Gear up for CS Irwin rando race

Registration is now open

The 2011-2012 Colorado Ski Mountaineering Race Cup series, or COSMIC series, kicks off once again at CS Irwin on Saturday, December 10.
Last year’s inaugural COSMIC event at CS Irwin was unprecedented in so many ways.
For one, a majority of the COSMIC race venues are at ski areas and all of them can be easily accessed. The CS Irwin venue is seven miles from the Kebler Pass winter trailhead. Therefore, racers must get there either by CS Irwin snocat or by snowmobile.
In addition, in past years the COSMIC season didn’t kick off until mid-January. But the Irwin area is famed for copious early snow. So, local organizers and COSMIC competitors Jake Jones and Bryan Wickenhauser decided to open the season a full five weeks earlier up at CS Irwin.
“Thanks to the Irwin lake effect, it snows,” says Wickenhauser.
Then there were the conditions. Thanks to the aforementioned “Irwin lake effect,” racers were treated to 18 inches of new snow the day of the competition and organizers and CS Irwin pulled off a nearly flawless event for 50 racers.
COSMIC is coming back for seconds this year and has opened the race up to an additional 15 racers, bringing the cap to 65 racers.
“This year with a third [sno]cat at CS Irwin and the success of last year, we can open it up to 65,” says Wickenhauser.
According to Wickenhauser, the courses for both the rec and race classes should be similar but could be tweaked a bit to offer some variety.
“It will be nearly identical but it’s all snow-dependent of course,” says Wickenhauser. “We’ll still have the boot pack.”
There will be snocat transport available to racers to the venue but there are only 36 spaces available. Otherwise, racers need to figure out a way to get there on their own.
For more information or to register you can go to ussma.org/cosmic. Or go straight to zapevent.com and sign up.
“Ten people are registered so far, with eight in the cat already,” says Wickenhauser.
“I’m really excited,” says director of operations for CS Irwin Alan Bernholtz. “I think it’s an awesome event for the town and I think it’s great that we can host a COSMIC event so early in the season. We’d like to see this become a standard event to provide a unique experience for everyone.”
Due to the early race date, Wickenhauser has some advice to participants looking to prep for the event.
“You’ve already missed the W Mountain race and opening day on Baldy, so if you haven’t done that you’re already off the back,” quips Wickenhauser. “November can often be filled with good backcountry skiing, so get out there. There’s also the Nordic Center’s Thanksgiving Camp and ski conditioning classes.”