Times are a changing...........

So things are coming to an end here in France for the small kiwi ski mountaineering race team, as we will be heading home in the next week or so. The end of winter here means the New Zealand winter is near and before long the first race of the 2008 SkiMoNZ race series will be underway.
Things here on the SkiMoNZ blog will be changing up a little, with the blog going from "NZ ski mo team's updates" to "SkiMoNZ race series updates".
I'll try doing a few posts and updates on the per season events like when we confirm race dates and venues and maybe even some pre season training.
If you want to share your favorite thing about ski mountaineering racing please contact me and I can publish it here. Maybe you want to tell all the nice people why you are so excited to race this winter in NZ, maybe its some pre season training to help us all get motivated, or even just a ski touring/ski mountaineering trip you did (lots of photos please!).
E-mail your story/ideas to: nzinfo at skimo.org

I'll get things started with one of my favorite things about a ski mountaineering race, in Europe anyway. No, not the skin tight suits that every wears-Cow Bells! These things are great! Nothing lifts you like the sound of cow bells banging away as you are tired and are in need of a boost. What really impresses me is the size of the cow bells and the fact that people actually skin/ski around with them! Check out the photo below of Thomas and I at the Pierra Menta. Those bells are bigger than the guys head!

Thanks to Eric for the photos.

Fresh Tracks.......

I went up to Chamrousse yesterday and skied during the storm. It was pretty fun, its been ages since I have been out skiing when its dumping snow and after racing around last weekend with 300 other people it was nice to ski by myself. I stayed close to the ski area and skied lower angled slopes since I was by myself. I could still see tracks from the day before as it had only snow about 10-15cm.

Today we woke to blue skies so were out the door early for some more freshies. It snow all yesterday afternoon and those same slopes I skied yesterday were completely fulled in. We climber fast knowing that once the lifts of Chamrousse open skiers would be going out of bounds almost immediately to ski these lines.
Below is the proof we managed to beat the life lines.....



Pretty funny skiing shin deep powder on full race gear, Jane's skis are only 150cm long and 60mm under foot! The snow was super light and fluffy, so not difficult skiing.
After 2 laps on the easy to get to terrain we followed the "high way" out to one of the smaller peaks (over 2000m and I should know the name of it by now!) and managed to find some more great skiing on the way back to the car. We climbed about 1200m, which after last Saturday were the first climb of the Pierra Menta was 1200m, felt surprisingly easy.

Pierra Menta Photos

I told you the course was impressive! The above and below photos are from the 3rd day on the final climb, before the summit of the Grand Mount.

Not sure what day the above photo is from, but I am pretty sure is during the 3rd climb on the 2nd day. I believe that's Mt Blanc in the back ground with the cloud over the summit.

Like I said, 100's of (maybe over 1000!)spectators wait at the top of the Grand Mount, all going crazy!

The above 4 photos are from Jocelyn Chavy. There are more excellent photos by Jocelyn at alternativemedia.fr check them out if you have a chance!

Jane took this shot of me (and about 300 other racers!)not long after the start of the 3rd day, just after I was knocked down from a fellow racers pole catching the tip of my ski. Pretty common to see people taking a fall, breaking a pole or losing a skin with in the first 200m or so of the bigger races.

American racer Lyndsay Meyer wrote a good race report that's on Steve Romes blog TeteonAT, its worth a read to get a different take on things.

Pierra Menta 2008

The first thing I have to say about the Pierra Menta is thank god its over!

The second is I can't wait to do it again!
It was gruelling, a lot harder than both Jane and I expected, not that we ever thought it was going to be easy. I will try to recap each day as best I can, but there were times I was hurting so much, I think they have been erased from my memory.......

We arrived in Areches-Beaufort on Wednesday and were greeted with heavy rain! We checked our gear, attended the pre race meeting and moved into the house that was to be home for the next 4 days. It was pretty nice, with plenty of room for Thomas, Fabian, Jane and I. It over looked the start/finish area and was a stones throw away from Florent Pierra's home.

The view from our place, with the start and finish area in the valley floor

On the 1st day Thomas and I finished in 40th place, which wasn't bad out of the 164 teams. It was about a 2500m day. The 2nd ski was on rock hard, rain runnels, corrugated iron, which zapped all the strength out of my legs, but it wasn't until the 3rd ski were I really felt it. On the final climb the sun was out and it was really heating up, which just crushed me.

Jane and Fabian were happy with there race and finished 13th out of 21 women's teams.

The 2nd day was the biggest, about 2900meters of vertical! It was also really long, with a lot of flat ridge travel and long flat skinning sections. It also included a crazy down climb in the forest were there wasn't enough snow and a long skating section. It was really hot this day and a lot of teams had a tough day, like the Austrian/Swiss team that was 7th on the 1st day and blew up and finished 37th on the 2nd day! I was having a hard time as well, but Thomas was going strong. Surprisingly we passed a few teams on the skate and Thomas when out hard on the final climb, which was up a steep slope that had something like 80 kick turns on it! There was only 1 track broken so we were luck to have had a good position on this climb. The end was really flat and just went on and on, and the sun was at full blast. I was putting snow down my chest, back and under my helmet trying to cool off. I had also run out of water, so didn't think twice when I seen a friend with a big bottle of water. It was a hard day, but we were really happy when we found out we finished in 30th! This put us 37th over all.

Jane and Fabian were having a pretty rough day. At the top of one of the many boot pack sections on the long ridge Fabian lost her ski! It went flying off the ridge, but they were luck that a spectator when looking for it. It did take a good 30mins for the nice fellow to retrieve the ski, by which time Jane had gotten cold and found it hard to get going again. In the end they missed the cut off by about 5mins, which sadly meant there Pierra Menta was over.

The 3rd day was the famous Grand Mount day. Its amazing! the course is very impressive, with a huge climb up a arete that tops out on the Grand Mount, were a 100's of spectators are waiting for you, all going crazy! The noise on the Grand Mount is like nothing I have heard before, so many people, cow bells and horns in such a small place. The really impressive thing is that these people have all hike well over an hour to get to the top of the Grand Mount, some with BBQs! Most of the course this day is lined with people, but they were enough to pull me out of my slump, especially after I took a fall about 200m in to the race and landed really hard on the side of my butt. I was having cramping issues with my legs as it was, so this added to it. The 1st climb was 1200m. I don't think we have had a race in NZ that totals 1200m! On the final skin before the arete Thomas towed me which helped a great deal. In the end we finished 45th for the day and we in 40th over all.

Me on the 3rd day, thanks to Samuel for the photo!!

Getting out of bed for the final day was a struggle, but a later start, new snow and a shorted day all helped. Standing on the start line I wasn't really sure how long the race was as they had changed the course because of new snow, so I was pretty happy to find out at the bottom of the 2nd climb that it would be the last. I actually felt half good and when out hard on this climb, but it end the same as the rest and by the end I was cramping and moving slow. We finished the day in about 36th and that gave us a 39th position over all, not bad for our first Pierra Menta.

I hope to get some more photos up in the next few days. There are reports on skimo.org and results can be veiwed here.

La Croix de Chamrousse

I did the La Croix de Chamrousse today (Jane sat this one out). This was the 3rd and final race in the G3M series. Going into the race I was 3rd in the series and Jane 2nd. With the Pierra Menta starting on Thursday a lot of people gave this race a miss, but not the guy that was in 2nd place nor former Pierra Menta winner Pierre Gignoux.
The race started out with a short climb (not short by NZ standards....) before a short ski and then a long rolling skin in the trees. By the top of this 2nd climb Pierre was way out in front, leaving the rest of us to fight for the scraps. I was in 4 at this stage and feeling OK. The last part of the 3rd climb was booting along a ridge that was really fun. A flat ski to a col (were Jane cheered me on) and a short ski where I arrived before the 3rd place guy had left - still in the hunt! The next climb was up a steep slope with lots of kick turns and then we put on crampons at the summit to downclimb! Was kind of strange to downclimb, but snow was thin and it was pretty icy. I actually enjoyed this part and move into 3rd as another racer struggled with his skis and back pack. We arrived at the col where Jane was and then skied again. I then left this transition at the same time as the guy in 2nd! There was 3 of us now in a group fighting for 2nd and 3rd. We skinned in a group for a while (me in 2nd for a bit) and then did another boot pack. This area (boot packing) has let me down a lot this winter as I haven't done a lot of boot pack training, so it was no great surprise when the others pulled away from me. By the time I reached the summit my legs were hurting and they just hurt more on the ski with refrozen, breakable crust snow. The next skin started flat, then kick turns, then another boot pack. I was still fairly close to 3rd place, but the guy in 5th wasn't too far behind neither!
This boot pack was steep and up a nice chute. The ski was inbounds and on icy bumps, just not fun skiing. We had one more short climb before it was over, thankfully I had no one around and could relax a little. I finished 4th in the open category and 2nd in the senior men (Pierre and another guy are vets!). I also held on to my 3rd place in the G3M, which I didn't expect.Jane was totally stoked and really surprised when they called here name for 2nd in the G3M after not racing today. Over all a pretty good day for the NZ ski mo team! RESULTS
Thanks to Stephane for the video and photos!

Pierra Menta starts in 4 days!!

Probably the biggest race in France, if not any were, this 4 day, 10,000vertical meter (no, I did add a zero, its 10,000) race is the Tour de France of ski mountaineering racing. We are both really excited about this and also a little nervous.

I have put a link to the PM home page on the top of the side menu and skimo.org is hands down your best source for quick up dates, with results and photos added daily.

Nicolas' Take.......

So I know what a few of you are thinking "who is Nicolas?" Unfortunately he is not the long lost member of the NZ ski mountaineering race team, but the coach of the junior Swiss national team.
Hands down the best thing about racing is the places you go and the great people you meet. Nicolas is a great example. He wrote to me late last year after hearing about last winters Scarpa race series and wanted to offer his congratulations on a successful series. Since then I have e-mailed him often asking for advice on different things (mainly training, not that you could tell). It was great to finaly meet Nicolas, and his wife Severine, last week and really enjoyed his e-mail that he sent yesterday and wanted to share it as it gives a different perspective to the SMWC than that of Jane's and mine (it also means I have another day or 2 before "Grant's Take"). I have also included some photos of his.
Thanks Nicolas!

Hi Grant and Jane,

Yes was great to meet you guys, very nice people ! We love kiwis. Sorry I would have like to spent more time with you, but was very very busy with my team !!!! Same with my parents and Severine's : they came to watch the relay, but had only a few minutes to spent with them ! Severine had an incredible week, and that was just crazy and big for us that the girls won the relay. The feelings were so deep, I was crying ! And now the girls cut all my hairs, because I bet they wouldn’t beat the Italians !

Left is Marie Troillet and right French racer Leatitia Roux

And then the next day the silver medal, at just 1’50’’ of the Italians girls, what a race ! Severine was a bit disappointed to have to stop the last race, because of muscle problems (contracture au mollet), but is looking forward for the rest of the season.
Congratulation for your races, was great to have kiwis on the course. And will be nice to see you on the Pierra, another big-big-big experience !!! Do you know where you’ll be staying ? Sev should be racing with Gab Magnenat and myself with my colleague Gerard Bagnoud. We’re hoping for a top 25 ranking.
After this crazy week, I went to the Maya, team of 3, 300 teams (900 persons), crazy ! We finished at a strong 3rd placing, which was incredible !
Don’t hesitate if you want to use some of my words for your blog (great blog, just love it !).
All the best to you and Jane, looking forward to see you in the Pierra.

Nicolas

Jane's Take...

Jane wanted to do a small post to give some feed back from the SMWC. Probably nice for people to have another person's take on things...

First of all, a big thanks to everyone who wrote comments of support and encouragement. I have to admit even up to the last couple of weeks before the world champs, I wasn't entirely sure I would be attending, for a number of reasons. I am really glad, however, I decided to go. I was happy with all my results, but even happier with what I feel I have learnt from going to the world champs, competing and talking to fellow racers and coaches, for starters, doubling my training would help!
It would be really exciting to return in 2010 to the world champs in Andorra with a bigger, stronger NZ team. In the National Ranking NZ finished 21st out of 28, which is not a bad result for a two person team, however, there is no reason NZ could not do a lot better than this in the next world champs, it would be great for us to be able to enter the teams race and the relay next time. I think NZ has great potential in this sport being a little country with a lot of mountains and a lot of outdoors sporty types. I hope to see the sport grow in NZ this winter, hopefully with more races and more participation, so anyone who feels like organising some sort of race no matter how big or small (or competing in one, if you haven't already), go for it.
Jane

We might race in the La Croix de Chamrousse this Sunday, or we may just rest for the Pierra Menta which starts on the 13th! Will try and keep you updated

SMWC-Day 7

Apologies for not getting this final day of racing report up earlier folks, been pretty busy and tired recovering from the week.

An early start and grey skies were the scene for the final day of racing at the 2008 SMWC. The long race had been modified a little due to the warm temps during the week and the course was to be 2700m for men and 2300m for the woman. There were 2 starts, 0715 for the woman and slower males and 0830 for the top 30 (ended up being about 45) males. I think I could have raced in the late start, but after a shocking result on Sunday I could really request to be in the early race.

It was pretty nice when the gun off not to have 30 or so guys in front of me going at an inhuman speed and I was in the lead group going at a comfortable pace. I made a bit if a move towards the top of the 1st of 7 climbs and arrived in 3rd place. Next was a flat skate on sticky snow. No wax meant I was past by multiple people, but a quick transition seen me leave in 3 I think. The next 3 climbs all had boot pack section sat the end and the skiing was OK apart from the bad visibility and flat sections that seen me lose more time and places. At the bottom of the 5th climb there was a drink station, thanks to Patrick for getting me water! The climb was very long and flat (kinda boring?) and my mind started to wander a little knowing that while I was top 6 in this race, there were 45 other guys racing. It was about here that I started to get really wet from the rain, not that cold, but wet. I was glad to be at the top of the final climb, hoping the that finish was near, but the last ski was miserable! Deep, wet sticky snow and then a flat, wet, stick ski run were I was past by 2 races that had taken their time to wax their skis that night before. After getting my gear checked I had some food, got changed, waited for Jane to arrive and settled in for the main event. They were announcing over the speaker the top males, Giacomelli, Perrier, Troillet and Jornet were going at it!

Jane arrived just before Giudo Giacomelli crossed the line for the win. Fellow Italian Francesca Martinelli won the woman's race.

A great day for racing!! Perrier, Giacomelli going at it.
Photo: Gerard Berthoud/skimo.org

Jane was happy with her race as it was here biggest day skiing this year. She finished 4hr8min and in 22nd place. I did the 2700m in 3hr42mins and was 37th.