What’s the best way to prove you rule the backcountry? Enter an uphill race and grind it out
2010 BEAVER CREEK SHOWSHOE ADVENTURE SERIES
February 7 & March 7 • Beaver Creek
Curious to see just how fast you can move in shoeshoes? Try the East-West 5K Quest, or the more competitive 10K, on February 7th. If you kill it, go for the title of North American Champion at the March 7th race. If you get killed, at least you have the after party. Jagerbombs ease all pain.
www.bcsnowshoe.com
RACE THE DIVIDE
February 20 • Monarch Mountain
AT used to be called randonee, monsieur! Get your Euro fix without leaving the Rocky Mountains with the Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup (COSMIC) series. Race No.3 features a recreation course with two climbs and descents, and a race route with four. Helmets are required. Hell, use your bike helmet if you have to.
www.ussma.org/race/cosmic/2010-02-19/race-divide
5TH ANNUAL TELEFEST
February 20 • Ski Cooper
Get more bang for your buck, er, race fee, with a morning rando-style race (one ascent) and an afternoon giant slalom (best of two runs). Then hit the top floor of the Ski Copper Lodge for the awards party featuring live music, prize drawings and bling for the top three male and female finishers in each age group.
www.skicooper.com/Colorado-Special-Events/Ski-Cooper-4th-Annual-Telefest-e1277-m2-y2009.html
TELEMARK WORLD CUP
February 21-23 • Steamboat Springs
February 25-28 • Keystone/Silverthorne
This year’s Telemark World Cup circuit includes France, Norway, Spain, Austria and Colorado. Watch our local team get home mountain advantage against competitors from Europe, Japan and North America. The first two days of the series are Classic races with Giant Slalom on the third and/or fourth.
www.ustsa.org
COLORADO ROMP TO STOMP
March 6 • Frisco
Family-friendly snowshoe fun at the Frisco Nordic Center benefits the Denver Metropolitan Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which hit $1 million in funds raised earlier this year. Rock the 3K Snowshoe Race in pink—preferably a fluorescent onesie circa 1982.
www.tubbsromptostomp.com/event/co
US SKI MOUNTAINEERING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
March 20 • Jackson Hole, WY
Six thousand feet of climbing in the Tetons, goodies from Patagonia, free beer at the after party and paparazzi. The one thing missing? Women. Last year’s race saw only a handful of ladies across three categories. Get out there, girl. You could be our next national champion.
www.jacksonrandoneerace.blogspot.com
THE FIVE PEAKS
April 10 • Breckenridge
North America’s longest ski mountaineering race demands that you compete in teams of two for safety. Teams will skin, climb, ski and traverse five ascents spanning10,000 feet of vertical in the Ten Mile Range behind Breck. We suggest you don’t choose this as your first race, which means you will, so at least check the required equipment list before you get there.
www.ussma.org/race/cosmic/2010-04-09/five-peaks
SAN JUANS RANDO
April 17 • San Juan Mountains
Don’t let its proximity to star-studded Telluride fool you, this is one gritty race—the first in North America to be held entirely in the backcountry. The race starts and finishes on the west side of Molas Pass, with a “below tree line” contingency course if avalanche danger is high.
www.ussma.org/race/cosmic/2010-04-16/san-juans-rando
MARMOT GRIND
April 24 • Arapahoe Basin
In true rando tradition, expect to run for your skis off the start line, clip in and immediately ascend. It’s like cyclocross on skis. The rec course caters to newbies, with only 2,000 feet of vertical, but the race category dishes it out with 4,500 vertical, including a drop into and skin out of the Montezuma Bowl.
www,ussma.org/race/cosmic/2010-04-23/marmot-grind
FRESH FLICKS
BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL
Banff, the famed 33-year-old international film competition featuring the world’s best footage on mountain subjects, comes to Colorado in February and March, with eight different locations along the Front Range and mountain towns. The choicest films from this year’s festival were determined in Banff, Alberta in November. From those, each tour location selects a custom mix for their local community. Too bad they’re not hosting one in Ned . . . that would be some blend.
www.banffcentre.ca
SWEETGRASS
Sweetgrass Productions believes that there is more to the mountain than fresh snow and big lines. Based in Colorado, the company films remote freeride lines—from snowsurf and noboard, to alpine and tele—to discover the story behind the landscape. Catch the premier of Signatures, their latest project, on Winter Park February 5th, and in Dillon on February 11th. If those dates don’t work and you’re up for some travel, Signatures is showing in Alaska during the month of March.
www.sweetgrass-productions.com
