hiking up and down the mountain to help set up the course, Smith questioned whether or not he was up to charge at the race.
“I was pretty tired after that day and I really didn’t have any expectations,” says Smith. “It was surprising how good I felt.”
While Smith admits he did not “charge” off the start line, he did set a strong enough pace to take the lead early and never relinquished it.
By the time Smith reached the top of Spellbound he had a four-minute lead and once he dropped off the peak, he was able to take it easy and seal the win in a time of one hour, 52 minutes and six seconds.
“That was some of the firmest snow on the course,” says Smith. “I played it really conservative coming down the front side.”
Wickenhauser held onto second place for most of the race only to get passed by Glitter Gulch ski patrolman Max Taam in the Hockey Rink, eventually ending up in third place.
“Third’s great but not when you’re in second place 98 percent of the race,” says Wickenhauser.
Smiley was the only local woman to step onto the podium, taking second place in a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 34 seconds.
Smiley took an early lead but her pace soon caught up to her on the slick portions of the climbs and Sari Anderson took the lead.
“I felt pretty strong so I took off pretty fast,” says Smiley. “I started slipping out on the icy bumps and I couldn’t get my heart rate down. I almost wanted to stop but I don’t quit. I just tried super hard to keep up.”
Smiley pushed through the pain to pass a handful of men and keep Anderson in sight but never took back the lead.
“I just couldn’t reel her in,” says Smiley. “I’m happy with my finish but I didn’t feel great.”
Four athletes from the local contingent of ski mountaineering racers—Wickenhauser, Smiley, Jari Kirkland and Travis Scheefer—now have their sights set on the World Championships of Ski Mountaineering in Claut, Italy, February 19-25.
Smith, on the other hand, has one more year in him on the Winter Triathalon circuit and will be headed to the Winter Triathalon World Championships in March instead.
