Cosmic Race

Nick Malik has paved some new ground as being the first CRMS Telemark Team athlete to marry the worlds of backcountry racing with downhill Telemark Events. In addition to competing in the Big Mountain arena, he will also compete in at least two backcountry events, including the Sunlight Cosmic Race and the 24 Hours of Sunlight. The following is an excerpt from his experience in the Cosmic Race last Sunday:

"COSMIC is a ski mountaineering race series that kicked off the tour at Sunlight on the 18th of January.

The race started at the base of Sunlight at the lodge. We skinned up Sun King under the lift to the top of the mountain and skied down the 52 degree "Heathen", which is the steepest ski run in Colorado.

The next lap would lap would follow this same ascent route. As I began my second ascent, my skins were iced up and they were only attached at the tips and tails. About 2/3 of the way up my tail clips fell off and i could not re-attach them. I boot packed the rest of the way to the summit.

The second descent was down Defiance to Lower Defiance. Lower Defiance goes below the base and is not serviced by a lift. From the bottom of the second descent there were 30 switch backs up to the bottom of Defiance where the course went out of bounds traversing 2 miles around the mountain to the summit.

In this backcountry traverse there was a steep bootpack section followed by more skinning to the top for the third and final descent on The Heathen. At the bottom of Lower Defiance my skins still failed to stick to my skis and I had to boot pack up the 30 switchbacks.

I did not continue the race after that point. I was one of four CRMS students competing in the race division and the only one to finish was Rob Devney in the mens race division at just over 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Off-Piste coach Sarah Selling also finished the race course in the womens heavy metal division. Most CRMS students competed in the junior recreational division which is an ascension from the bottom to the top and then another half lap, about half the length of the race course.

I competed in the Mens Heavy Metal division. The Heavy Metal division is new this year, it replaced the telemark division and includes telemark, splitboards, and heavy AT set ups. The race division is for the ultralight dynafit racing set ups."

Park

We spent Monday at the pool working on air and the plan for today was to build backcountry kickers, but we are now two weeks out from the last storm and the firm conditions suggested our time would best be spent in the park.

Luke Lubchenko reaches for some ski.

Noah Johns orbits the Colorado Rail in the Snowmass Park

Hayden Kennedy over table two of three.

Duncan Marsh owns an urban box.

Sunlight Sprint Classic

Today marked the first competition for the 2009 season, and for most everyone who attended today's optional comp, it was their first Telemark competition ever.


The girls were Hannah Hall, Kelsey Bohanon, and Gracyn Overstreet and the guys were Trevor Gomez, Peter Madigan, Grady Lenkin, Juan Pablo Alcozer, Thorn Warner, and Jared Carlson.


Also in attendance for moral support were Kelsey Lewis, Charinne Contouris, and Nick Malik.
The day proved to be a tremendous success and coaches were impressed on many levels with the crew's turnout in their first Sprint Classic.


What is a Sprint Classic, you might ask?
This is a unique Telemark event (that has a World Cup Cirquit) that consists of a giant slalam course, with a jump mid course, a 180 banked turn near the end, and an uphill skating section. Racers are required to clear a certain point off the jump and land in the Telemark possition, or they accrue 2 sectond penalties for both failing to clear the distance and land in the Telemark turn. Athletes also accumulate 2 second penalties for every gate they do not Telemark turn around.

USTSA Joslin Classic Results 2009
Place	Last Name	First Name	Bib #	1st Run			2nd Run			Total
Boys 12&U
1	Durrum	Brenon	252	2:06.40			2:10.65			04:17.05
2	Resignolo	Matthew	253	2:19.86			2:12.04			04:31.90
Girls 12 &U
1	Hillmuth	Annecy	251	1:31.70			1:37.02			03:08.72
2	Walters	Carolyn	303	1:54.44			1:51.32			03:45.76
Boys 13-17
1	Shefte-Jacobs	Max	306	1:23.89			1:28.73			02:52.62
2	Pylman	Danny	325	1:34.58			1:32.92			03:07.50
3	Powers	Justin	335	1:35.02			1:35.34			03:10.36
4	Grasscamp	Cole	324	1:32.10			1:39.01			03:11.11
5	Cerny	Austin	330	1:39.37			1:40.11			03:19.48
6	Walters	Rick	304	1:35.77			1:47.94			03:23.71
7	Foster	Will	318	1:43.72			1:48.40			03:32.12
8	Madiaan	Peter	309	1:39.07			1:55.32			03:34.39
9	Yanke	Andrew	336	1:46.92			1:56.27			03:43.19
10	Ronde	John	302	1:47.06			1:59.06			03:46.12
11	Alcocer	Juan Pablo	311	2:02.76			2:00.41			04:03.17
2	Goldstein	Jordan	323	2:29.01			1:36.24			04:05.25
3	Sheldon	Tanner	328	2:05.39			2:23.61			04:29.00
4	Carlson	Jared	312	2:05.05			2:28.44			04:33.49
5	Brill	Ande	329	2:16.74			2:22.49			04:39.23
6	Knobel	Simon	332	2:45.68			2:14.25			04:59.93
7	Thompson	Marshall	322	3:08.58			1:54.62			05:03.20
8	Warner	Thorne	313	3:14.85			1:56.73			05:11.58
9	Hansen	Chase	338	3:13.78			2:21.54			05:35.32
	Lenkin	Grady	310	DQ			1:44.39			DQ
	Gomez	Trevor	314	2:14.48			DQ			DQ
	Reid	Ian	321	DQ			2:02.59			DQ
Girls 13-17
1	McKinstry	Madi	305	1:36.80			1:42.67			03:19.47
2	Ebel	Riley	326	1:41.43			1:45.63			03:27.06
3	Ross	Kathleen	301	1:47.00			1:51.18			03:38.18
4	Walters	Carolyn	303	1:54.44			1:52.32			03:46.76
5	Taylor	Zoe	300	2:07.34			1:54.51			04:01.85
6	Bandoni	Emily	327	2:04.22			2:03.00			04:07.22
7	Knust	Ellie	317	2:12.10			2:07.58			04:19.68
8	Graves	Elizabeth	331	2:11.28			2:09.19			04:20.47
9	Edgerton	Cynthia	337	2:39.04			1:58.38			04:37.42
10	Samuels	Kelsey	319	2:17.40			2:20.92			04:38.32
11	Domke	Emily	333	2:15.62			2:28.41			04:44.03
12	White	Meredith	316	2:23.99			2:30.46			04:54.45
13	Overstreet	Gracyn	308	2:37.19			2:48.97			05:26.16
14	Bohanon	Kelsey	315	3:14.85			2:21.40			05:36.25
15	Horn	Hannah	307	3:14.42			2:36.57			05:50.99
	Idzikowski	Sydney	320	DQ			2:11.46			DQ
	Burne	Nicole	334	DQ			2:01.75			DQ