Wax up for the opening of the skimo race season at Eleven

Recent snows may have saved the day

by Than Acuff

One week ago it looked like organizers would have to cancel the Griggs Orthopedics/Irwin Guides rando (a.k.a., skimo) race for the second year in a row, but thanks to recent storms and a favorable weather forecast, things look good for the race on Saturday, December 10. Race officials and the crew at Eleven will convene on Tuesday, December 6 to make the final call.

Snow safety director at Eleven, Billy Rankin, is in charge of snow safety for the race and on Monday, November 28 teams were on the cat skiing terrain assessing the situation.

“Things are looking better than last year,” says Rankin. “We got out on the slopes and it seems pretty good as far as coverage, still thin in spots with rocks sticking out, though. Our base depth is 33 inches, which will probably settle down to 20 to 24 inches in the next couple of days.”

Rankin adds that while the race has taken place with similar to even thinner conditions, the hope is that it won’t be that way this year.

“We have pulled it off with less snow but I don’t want that to be the standard,” says Rankin.

The race has always been one of the standout events of the Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup (COSMIC) race series and oftentimes the first one of the season. The Irwin area is known for copious amounts of snow and can benefit from early storms. The race itself is unique in that the course is held in a backcountry setting.

“It is still the only true backcountry ski mountaineering race that doesn’t start at a base area with lifts,” explains co-race director Bryan Wickenhauser.

The course follows a cloverleaf shape utilizing much of the Eleven cat skiing terrain. While the Eleven crew is responsible for avalanche mitigation work to ensure the safety of racers and volunteers and cat roads are used for portions of the course, the route involves several miles of singletrack skin track climbs, numerous descents in backcountry snow conditions and a bootpack straight up a rock-lined couloir.

If conditions permit, they plan on using the same course again this year.

“Between the racers and the snow safety crew, everyone has been happy with the course we’ve been running,” says Wickenhauser.

Given the race’s backcountry locale, access to the course can be tricky. Irwin has stepped up to the plate to offer two cats for racer transport in the past. This year they’ve added a third cat to bring the total number or available seats for transport up to 45. With a cap of 80 racers for the event, that means 35 racers are left to get to the race by their own means.

“You can skin up, sled up or get towed,” says Wickenhauser.

The field of athletes at the Irwin race is always stout with a mix of former U.S. ski mountaineering team members, the random “off the couch” heavy hitter as well as a group of up and coming skimo speedsters out of the Western State Colorado University Mountain Sports team.

Two things you won’t see in the field of racers at Irwin are telemarkers and splitboarders, since telemark bindings and splitboard bindings are not permitted.

In an effort to keep the race challenging for seasoned veterans and open it to fledgling skimo racers, there will be two classes at the Irwin race with the difference being the length. The elite class course is three separate loops covering 10 miles with 5,000 feet of climbing. The rec class will run through only two of the loops. Both classes will get the experience of climbing up the boot pack.

Until then, start fasting so you can fit into your skimo suit, and pray for continued snow.

“Right now I feel optimistic that it will be a go,” says Rankin. “We’ll still wait until December 6 to make the final call. There’s a storm possibly right before the race and we will have a better idea about that next week. If that storm peters out though, the race is still questionable.”

Registration and information for the Griggs Orthopedics/Irwin Guides rando race can be found at cosmicski.com.