SkiMoNZ

Saturday, 5 January 2008

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

Monday, 31 December 2007

Bad News.......

I have been super busy over the last month and have neglected this site a little. As they say "no news is good news", so what do you know, my first post in a month and its bad news........ Unfortunately both Kath and Duncan have decided against competing in Europe this summer due to nagging injuries that have prevented them from doing any full training for the last 2-3 months. This is quite a blow for NZ's new and developing ski mountaineering racing scene, as having both Kath and Duncan race at the 2008SMWC would have helped greatly in the growth of the sport here in NZ with all the new skills they would have returned home with. Looks like Gary, Jane and I will just have to step it up a notch now in Switzerland come February. Jane and I are based in France now with training coming along slowly, but steadily. I arrived minus my ski bag, which wasn't too bad as it took about a week to recover from the 30+hrs of travel. The missing bag finally turned up and this past week was the first solid week of training with about 7000m of vertical for the week. Not huge, but starting to get into the swing of things. Had a nice 2000m day on New Years.
Word from Gary is he is training his ass off!

This is a shot of Jane on New Years day.

Friday, 30 November 2007

Announcing the 2008 New Zealand Ski Mountaineering Race Team

A few of you out there may have already heard the news, that New Zealand for the first time will be represented at the Ski Mountaineering World Champs (SMWC), that will take place at Portes du Soleil in Switzerland. The 4th SMWC will run from February 23rd to March 1st 2008.

The team is-

Duncan Sherratt

Gary MacPherson

Grant Guise

Jane Harper

Kathy Conlan

Fraser MacIntosh -team manager/support

The 2008 NZ team has also so picked up some amazing support along the way.

Swiss company Texner will supply custom race suits and other sponsors are Icebreaker, Buff, Marvelox and the New Zealand Alpine Club.

More details of the SMWC can be seen at http://www.smwc2008.ch/

For the next 11 or so weeks we will do a series of “meet and get to know” members of the New Zealand ski mountaineering race team.

This is the first in a series of “meet and get to know” members of the New Zealand ski

mountaineering race team.
This week we catch up with Jane Harper. Jane is one of the more experienced members of the team, having won the 2007 Asian Ski Mountaineering Champs in Nagano, Japan.
Jane also is undefeated, having placed 1st in both the 2006 and 2007 Temple Basin Randonnee Rally and CraigieBurner events and winning the 2007 Scarpa Ski Mountaineering Race Series.
-SkiMoNZ: How did you get into ski mountaineering Jane, in particular the race side of it?
-JH: I did the MECNZ ski patrol course in Wanaka in 2003, we had to buy all the necessary gear, including a back country ski touring set up. Part of the course included doing back country days and it just grew from there. When I first heard about ski mountaineering races it sounded like a lot fun, so I just gave it ago.
-SkiMoNZ: You have had a very successfully run so far, wining all 7 races you have enter, what do you hope to achieve in Europe this winter?
-JH: I want to see what I am capable of.
-SkiMoNZ: What kind of preparation are you doing training wise?
-JH: Currently trail running uphill at least 1hr 4-6 days a week. I will be living in France from mid December and plan on stepping training up once there. Skinning at least 1000m vert most days, as well as some skate skiing.
-SkiMoNZ: What event are you most anticipating at the SMWC?
-JH: The individual short race has me the most excited. Its 1600m vertical and the course looks really nice. If all goes to plan, I will race on it as part of a World Cup event a month before the SMWC.
-SkiMoNZ: For you, what is the best thing about these races?
-JH: The best thing about racing is you get really fit, so when you are out on a fun day back country skiing you can get more turns.

Jane standing atop Temple Peak, high above Temple Basin in Arthur's Pass National Park

Tuesday, 20 November 2007

Taranaki Hard Core.....

Well, I don't think we can quite claim that yet, but our first 3 days in the Naki have been pretty darn good!

Got things started with a little trail running on Saturday. We both ran to the snow line, which worked out to be about 900m of vert. Was good to get an idea of things, as we planned to return the next day with skis.

On Sunday we started from North Egmont, up the Summit Rd, but not before being asked "do you know this mountain?" by a little old lady who was concerned that we might be a little confused with the skis on our back.

We made it to the 2518m summit of Mt Taranaki in about 3hrs and had really good skiing off the top before skiing into the early after noon cloud that had rolled in. We made it back to the camper in just under 5hrs for the car-summit-car trip, with 1585m climbing and about 700m vert skiing.

I woke up yesterday and wanted to ski some more, so after a late start (3 in the after noon!) I managed to climb to the top of Snow Valley (just over 12oom from the Camp House) in about 1hr45min. It was there that I meet up with Glenn, the man behind MountainZ and iclimb. I was hoping to catch up with Glenn on this trip, so it was a nice surprise to randomly meet him out on the hill rather than in a cafe or bar.

Training is coming along, but when I add up the vertical I climbed over the last 3 days it doesn't even add up to the total vert of the Patrouille des Glaciers race, let alone the 10,000 vertical meters that's climbed during the 4 day event the Pierra Menta!