EISPIRATEN

Just gauging interest: would anyone be interested in an informal, endurance randonnée race on Baldy in mid to late February? I'm thinking something akin to those of our Italian friends, except with emphasis on it being "unofficial" in light of liabilities and complications with the forest service. If we could get 10-20 skiers from the area, I think it could be quite a lot of fun!

I'm thinking along the lines of arriving at the hut Friday night (not necessarily sleeping inside, but it would be nice) and taking 3 or 4 laps the next day up the SE ridge, to the summit, and down the broad, gentle slopes of the bowl on skier's left (mostly because I suck at skiing). It's about 1500 ft vertical per lap. We could wand the route and have a timekeeper to make it feel like a real race. Let me know if you're interested; it looks like several people from SummitPost and Caltech are already on board!

I dont have randonnee skis but I'd be interested in helping time or wand the course.

I would also lilke to volunteer my assistance of setting course or help time. I also have 6 or 8 two way radios I could lend for the volunteers and timers to help coordinate things. maybe others could bring there two way radios as well to help communicate between those at top and bottom of course.

Sweet! I'll make a post here when we get a weekend figured out.

hamik wrote:Sweet! I'll make a post here when we get a weekend figured out.

If I can put in a request for a date, I'd appreciate it, then I would for sure make it out.

I only have Feb 6, 7, or 20th available to help out. If it falls on one of those days, count me in. If not, no worries - have fun up there.

I had to choose the 21st of February . The main reason is that the hut is open Saturday night so people can sleep there before the race. Hope some of you folks can still make it out, though! It still looks like a cozy and small event, but there's a little more interest than I anticipated.

I'm putting on an informal, endurance ski mountaineering race on Mount Baldy on Sunday, February 21. It's intended to be friendly and is totally "under the table" so the forest service doesn't get involved, but I do expect some good competition. Come on out! It looks like 10-15 people will be there, and maybe more if you tell your buddies

Details: February 21, 10 am. That keeps us well within the lifetime of the SoCal snowpack and gives us room to move it back in case there's adverse weather. I'm not going to bother with sign-ups and all that; just show up Sunday morning at 10 at the hut (I think at least a few will stay overnight on Saturday) and we'll write down names, explain the route, and so on then. By that time the route will have been wanded and timekeepers cozied up in place. Someone on the San Gabes forum even volunteered 6 radios for communication with people around the route, so this might even resemble a race! There will be no prizes, no website, no cheering spectators. Only the unspoken respect of the grimy, breathless competitors you quash. Look forward to it!

We are indeed on for Sunday! No promises that the route will be marked, that no one will die, or that it will be a huge event, but at least a few of us will be up there to suffer for three laps, and you are most welcome to join us (even sans skis!).

How did it go, Hamik?

Stayed in hut Saturday night as my alpine club practice trip compatriots shivered outside, ha ha! Participation was very low, sadly, but Nick and I had some fun (the other two stuck to one lap). 44 minutes to summit from hut for me (I'm sure I can drop this to 35 minutes or less when my training regimen upgrades from programming and chocolate chip cookies), 15 minutes for first lap descent (dense fog and ice). Stopped to chat with Patrick and Ellen from the San Gabes forums. Waited at hut for 15 minutes for Nick. Started on second lap together. Stopped for a tickle and Nick left me, never caught up (30 seconds behind). Put skis on in hot pursuit at the summit, but b/c of ice in toe dimples of Dynafit boots, my bindings popped off on an icy patch and one ski went down the north face! A little over an hr later, I returned to the summit pissed off but fortunately with two skis (and a quirk of Dynafits learned...). Descended again in heavy fog and chilled at the hut until Nick returned from his third lap. I was very amused that my forearm hairs had iced up during the second descent. Descended with alpine club folks.

So you got your ski back?

Yes--but fortunately there were no children present during the recovery process...

At least it was a good lesson learned! I read about the potential for this to happen after boot packing, but I didn't think to clean the toe dimples (probably because I'm usually skinning).

Didja hafta boot down the NF, or was there a really really really long cord attached to the ski, courtesy of Dynafit?

Not only do Dynafits weigh 1/2 as much as other AT bindings, they also have jet-powered retrieval systems! After losing contact with their owners for 1 hr, they blast into the stratosphere, initiate sophisticated visual and infrared frequency owner localization systems at the apex of flight, and enter freefall along a trajectory meticulously calculated with sampled wind data from the jet stage. At 200m, a parachute is strategically deployed so that the skis land within 100m of the user. Unfortunately for me, the summit was within a 100m radius, so I had to climb back up to it to get my skis.

Ah, the wonders of technology.

hamik wrote:Not only do Dynafits weigh 1/2 as much as other AT bindings, they also have jet-powered retrieval systems! After losing contact with their owners for 1 hr, they blast into the stratosphere, initiate sophisticated visual and infrared frequency owner localization systems at the apex of flight, and enter freefall along a trajectory meticulously calculated with sampled wind data from the jet stage. At 200m, a parachute is strategically deployed so that the skis land within 100m of the user. Unfortunately for me, the summit was within a 100m radius, so I had to climb back up to it to get my skis.

ok, so i laughed with my mouth closed, but it was a good hearty laugh! that was a great word picture Hamik.

Yeah, Hamik, that was some enjoyably zany stuff.

Glad to read you were able to maintain your sense of humor!
And also that you were able to recover your ski in 1 piece.