Vertfest - Mt. Bachelor - 1.19.13

Marathon start (photo: tapperphoto.smugmug.com)

Last Saturday, I did my first Snowboard Mountaineering race. There was little to no mountaineering, but there certainly was a lot of skinning, transitioning, and some good bootpacking. As my loyal reader(s) knows, less than a month has passed since I got my first splitboard--a Jones Carbon Solution 161--so I had a hard time deciding what category to do. There was a dedicated splitboarding division with a recreational category that did a single run up Mt. Bachelor's cinder cone, a moderate class that had about 2000 vertical feet of climbing, and then the advanced class with over 4000 vertical and 5 transitions--not including the bootpack up the cone.

LOTS OF PHOTOS AND A FULL RACE RUNDOWN AFTER THE JUMP 

I decided that if I was going to drive all the way to Bend, I might as well go "advanced." I have done plenty of 4000ft+ days--including a few in the past two weeks--but I never have raced up them. According to my watch, my usual rate of ascent is about 23ft/min if I am traveling at a pace I can maintain all day. Looking at last year's results from Alpental, I figured out that some of the skiers were getting well into the mid-40ft/min pace (based on their total time, not just time ascending). So I was having visions of puking on the side of the course with my flashy board, while legions of Bendites lapped me on heavy home-built splits. But luckily for me, that isn't exactly how it went down.

4:05 and freezing fog

I packed up and hit the road a little before 4am Saturday morning. The roads were quiet and heavily fogged. We have had a big temperature inversion for the last week, with the mountain seeing perfectly sunny skies and near 60° temperatures, while the valley is covered in freezing fog. The drive to Bend covers some big changes in elevation and climate, and it was interesting to watch my truck thermometer jump all over the place during the drive.

The 4 hour drive gave me plenty of time to wake up and think about the upcoming day, and some awesome Native music around the Warm Springs area got me ready to race!

I pulled into the Mt. Bachelor parking lot a little after 7:00, and crashed out for what little time I had left before registration.

Grabbed my bib at registration, and found out that there was only one other person registered in my category. The course looked pretty straightforward, which I was happy to see because I have only ridden Bachelor a few times.

The course got extended down to the bottom of Outback (further than shown here)

The turnout was smaller than I had expected, but it also was the first time that Vertfest had come to Mt. Bachelor, and those that did show up were definitely serious backcountry folk, so the competition was real. My goals were: to win; to keep up a good climbing rate above 30ft/min; and to push myself hard and make the drive worth it regardless of the competition. I also got the idea into my head that a new Jones split might be going to the winner--based on hearing that Jones was giving product away, and the fact that I saw a Hovercraft split given away at the Baker Beacon Rally. I have never ridden a Hovercraft, but aside from the board that I have, that is the board I would most like to ride! So that was definitely a motivating factor.

The snowball dropped at 10:10 for the marathon start. I had a good initial push, and fell in with the advanced skiers. I was able to pace the average skiers in that category, but it was definitely much quicker than I was used to traveling. My lungs were burning, but my legs were keeping up, and my only competitor in the advanced splitboarding category was behind me. That didn't last long. His climbing ability was no joke, and he pulled a little bit ahead of me on the first climb. Karakoram bindings came through for me on the first transition, and I made up for ground I had lost on the uphill. My board handled the hardpack groomers really well, and I passed some folks with ultralight touring gear on the first downhill leg. My transition for the second uphill was just okay, and my competition and I were shoulder to shoulder once again. The climb was steep and the snow was hard. I was a little worried that I would have trouble keeping traction on some parts, but I never did. I lead my division for about half the climb, and then got passed. I was definitely giving a damn good effort, and it became apparent that I wasn't going to be able to pace my competition on the climbs. My next transition got held up by some ice on my binding plates, and that pretty much sealed the deal. I had made one more mistake by setting my bindings up reversed during the second climb. I noticed it when I did it, but I didn't think it would matter, and wouldn't be worth the time to fix the problem. I was definitely wrong, and spent the whole climb kicking my buckle releases and having to re-tighten them. That was the first and last time that I will ever make that mistake.

I had a small Black Diamond pack on my back with a hydration pack, which I would not have been able to make it through without. I also had a Clif Builder's Bar and a pack of Shot Blocks. I learned a good lesson when I tried to force down the Builder's Bar on one of the more challenging climbs of the second leg; I couldn't get the bar down, and had to spit it out just to keep breathing. The mellow part of the third climbing leg, I took the opportunity to get the other half of the bar down as well as half the Shot Blocks. Much better. I think that was key to keep my muscles going through the remainder of the race.

The final big climbing leg seemed to go a bit easier than the previous lap (where I had gotten passed). Maybe my legs were better warmed up, maybe I was going a little slower, or maybe it was psychological and I was more relaxed since it was apparent that winning was out of my reach at that point; unless #1 had an injury or equipment malfunction, I was coming in 2nd. I pumped out the final big push, rode down and got a good run up the backside of the cinder cone, jogged up the bootpack staircase that the lower divisions had broken in for us, and then rode down the choppy, variable snow on the cone and across the finish line to a 2nd place finish--which actually turned out not to be a last place finish since we had a girl decide to join the group last minute.

My official time was 2:12:43. My watch said that I did 4403ft at an average speed (calculated using only the time I was recording a positive elevation change) of 39ft/min. I am very happy with those numbers, and that is 170% of my normal pace. That's great for me. I really don't like losing, but pushing hard gives me contentment, and I was barely keeping my breakfast down for a lot of the race, so I feel like I gave it about all that I could.

Congratulations to Trevor Lane who won the splitboard division with a time of 2:04:07! Also, no board was given away, which made it an easier pill to swallow. Sorry Trevor!

The awards ceremony was great, and the weather couldn't have been better! I got to meet a lot of great people in the rando/splitting/telemarking communities--some of whom I am sure will become touring partners in the future.

I chatted it up with a few of the spandex-wearing (I am sure that is not what it is, but you know what I mean) Dynafitters, and heard about an informal race series that this guy Brandon Kern runs up at Snowqualmie. Check it out here, and be sure to go get your ass kicked by those guys if you are ever in the area. By the way, the winning skier put down a time of 1:32:25! Untouchable by me at this point, but maybe I will be in their universe with some more training and some faster transition work. Of course, randonee guys will always smoke me on transitions, regardless of how efficient I get, so I will have to work on climbing ability that much more.

Overall, it was a successful day, and I was pleased with my effort. Congratulations again to Trevor Lane, as well as everyone who raced. A big thanks to the event organizers and Outdoor Research for sponsoring the event (as well as clothing me). Jones and Karakoram, I couldn't do it with out your gear, and I am sure that whoever eventually wins the whole race on a split will be on your stuff. I look forward to doing it all again at Alpental on February 16th and hope to see you there!

Had a great 1500ft hike and bivy at Smith Rock to finish the day

Jumped on the road at 3am and made it back to Hood for two perfect days of patrolling