Tour du Grand Veymont- My First Ski Mounatineering Race

Well, my first REAL ski mountaineering race anyway.
We both were absolutely blown away by the Tour du Grand Veymont race course today. It started with a about a 400m climb on a groomed run, then some off piste tree skiing. Next climb started on a flat summer road, then the pitch stepped and the skinning got technical, with lots of kick turns. Not as technical as the boot pack section that followed. Wow. I couldn't believe it, it was so steep, and a mixture of snow, ice and rock. Thankfully there was a fixed rope that we clipped into and we had crampons on. The next ski was a traverse of sorts and then some icy skinning and another boot pack with crampons (this seemed like a side walk after the last boot pack). A nice icy ski and a final, short skin brought us to the final ski, about 700m to the finish line. The whole time the mountains around were pretty amazing.
I started out strong, in 3rd place on the first down hill, that was until it all went wrong for me.....
I managed to hit a nice big block of snow, flung my self down hard and pulled my foot and liner out of my ski boot?! I lost at least 3-4mins and about 15 places. I managed to get back into about 11th by the 2nd climb, but was pretty tired as I had to work hard to pass so many people. I was also pretty slow on the fixed rope as it was way beyond any kind of climbing I had done before.
In the end I finished in 10th, but am pretty frustrated as I was feeling strong, but that's racing and all part of the fun. And it was pretty fun.
Jane had an OK race, she finished 2nd, but wasn't feeling her best and was a way behind the winner.
We drove out with a friend Pierre, he placed 2nd over all and won the "old mans" divison.
Nice job Pierre!

Tour du Grand Veymont

The 2nd world cup race of the season is taking place this Saturday, the Valerette Altiski in Switzerland. I am thinking about going but have been pretty sick for the last few weeks so will probably give it a miss as its a long way to go if I aren't 100%.
Closer to home is the Tour du Grand Veymont, which is part of the Grenoble 3 Massifs, or G3M. Here's a look at what we will be in for....

La Trace de Vaugel

After racing in the French Vertical champs on Saturday the last thing I felt like doing was racing on Sunday, but I knew that doing back to back races would be good training for the Pierra Menta in March. Jane was racing with the DSA president, Cecile, so we were out the door at 5am to meet up with my team mate Thomas and other DSA members for the drive up to the Les Arcs area to race in the La Trace de Vaugel, a teams race of about 2200 vertical meters.
This was a huge contradiction to Saturdays race. A lot of people don't consider a vertical race to be a "real" ski mountaineering race (a view I some what share,despite really liking the idea behind a vertical race) and even more shy away from "championships". Longer, teams races, like the La Trace de Vaugel, on the other hand are very popular and much more social.
This was going to be the longest race either Jane or I had ever done, so we were both excited and nervous at how we would handle the extra vert. The course was really interesting, we started in a small road, surrounded by small cottages and run for about 100m on the road before starting to skin. The first climb was long and included some steep skinning with lots of tricky kick turns in a heavily treed area before getting out into the alpine and sun. On the first ski it was pretty clear that the skiing was going to be less than average, with breakable zipper crust. On the 2nd climb Thomas pointed out that Mt Blanc, France's highest point, was right in font of us! The 2nd ski was spicy, with a steep,double fall line and a cliff to one side. At this point I think we were about 18th or 19th place, but as Thomas skied down fast behind another racer he turned on to the "B" course! the racer he was following was in fact the leader of the singles race, so he was going the right was, but Thomas was not..........
I managed to yell loud enough that he back tracked to the fork and we skied down the rest of the A course, but had lost 5-7mins. It was a bit of a bummer, but its not like we were in the lead or going to finish in the top 3 or anything. All part of fun! We started the 3 climb and passed the slower racers quickly and I arrived at the top before Thomas and was able to help him with his transition and we passed a few more team here also. For the 4th and final climb we busted out the bungee and I "towed" Thomas. We picked off 2 more teams and even passed another team on the final ski down! When the snow disappeared we put our skis on our packs and ran a few hundred meters to the finish line.
We finished in about 3hrs27mins and in about 23rd place. Jane and Cecile finished in 5th for the girls division.
It was a really fun race and the course was very interesting. The standard 3 course meal followed, including a selection of cheese and wine, but unfortunately no Tartiflette this weekend.....
Stephan raced in the B course this weekend, finshed in 5th place and was still able to put together this short video! Nice one Stephane.

French Vertical Championships

Well as I said, this weekend would be a reality check...........
Defending world champion Patrick Blanc, current European champion Florent Perrier and espoir world champion Nicolas Bonnet all were on the start line, along with a string of other top French racers for the French Vertical Championships on Saturday.
The course was going to be 1000m of climbing, but was reduced to 750m vertical (thankfully!). It was all on a groomed run and most of the course was pretty steep, with a few flat sections.
Now I would like to not count the 7 or 8 espoirs (21-23yrs old) that finished in front of me and say that I was 14th, but I think saying I placed 22nd is a much fairer representation of my placing. The winner, Florent Perrier finished in 24mins and I was 4min59sec behind, about 29mins. Well the placing was not what I had hoped for, I am really happy with my time! Sorry, no photos........

Nocturne de Chamrousse

We raced in the Nocturne de Chamrousse on Tuesday night. Chamrousse is a ski area about 20mins for where we are living here in France, so there was no excuse for not going up for this small relay race. It was a very simple format-teams of 2, each taking turns to climb and ski 100vert meters, the team with the most laps in 1hr wins. The best thing about this kind if race is it is really social and great training.
Jane and I decided to race together in the "mixed" division which would make it more fun and make for an all kiwi team. I started out first, again getting a little caught out , but once under way "fun and "social" soon when out the window........
I arrived at the top first and had a pretty bad transition in the wind, and felt terrible when I arrived at the bottom. I handed off to Jane and laughed to myself, watching her run off in first place as the all men's teams followed behind. I was hoping that Jane would be passed by multiple racers so I would not have to go to hard on my next lap, but she arrived not far behind the leaders in 3rd place. This continued for the next 45mins or so and and in the end we did 4 laps each and finished in 1st for the mixed teams and 3rd place over all!
As always a huge feast followed and we met some fellow racers.
I have been really surprised, but a few different people have made a point of our 3rd place finish. On PisteHors.com they wrote "a mixed New Zealand team scored a notable third place overall (Jane Harper et Grant Guise of the CAF DSA)" and the FFME web site said similar (I think, its in French). I even got a small photo in the local paper....
This weekend I will race in a vertical race for the first time. Vertical races are just that, they involve no downhill skiing and just one climb. This race will be 1000m vert and is the French vertical championships. The French are renowned for vertical races, at the 2006 World Champs the had the top 3 places for the men, so this weekend is shaping up to be quite the reality check.

Trophée du Chaberton, Sun 13th Jan

Did my first ever teams race on Sunday, the Trophée du Chaberton. I have been wanting to do a teams race for ages, so I was really excited to finally do one. I was racing with a Frenchman, Thomas, who I met through the DSA. It snowed about 30cm, so the race was changed from its original 2000 vertical meters, to about 1300m. We started out strong, arriving at the first check point in 5th, but were passed about half way up the 2nd climb. We then passed another team as they struggled skiing (we all did!) in the deep, heavy, new snow during the 2nd descent. Thomas lead the 3rd climb and was going strong, but I had skin issues and had to stop and swap to new skins. At this point I think we dropped back to 8th or 9th, but luckily I wasn't the only one with skin issues and we got back into 5th, leaving the transition just in front of another team. With Thomas being the stronger skier, I pulled aside to let him lead, but it never happened, instead, another team passed me! We held our position during the final climb and crossed the finish line (not before I took a hard, hard fall just before the finnish line) in 6th place.
It was a good race, with Thomas later telling me that he has never gone so hard in a race before, which explained why he had nothing for the ski down.
Jane entered the B course, which is a singles race of about 1000vert meters. Yep, you guessed it, she cleaned up! There was only 2 girls in the open class, but she did finish 7th over all (guys and girls) and was really happy with her result.
After the race there was a huge feast that included this ridiculously big fry pan of potato's and sausages cooked in a cheese sauce. Got to hand it to the French, they don't mess around when it comes to food (or ski mountaineering).
Tomorrow night Jane and I will race as a team in a small relay race, Nocturne de Chamrousse. I think we stand a good chance of winning the mixed teams category.
Here's a nice little video from the Trophée du Chaberton. They are Thomas' legs below and if you are quick you might spot me. I hope your French is better than mine...


Montgenevre Defi Chaberton 2008
Uploaded by snowmontge

DSA Training

Had a little outing with the Dauphine Ski Alpinisme club, which Jane and I are members of now, on Saturday. They organised a small training clinic with French ski mountaineering legend Pierre Gignoux.
Rather than me writing about it, check out this video Stephan made........

la Nocturne de l'Aigle Cancelled/ La Plein Taquet Video

Unfortunately the la Nocturne de l'Aigle, or Night of the Eagle, was cancelled last Tuesday due to a lack of snow! I thought that kind of thing only happened in NZ.
We have a race coming up this Sunday, the Trophée du Chaberton. Jane is going to race in the singles event, which is around 1000m and I will do the teams race with a French guy that I will race with during the winter. The Teams race is about 2000m, so will be a real test as its the first time I have done a race this big, can't wait!

To give you a taste of what a race in Europe is like, here's a video of the start of La Plein Taquet which we raced in last Saturday night.

Plein Taque- Our First Race of The Season

Last night we finally lined up for our first race of the season here in France, the Plein Taque, a short individual race. The Plein Taque is held in Le Planay, which is home to the biggest race in France, the Pierra Menta. The race course was very short, just 3 laps of 140 vertical meters, so was a real sprint. Despite it being short, it was a very interesting and fun course. It started on a ski run and then quickly turned into the "off-piste" and the skin track climbed between trees before going steeply up beside another groomed ski run. Once at the top, the downhill started out on a narrow summer road, that included a short uphill skate and a high speed hair pin turn that spat you out onto a groomed run that lead back to the start/finish area. If this wasn't interesting enough it was 6:30 at night, so apart from the start /finish area, the whole thing was only lit up by competitors head lamps.
We had no idea what to expect as we drove up to this event, as we knew it was only a small race. As we drove through Beafort on the way to Le Planay, we spotted Florent Perrier, the 2007 winner of the Pierra Menta standing outside the local cheese factory, then in Areches, racers walked the streets in tight, one-piece lycra suits.
At race registration we spotted a good chunk of the French national team, including Grégory Gachet, Florent Perrier's partner from the Pierra Menta and Laetitia Roux, the female European champion! So much for just a "small race".
Lining up for the start was an experience in itself, as everyone looked fast, we weren't sure were to go in the line up. Not understanding French was also an issue at this point, as I was totally caught off guard as racer's around me took off. I was amazed at how fast the guys in the front were going! I quickly started passing people trying to make up for a bad start and my poor starting position. It was amazing skinning up as cheers of support and bells rang out from the dark on almost every corner of the lower part of the course. I passed a few more people near the top and had a good transition, coming out just behind 2 other racers and only darkness behind me. Arriving at the bottom for the 2nd uphill racers were greeted by bright lights and a lot of noise from the crowed that was waiting. I arrived just as the 2 racers in front of me were leaving and there was a string of head lamps in front of them- I had no idea where I was placed. Just after me was top female racer Laetitia Roux.
I botched my next few transitions, as the 2 guys in front of me got further away, but I managed to hold off Roux!
As I crossed the finish line, I had no idea were I had placed, but was surprised how few races had already finished, so was stoked to find out I had place 8th over all, with the only races in front of me being French team members. Some of whom are only 18-19yrs old.
Jane finished about 5 min behind me. Her unbeaten run had come to an end, but she was stoked to place 4th in the female class, also only being beaten by French team members.
After a short warm down we went inside for prize giving and dinner. Jane was stoked to get a bottle of red wine and some salami for getting 4th and I picked up another bottle of red as a spot prize! Then a huge dinner was served and we got talking to some fellow racers, who were very interested to hear that we were from New Zealand.
Other Race News
I have just found out that my application to race in the Patrouille des Glaciers has be accepted! The PDG is a 1 day suffer fest, that climbs almost 4000 meters and is 53km long! It is a teams race of 3, so I hope I can convince some other kiwis to make it over for this race in late April.
While in Areches yesterday we also put in our applications to race in the Pierra Menta. It is a teams of 2, 4 day race, that covers almost 10,000m of climbing. We have both found some French racers to do this with.
Next race is this Tuesday night, the La Nocturne de l'Aigle (Night of the Eagle), a short 2 person relay race. Its 80m laps and you and your team mate do as many as you can in 1hr. I think Jane and I have a good chance of winning the mixed division, we will see....

Team Member Gary MacPherson

Today we catch up with another member of the New Zealand Ski Mountaineering Team. As stated in the previous post, the team has been thinned out a little, with Kath and Duncan both having to pull out due to injuries, so it does seem like a good time to find out a bit more about one of the racers that's still fit and ready to go.

Gary MacPherson has the prestige of winning NZ's first ski mountaineering race, the 2006 Temple Basin Rando Rally. He turned in a good effort at the BD Ohau event this winter, for a 3rd place finish (pretty good as he had just recovered from an ankle operation!), but the flu and work got the better of him and he never managed to line up for the other 3 races. He's looking to make up for that in Switzerland.
I managed to squeeze a few details out of the native Scotsman turned kiwi....
SkiMoNZ:How did you get into ski mountaineering racing?
G Mac: Through work managing a field that hosted a ski mo event and love of ski touring.

Why do you race/what's the best part of racing?
It's an extension of back-country skiing combining my love of multisport racing.

What event are you most anticipating at the SMWC? Individual Long Race, it is a 3000 metre vertical event!
Any advice for anyone wanting to get into racing in NZ? Just do it. Get yourself a good touring set up and come along for a fun day out.

What training are you doing currently in preparation? Training for Coast to Coast - a one day challenge crossing from one side of New Zealand to the other. Doing lots of running, cycling and paddling.

Gary, training hard. Avalanche Peak, APNP, spring 2007