Local Loppets - Double Header

Squeaked in the back-to-back days of Beckie Scott Loppet on Jan 26, and Tawatinaw on Jan 27. Both races had about 50 hearty skiers. Maybe only three of us did both. One had an Olympic Gold Medalist!

So much more fun to race at training pace on a trackset course we rarely ever ski on, than to train on the same old trails.

On the line - Ryan, Jason, Cameron, Marg (in green), Jeff tucked in

Becky Scott Loppet - 29.2 km, 1:59
(2011 time 1:52 duking it with Jeff & Helge!)

Good snow, -15C start, -11C finish. I was deceived by the sunshine and lack of wind in Vermilion, and underdressed a smidgeon. 75% of the course is shaded anyway, with the coolness from the lake for a good stretch each lap.

Typical herringbone climbs which was tough to match Helge's pace! I soon dropped off on my own. Even though I finished 1 min after the next guy, there was no sight of him in front with the twisty trails.

My hands were frickin' cold, enough to consider dropping out after each 10 km loop. My mind was either on sending warmth to my fingers or minimizing the pain from my underarm with every pole stroke midway thru the race.

Could have been in better spirits with my mitts on! Will not let my body get cold like that again. Not fun shuddering in front of the fire at the end. Very cool to see Becky out.

Tawatinaw Loppet - 25.7 km, 1:46 (laps 1/2 - 51/55 min) 2011

Colder start at -19C, finish at -8C, crazy! Knew best to dress up one layer with the 2nd day of racing, and getting overly cold the prior day.

The speedy 15 km skiers set a quick pace at the start. Within the first 50m, a polite newbie paused to let in a skier, had his ski pole in my path causing me to go down. Quick to rise though I was off the pack's pace.

Skied with Wietske, a guy, and a strong young woman up the climb. Followed them down the first descent, and overtook on the next climb. Wondered where Wietske was... Taras and Greg were in sight on the double-pole ridge section.

The trails were wicked, especially the latter 5 km of swoopy trails and major descents, including the few last herringbone climbs. Treat to bomb down the 1 km descent for the 2nd loop. Far back of the boys now after the descent, too light!

Found my heartrate was low and I was at cruising pace, not race pace. Enjoyed the last lap though super lonely.

Found out Weitske fell on her One Way pole switching lanes, and it broke. She gutted out 10 km with one pole, picked up another for lap 2, and finished. It would have been fun to race with her.

Wish more skiers would come out to these wicked races!

photo - David Cure-Hryciuk

Finished off the day on the AT gear skinning up the ski hill with an easy descent on Tawatinaw's black diamond run!

Whitefish Whiteout - 2nd Real Skimo Race!

My second real ski-mo race and my first time skiing at Whitefish Big Mountain Resort. Last time I was in the area was in 1997 for a 3-day road bike stage race, including a climb up to the ski hill.

Marg tucked in amongst the Canada Suit Guys (with blue helmet) - photos Whitefish

Course - 4 ascents (including a bootpack section), 3 descents. Hill-climb finish!

Climbing - Physically challenging. The first climb was like a roadbike TT on groomed track. The rest of the skinning was on steep pitches with loose deep snow, sketchy, and energy robbing.

Descending - workable as the runs were carved nicely; gates to guide the course. Just like mtn-biking, it would help to know the course.

Bootpack Section - Total fun once I was out of the deep snow falling in to my knees. Vertical snow steps, steep like a snow version Grouse Grind.

In the video, funny clip at 1:30 where I am slo-mo in folding my skins, 

as the racer next to me fights with removing a skin off his ski... 

also, black/white clip at the end of the video of me heading to the finishline

87 skiers, rec & racer categories, lined up on the most outstanding weather day. Clear blue skies with brilliant views, mild temps, awesome snow conditions. Heard it was rare to get the clear views.

After way too long of pre-race instructions while we were waiting on the raceline in minimal gear getting cold, the race finally began up Toni Matt groomer, a designated resort climb route.

fast start 

The Canada suit guys took off. I kept Steve Sellars in my sight knowing he'd set a good even pace that would work for me for the first while.

Brad Schalles leads Peter Knight - good example of working hard
(or Peter's definition of smiling less & suffering more!)

I went my normal hard up the climb and held a good position within the top 10. Impressive with a couple guys around me with fat skis and heavier gear.

The climb was open and non-technical though was steep and taxing on the lungs. My legs were even burning.

Top guys duking to the top (Peter Knight, local Ben Parsons, Brad Schalles)

There was one person ahead 20 metres that I thought could possibly be a woman. We were climbing at the same pace. Seemingly so close in distance, yet so far in actual time and effort.

Marg's last push to the top - pretty focused

At the top, had an ok transition. Was met by mountain bike friends Tim and Tracie Brezsnyak (Deadgoat racers) who were awesome to follow me down the hill. Tim was super supportive with his comments as I bumbled along.

Beautiful views, snow-clad trees

I was actually skiing parts of the hill. Skittered when I was unsure about a line then took a few turns. Descending Cal's Country was manageable though Haskill Slide was challenging yet no-where near as daunting as Lone-Star from last week's Castle Mtn race.

The women swooshed by me with grace, it was impressive to see.

skittering down!

Next skin up ventured into a steep gladed run. It was challenging in soft snow which provided no solid base to push off from. My actual step turns went well with all the "training" from the Castle Mtn race.

Skin tracks went all over. I started taking my own best line merging into another racer's. I attempted to minimize energy loss though there was alot of slippage on this steep climb.

At the top, saw Tim again. Skied down more black diamond runs, skittering and making turns. It was helpful to follow blue or red gates to guide my path. Scraped thru double-black diamond East Rim safely.

Marg unknowingly following Michelle (bottom photo) with Tim in red spectating (on right)

Next skin was short though challenging with more steep gladed run up N.B.C. It was not apparent where the bootpack section was to begin. Looking ahead, one skier was bootpacking while another was skinning

much steeper than it looks!

I was tired of slipping and transitioned to boot pack in not the best spot. My legs dived into the snow up to my knee with each footstep.

Once I got into the middle of the run, nice kicked in steps guided me up. It was steep like the outdoor stair climb Grouse Grind. The odd step was too high for me, and I wavered a little backward. I kept thinking "weight forward" as falling backward was not an option.

I caught up to a few skiers that slowed my pace a few minutes until they cleared the top of the boot pack. Thinking it was transition to ski, I was told it was still a short skin up to the top.

I reached into my jacket to grab my skins, and was surprised they weren't there. "I lost my skins" I said out loud. Another skier exclaims, they are "on your skis"! Oh yeah, I forgot!

Love that scenery with Jenny Pierce skinning up

Zipped up the short skin to transition to ski. Got cheers from the Canadian guys who already finished.

The last descent on Glory Hole started out with tight single track around fir trees with minimal room to turn or brake. I followed two skiers that were my pace. Further down it was open and turnable.

Marg chilling with Chance up the last climb - smiling!

Last climb up near Hell-Fire was tough again with steep loose snow. My skins did not grab and I sunk and slipped my way up. I realized 2/3 way up that my top boot buckle was still locked so maybe due to hindered weight shift.

Last 400m was a slight grade kind of flat, and I did my best to ski in cross-country ski style. I was 6th woman in and was welcome by the other 5 women. Very nice comradry.

The Skimo Gals - 
Michelle Roberts (Cdn), Katie French (USA), Marg Fedyna (Cdn), 
Nikki Kimball (USA), Martha Burley (Cdn), Jenny Pierce (USA) 
- photo from speedy Nikki Kimball

Yay, I was the 1st woman on the climb, and Canadian team member Brad was the 1st guy.

Cdn guys took 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th (Stano Faban , Brad Schalles, Peter Knight, Steve Sellars, Nial Gleeson). Canadian women took 3rd, 4th and 6th (Martha Burley - tele-queen, Michelle Roberts, Marg Fedyna) - awesome!

My GPS claimed elevation gain 5500', elevation loss 3360', contrary to other reports of 4800' gain. Whatever it was, it was alot of sketchy climbing!

Castle Mountain Ski-Mo Race - Double Black Diamond?!

Ahhh, what happens when a cross-country skier gets put on a double-black diamond downhill run... a long and tedious shuffling descent full of snowball tumbles and burning quads! I definitely would have won the longest timed descent section :)

top of Lone Star, bottom 2000' down double-black diamond slope - photo Levon Jensen

An eager group of 27 ski-mo racers lined up for the 1st ever ski-mo race at Castle Mountain in southern AB, nick-named "The Best Ski Hill You've Never Heard Of".

Michelle & Marg amongst the Canada Team suits - photo Levon Jensen

The course circumnavigated the ski resort counter-clockwise, mostly at the ski boundary line. Maybe 3-km of the whole 13-km course was on groomed trail. The rest was skinny trail steep incline bushwacking, scrambling rocky terrain, descending double-black diamond 30%+ pitch powder, and navigating thru tree-d cat-skiing powder.

Original course plan

The course was EPIC! As the event progressed, I thought the challenge was as tough as some of my adventure race experiences.

My endurance fitness helped me with a good start following the lead guys into the single-track trails. Once we hit the steep pitches needing kick-turns (yeah, first time doing these!), I had to let a couple guys and the next couple women, Michelle Roberts and Katarina Kuba, pass by as I was flailing like an upside down turtle.

As a newbie, I was glad to use my ski leashes, definitely a ski-mo racer styling faux-pas. When my ski tip got stuck in the snow on one of my kick-turns, my ski-boot released from my binding (I forgot to lock the front binding). I was happy the ski was dangling from the ski leash and had not run off.

After countless short STEEP switchbacks (50-ish), I eventually got better with finding my balance point and not sliding backwards. The occasional tree branch was my friend as I grabbed it for support. Once the climbing followed a straight-away, I caught back up to lead woman Michelle.

sketchy rocky bootpack - photo Levon Jensen

Almost 3000' elevation gain later, we reached the boot-pack section together on the open windy ridge. I was surprised of the technical difficulty of the next scramble on the rock, 220' up and 220' down. Had to slide thru a rocky crevass to land safely on the snow below.

the rock crevasse with the landing a long jump away - photo Levon Jensen

At my height, my skis are not far off the ground when hanging off the pack. My skis were jostled and I had to re-adjust them on my pack a few times.

Michelle quick on the boot pack - photo Levon Jensen

Michelle dashed ahead nimbly. My gloves became damp and fingers were now cold from tumbling in the snowy scramble. I stopped in a sheltered area from the wind to switch to dry gloves, extra hat, and sunnies before reaching the transition.

views outstanding - photo Levon Jensen

At transition while I was removing the skins, two more women caught up, Sheri Foster and Katarina. I shakily followed Sheri's line in the off-camber ridge to the top of Lone Star and gulped when I looked down the double-black diamond snowy run. It was a continuous 30-degree+ fall line for about 2,000 feet!

Gosh, I struggled like a beginner mountain biker on their first attempt at a technical descent... no, it was WORSE as I couldn't get off my equipment and walk down! Wide-eyed, I did my best to scuttle and swoop down. I traversed as far as I could before I forced myself to turn. It took FOREVER to get down.

My quads were aching. I stopped many times to take a breather. Took an effort to push on through my fear. My breath-rate was higher than when I was climbing!

2/3 way down, I stopped and looked back, then wayyyy up... crikey that was steep! I managed to actually swoop the rest of the way down as it might of been only a black-diamond run.

I was happy to hear two volunteers blowing a whistle and made my way towards them. I jokingly told them I was a x-c skier. They pointed me towards the course and said "to enjoy the cross-country ski trail"!

A short respite on an easy traverse, then transition to skins. Meanwhile, another woman showed up on a split-board! I cheered as I was impressed not realizing it was Christine Misseghers, a fellow mtn-biker from my past racing days.

Peter with speed - photo Levon Jensen

I was thrilled to be climbing again and scooted off with full energy. I was surprised the hard effort of slow skiing on the descent did not hurt my climbing muscles!

Following the Huckleberry chair, descending snowboarders cheered! When I heard a cowbell in the distance, I was excited to see AB Ski-Mo's biggest fan Mary Knight, Peter Knight's mom and great supporter.

Caught up to Katarina, then Michelle. Only Sheri ahead.

At the next transition which was supposed to be boot-pack was now the descent, as we managed to skin up the potential boot-pack section. I did not see Sheri. She is a strong climber AND descender, so first was out of contention.

Wide-eyed I scanned the full-on powder in a VERY steep tree-d cat-ski area. The volunteers said to go straight down and to turn at the cat-track road not visible from where we were.

I cried, and again scraped my way down, this time with the trees in the way and deep cat-skiing powder to contend with. Oh, it was not pretty and took me FOREVER. I tumbled many times though never hurt myself.

Straight down from the top of Haig Ridge - lots of trees!

Finally, I saw the cat-track road when I was on a high ridge. I did not care to backtrack for a safer route, and slid on my butt down to the road. It was now awesome to skate-ski and double-pole to the finish.

Finished just under 3 hours... 4 min back of Michelle and 15 min back of Sheri, with Katarina and Christine back only a few minutes. Awesome woman's group of racers!!

This was my first "back-country" experience. Yeah, nothing like learning all the details in a race! I am very GREEN with no real downhill training.

We had scrambled over that rocky peak in the race!

Ideal weather... -13C, sunny blue skies, minimal wind. The scenery was outstanding whenever I made the effort to glance about. Total elevation gain 4950' and around 12.8 km in distance.

RACE REPORT by lead man Stano Faban

newspaper article

Big thanks to Brent Harris and Dave Dornian from Alpine Club of Canada for their enthusiasm to put on this race. Everything was done well. I totally enjoyed the friendliness of the racers and support.

Also, super thanks to racer Paul Leroux who I met while I was getting my gear together before the race started. I was frazzled, and he was calm and helped me.

Finished off the weekend with an awesome cross-country ski at Allison Creek x-c ski trails in the Crowsnest Pass with a social ski with my old Edmonton buddy Lori Mangion, and with past adventure race teammate Dave Whitten.

It was fun to follow Dave on the twisty fast x-c descents needing quick technical decisions. Gosh, there's skill in me somewhere to learn how to AT downhill!

Thanks to Levon Jensen for his awesome photos...



Final homeward destination... spring water haul near Longview.
Love the mountain view with the sunset!

Kat Scratch Loppet - Spray River West

Just happened that a Kat Scratch Loppet was on today when I asked Linda if I could join in on a ski. I was allowed entry! as it is an event put on within their own ski group "Skiing with Ian". This is maybe my 3rd or 4th Kat Scratch event since 2003.

Here's the video coach Ian Daffern took as we skied by. Note, when Sean was on the return ski, Ian followed Sean while filming and cheering oncomers on! Pretty impressive.

It was awesome to get a hard effort in since putting alot of mileage over Christmas. I got away on Gilles on the long steep climb. On the return Gilles flew by me on the double-pole section and descent.

Amazing scenery!

Location - Spray River West

Distance - approx.  20km (out and back trail)

Temp -   Track -11.4  and Air -14 at the start warming to -9 by finish.  Weather - clear, sunny and cool

MitoCanada PLPP Challenge - Okanagan

I was excited to see Jeff Krar's Facebook post saying he was going to x-c ski 100-km at Telemark trails in spirit as the rest of the MitoCanada gang were skiing at Peter Lougheed Prov. Park (PLPP).

Mito-Canada Skiers at PLPP - photo Bryon Howard

Being out in the O.K. already, I was inspired to join Jeff! We started at 7:30 a.m. just as it turned light in the morning.

Fresh snow was coming down and expected to fall most of the day. The early morning freshly groomed tracks already had snow in them. It was going to be a longer day and harder ski than the previous day's fast crisp trails Jeff mentioned he skied on.

Snowy!!!

Started with Fern Creek to Crystal Rim loop. Finished with Rabbit, Telemark and Panorama Ridge. 30k done.

At our first break, I grabbed my new Atomic Skintecs. My effort was now twice as it should be! I decided to turn back for my waxable skis.

The magnetic skin strip was dragging at the front a few mm. Too snowy to adjust the strip. My goof!

Next loop of classic got us to 68-km. Another break, and switch to skate gear.

Had warm turkey stock from my thermos, cacao coconut drink, bananas, egg salad... a few dates, Vega gel, and raw energy bars. Good fuel!

Jeff and I were happy with the new motion of skate-skiing. Soon, I was unhappy with the gritty slow glide on Fern Creek trail. Much happier as skis glided faster on Telemark loop.

We skied in the dark the last 19-km. It was surreal and beautiful with a red sunset glow on the horizon. Did a couple 5-km out & backs on Telemark with a last few km to top up the mileage.

My headlamp fizzled towards the end. I had faith following Jeff closely, dimly lit by the teeniest Petzl beam, to ski two loops on easier trails. One last look at the GPS, I exclaimed "100-km"!

Happy skiers Jeff & Marg - 100 km completed! - photo Nancy Krar

Jeff was an awesome ski-mate and I appreciated his support to the end. It was cool to be part of the MitoCanada x-c group ski even though we were a couple mountain ranges apart.

Final stats: 100 km, 8 hr 44 min, 8134' elevation gain!

Gotta mention, in the 7-day period ending with this 100 km day, I put in 240 km of skiing! Awesome

Kool Raw Snowman under the Okanagan Christmas Tree

Vert180 - skin learnings

Vert-180 - defn: number of times to skin up and ski down in a 3-hour period. Event held in the evening at local ski hill C.O.P in Calgary (Canada Olympic Park). 125 metre elevation gain each loop.

my long rookie play-by-play until I get my act dialed in

Synopsis:

• The climbing part of the Vert-180 course, relatively easy as it's my forte and I like climbing. 
• Descending, better once the snow-making machines were redirected and visibility was more than 10 feet! Eventually, had a straight run down on the bumpy terrain. Needed to be wary of skiers swooshing down.
• Transitions - got more efficient each loop even with quirks. Always cool to hear the music at the lower transition and see the crowd.
• Boot pack section was unfortunately removed. It would have given a different dynamic with transition times - disruptive like barriers at a cyclocross race.

Biggest Challenge:
Dealing with a skin flopping off the ski and landing in a heap early into the event... was a test of perseverance to not give up on the equipment and figure out how to continue with non-adhering skins.

Gear:

Over a week prior, I was anxious to test out my new setup after getting the bindings mounted at Gears Up in Canmore. I did a run up Sunshine ski-out and was amazed at the minimal effort to move with the gear. Certainly a change from the heavy rentals I used the prior weekend.

The skins I received were too long for my short ski. These already had tails which I wanted to keep as I doubted I would make another pair with tails. It was nerve-wracking to take a knife to the expensive skin material to shorten the skin and figure out how best to make the tip. I googled for others' input and brands with pre-made tips. Finally, I sliced and diced and re-created a new tip. 

I practiced ripping the skins off in the house, and putting them back on. Probably, better to do outside in the snow, as I might have gotten debris on them. The skins seemed sticky enough though definitely not grip-proof like the rentals.

Race:
Race evening temp was -10C with a weird warming trend over the next few hours, which was welcome as I got weary.

It was cool to see the National team members in their red/green skinsuits. I lined up behind them at the start. They took off fast. I managed a good pace knowing my heartrate would settle down soon enough. 

misty climb up - photo from paulsadventures.com

Transition to ski:
I chanted the mantra boots-binding-skins and thought about the next steps.

Boots - close the top buckle
Binding - flip the heel-lift back to allow my heel to lock in
Skins - shift forward, grab tab on tip, lift ski, rrrrip skin off

Well, the rip turned into a double-rip motion with a step-down in the middle to maintain balance. Not so good as I got moist snow-machine blown snow on the bottom. Folded the skins and tucked them into my jacket. Fumbled with the top strap from the pack in the way of my jacket zipper.

First descent with minimal visibility and not knowing exactly where to go, I followed two women swooshing across the whole course. I couldn't see past them to pass by. Though probably only seconds, funny to swoosh knowing it was a straight down descent.

Transition to climb:

Eventually, visibility was clearer to bomb straight down, with a hard right hand turn to stop at transition. Love those edges! so unlike x-c gear.

transition area - photo from paulsadventures.com

Chanting the mantra on the speedy bumpy descent:
   Boots - open the top buckle of the boot

   Binding - press front binding down to release boot;
              - flip heel-lift forward
   Skins - apply skins

Happy it was easy to step into the binding with the guide holes on the toe of the boot.

Eye-widening Experience:

Only an hour into the race (5th loop) after putting the skins on, I shuffled a few steps, slipped and noticed a skin was left behind me. At first, "DNF" flashed in my mind. "No, not so early in the event!" 

I picked up the lifeless skin and hastened to reapply. I made it part of the way up the hill and the skin went flying in front of me. Ahhh! I stepped to the side, chilled out, took lots of time and applied friction on the skin. I forgot about the technique Jeff Hughes (adventure race bud from 1998) mentioned about using the edge of the ski to brush the ice off the skin.

For the next 10 loops at transition, I spent extra minutes to insure the skins were going to stick by using friction to warm them up. Only bonus was I was super well rested before each climb. 

I kept catching up and passing a woman in a skinsuit. Each lap, I had to catch up and pass her again and again as her transition was flawless.

On climbs, I naturally push up and over a rise in a hill. I could sense there was someone close behind a few times and had National team members pass me. As they passed, I wasn't too far off their climbing pace (except for Reiner Thoni who blazed by!). It was ultra cool to see Melanie Bernier and Peter Knight climb by smoothly together one time. And, got to witness them pass by me quite a few times!

Steve Sellars (2nd place male, and 50+) thought I was purposely working not to let him pass on the climb. Nope, just my technique to push on! He eventually passed by stealthly. One night, I bumped into Steve practicing transitions when I was skate-skiing at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Practice helps! He was speedy.

Food Access
Crazy, I didn't eat during the whole event. Managed a few gulps of water, here and there from my Camelbak. The yummy dates in a ziploc bag hung out in the lower access to my pack the whole event. 

I could have gotten to them in seconds though with the extra minutes warming up the skin, I was stubborn to not take the few seconds. Fortunately, with an evening event, I was plenty fueled before-hand.

Gotta work on attaching external pockets on the front pack straps for easy access to food.

Overall:
Super happy I persevered. Better for me to learn about the skins now. Lots to work on with gear: using skins with no tails, having a backup pair in the pack, most definitely to rip the skins off without hitting the snow, and maybe reglueing this pair.

At the race, I laughed when I saw two women each take an end of a skin stuck onto itself, and rip it apart. I looked over and said I was envious of the grip!

I was thankful that the extra time spent warming up the skin worked and I was able to finish. Guesstimate with the lost time - for sure would have squeezed out 1 more lap. 2, not sure though would have tried!

GPS stats: 1904m elevation gain, 20.3 km distance, 
2 1/2 hours moving time!  which meant 30+ min transition
max 70 kph at some point! Mostly max at 50-60 kph

Thanks to the organizers for keeping this event going. Race numbers doubled and hopefully that trend will continue.

Ski-mo AT gear Building

Ski-Mo SKIS!
The minimum race ski length for women is 150 cm. Most companies only make a race ski in 160 cm, the minimum race ski length for men (which usually come up to their shoulder height!)

Since I'm teeny, and squeamish on descending, the shorter the ski the better in my eyes at this time.

I was kindly set up with the Hagan X-Race 150 cm (skis and skins) from US distributor Mike Hagen at a nice deal. With the shorter ski, the weight was crazy at 635g per ski.

BINDING
I wanted to go as light as possible, with a binding that has a manual locking toepiece, to leave unlocked descending for an easier release (need be!). For this reason, I chose the Dynafit TLT Superlite at 185g (actual 200+g). Beautiful looking binding, too!

SKINS
Mike set me up with some beauty mohair Hagan skins. Still deciding to keep the tails on these ones, and set up a shorter pair without tails.

BOOTS - checked off my list last Dec with cute Dynafit Dy.n.a's. Not the lightest out there but pretty darn reasonable. Very sharp!

POLES
I'll be using my Swix Star CT1 carbon fibre x-c classic poles. A little long though adaptable. Nice & light.


MANDATORY GEAR
Back to the comment "I'm teeny", so weight matters. I went with the lightest that I could find within race regulation.

CAMP Carbon Fibre Avalance Probe
CAMP Crest Shovel
Pieps Freeride transceiver

Picked up the CAMP Rapid 260 pack as it had all the bells and whistles on it for AT racing and is so crazy light. Comfy and negligible when I tested it on a Ha Ling hike/run in the snow.

Took the basic avalanche rescue course offered by U of C Outdoor Centre this past weekend Dec 8.

Simulated an avalanche situation. Full force action to dig

Checking our snow pit

During the practice situations at the avalanche course, I could see how the Crest shovel would not be sufficient for rescue in a "real" avalanche. The CF probe seemed do-able. Would also use the suggested standard of a 3-antenna transceiver.

Discussing snow build-up and how best to travel
(though every guy was eyeing that snowy pitch at the top!)

When we practiced searching with the transceivers, I used the Ortovox D3 given to me to use in the course, as well as tested my Freeride. I found that the Freeride started tracking 10 metres after the Ortovox. So, it functioned well, just not as strong with the one antenna vs three for the Ortovox.

Checking out the snow layers. A practice not utilized much anymore

Back to the gear, and usage:

My worst fear of going into my first Eco-Challenge (--- photos)  
back in 1999 (--- story) with many of the disciplines of events new to me (mountaineering, whitewater paddling, horseback riding, rappelling - no biking!), was I didn't want to be profiled like the racers on TV that didn't know what the heck they were doing. So, I took the time to learn.

So for AT, uphill, no problem. Transitions, definitely need practice. Now, to get out and learn how to descend proficiently!!

For the avi course, I rented the Manaslus skis, women's version in 160cm.
Pretty awesome ski and binding setup for when I go into the real backcountry

Thanks to lots of feedback and heckling of rookie gear questions to National Ski-Mo racer Peter Knight, and the input from Mr Al Black, or was it Bo(!).

X-C season starts!

We had ski-able snow in the city before Halloween this year.

Tim, Marg & Marcus make the excursion out to the Hinton Nordic Centre. Early season Nov 3!

Bruce in Hinton saddling up while I await on my pony. Took opportunity to ride after helping feed the horsies that night on a local ranch Bruce helps out at.

Drove to Hinton via Jasper-Banff highway.
Most Outstanding Scenery, way better than summertime
Road was challenging to drive in spots after the prior days snowfall

Deer Creek Death Ride - the Personal Gran Fondo

photo from Deer Creek Death Ride website

On one of my first rides in the Thousand Oaks area a couple weeks ago, I was lucky to bump into local racer/coach Mr Bill (William Ralph). Bill informed me about the Deer Creek Death ride.

I had planned to make the long drive north to home already, though this ride was very luring.

A local rider and a few friends did a 100 mile ride annually at the end of the season. The ride now includes anyone that wants to take on all or part of the century ride. This guy kindly supplies water/food support driven by his friends in a convertible.

Entry fee - FREE! Though, donations willingly accepted for the feed with excess going to charity.

Not just any 100 miles... this one included alot of the cream of crop canyon climbs in the Santa Monica Mountains! Elevation gain would be 12,000 feet.

Cyclists gathering at a brisk 7 a.m. at Wins Wheel's Bike Shop in Agoura Hills

Despite the long ride ahead of us, the pace still went out hard up the first climb up Decker Road. Soon enough, we had the wicked long descent to the ocean on Encinal.

First catch up stop at the bottom of Encinal Canyon on Hwy 101 by the ocean

Actual Deer Creek Canyon climb is at a wicked 15% grade for many km - views outstanding!

The feed-zone convertible with a Halloween black spider on back

After a couple stops to regroup, a few of us decided to stick together and ride continuously. I ended up with Bill and his buddy Dusty Armstrong (ex-BMX pro). It was a blast to ride with them especially descending as I had confidence in their lines around the twisty canyon roads.

Dusty & Marg following Bill's lines down the famous Rock Store road. A photographer takes pics of the motorcyclists and squeeze a few in of the cyclists 

I've purchased a photograph from Rock Store Pics in the past when I was in the leathers.

Dusty, Bill and I heading up Mulholland with 40 miles left

Losing Dusty to a broken chain with 20 miles to go, Bill & I continue on passing by another roadside photographer.

Les started the ride as well. Missing out the last short loop, he made it to the finish just ahead of me. Perfect timing for our carpooling.

162 km, 6 hr 40 min, 12100 feet elevation gain
Wicked last ride of the season!