Propane heaters at the start at 5:30
At Gold Camp
After 139km.
With Jeannot at the finish.
|
|
Tree Huggers Race report- Canadian Ski Marathon Video on the ski marathon (Watch for Richard at the end) Report by Richard. The Canadian Ski Marathon is supposedly the world's longest ski tour, at 160km over 2 days. I had done the Canadian Ski Marathon Bronze and Silver before, but for the Gold award you must do the full distance, make the cut-off times and camp out overnight, carrying your full pack of gear and food the whole way. I thought it might be the hardest thing I've ever done, but was looking forward to the challenge. My friend Jeannot B has done it 7 times already, and was here again this year! Day 1 We started in the dark with about 240 Gold skiers, at about -19C. Quite a sight, all of us with steaming breath and headlamps in a huge bunch. My wax was awesome, and I was able to run up the hills past long columns of skiers, even with my 25lb pack. I needed to average about 7kph including stops, but was skiing at about 11kph when the trails were good, so the cut-off wasn't an issue. Sections were great skiing, but others were mandatory skis-off hikes, and stretches of dirty snow beside roads and bare dirt bits ate my wax at around 45km. I made the last CP's 2:30 PM cut-off by noon, so I had a nice long break there, and had 5 cups of chunky soup, 4 gatorades and 2 packs of chocolate peanuts. Olympian Pierre Harvey and friends were there an hour earlier! I took the last section much easier, cooling down so I'd not arrive at camp cooked and sweat-soaked, only to freeze. I got to Gold camp just after 2pm, about 40/240 skiers, and immediately changed my top layers to tomorrow's ski clothes and my down jacket and fleece pants. There were about 30 bonfires all ready to go, and we set up circles of hay bales around them, with planks to dry our boots on in front. It was remarkably warm and comfy. A troop of boy scouts had boiling water available. No wind, -16C. When Jeannot arrived at 3:30 we set up shop at another fire, and broke up our second bales to make probably the most comfy camping bed I've ever had, about 15cm thick. Most folks didn't bring a Thermarest. I didn't need all my dinner, but did enjoy my Crash brownie. Slept in my down jacket, with a 2L bladder full of boiling water, and was too hot so I went for a walk to cool off when I woke at 1AM. The scouts stoked our fires overnight. Amazing scene, 2 rows of bonfires and a gazillion bivvy bags. Day 2 A brisk -27C when the alarms started to go off a 4AM. Packed and ready to go early, so I was able to dry almost everything by the fire before leaving at 6. I felt strong for the first section, and wanted to move well to warm up. Hands went from too cold to sweat-soaked, to cold at the first CP. Slower conditions and poorer snow in the dicey bits. In the second section I bonked at the 100km mark, so I ate some peanut butter cups (Not frozen at -24) and geared down from then on, keeping it down to 9kph. I waited for Jeannot for 45 minutes at the second CP- rest, soup and drinks which revived me - and 30 minutes at the 3rd, but didn't see him. I was definitely tired, but still made the cut-off with over an hour to spare, and finished by 3PM after an easier paced ski. Jeannot finished his 7th gold! It was a shorter year, but the lack of long ski training showed for most folks, and the slower conditions and walking sections made for a tough enough marathon. The full distance would have been no problem though. I think there's room to trim a kg or two from my pack. Didn't need my spare toque, mega-mitts, thermarest, ultralight second sleeping bag, cooking pot, extra meal packet, third oatmeal, hand warmers or spare tights and long johns. If it had been -35C I'd have used more. All in all, more comfy and less tough than I expected, and cut-offs absolutely no problem, but it was certainly tiring. -Note- I was actually coming down with a bad cold on the last day, which explains the "bonk".
|