Tonight was a great night. We counted 55 people that came out to join in the festivities. It was cold with a faint glow in the air from the night lights of Brighton skiing reflecting off the clouds and people were jolly in spite of the hour of suffering they were about to endure.
Milling about before the start |
We all sprinted from the start but quickly settled into a pace we could each sustain. The course was almost entirely off piste and meandered through pines, made tight kick turns, sported a short boot track, and then subtly climbed to our high point. From there, a quick transition sent skiers (and a few splitboarders) down a parallel path through fantastic powder.
The challenge was for the dorky looking folks in spandex (actually really good looking and fashionable) on skinny skis to do four laps and for everyone else to do three. The cold air and dry powder stymied those who didn’t have extra skins but I think everyone completed the course. After crossing the always crooked start/finish line most made it to the official finish line…Molly Green’s
There, we enjoyed food and drink and handed out some great prizes. The Powderwhores donated a copy of their new movie, “Choose Your Adventure” and SCARPA donated the grand prize for the night which was a pair of Ski Trab Race Poles. As always, pies were awarded to the winners and then shared with other hungry racers.
The movement is growing! There seems to be solid interest in learning to move fast. It makes sense though. Climb faster to ski more and have more fun.
And, special thanks to Brighton, Brandon Dodge for being our advocate, Tom and Chad for help setting the course, SCARPA for the pin flags and the demo skis (3 pairs of Ski Trab Tour Rando skis which were well received and will be available at each future race on a first come first available basis), and to all of you for coming out and making these things so fun.
See you all next time (December 24th at 7:30 AM).
Below are some pics from the evening, most courtesy of D. Maack. I’d like to get pics of everyone but these are the ones that turned out given the poor lighting and fast movement.
Kick turn conga line (photo by MH) |
Tom G smiling in the middle of a tough lap? |
Watch out for this man in the future… |
Is that who I think it is? |
Another battle |
Josh racing on Megawatts? |
Newcomer Katie on the Ski Trab demo skis looking like she’s having a good time |
These awesome women braved the cold (along with a few others) to cheer us on with cow bells |
Powderkeg President Chad through the lower trees |
Hanging out at Molly Green’s after |