- Have two complete ski/skin set-ups and have your pit crew prep them for you so that when you come in for a lap, you step out of one and right into the other. Fried skins are a big problem in the Colorado cold, so having someone prep them for you is essential as they will fail by the end of the race if you just swap them out touring-style.
- I’d do the same thing with a small Camel-bak – have two set ups and swap them out. Have your pit crew fill them with warm (not hot) fluids that you can drink as you walk uphill.
- Clear goggles are important for the night-time! Any tint (yellow, smoke, etc) is too dark to ski with, and as you are going down a groomer, you can go pretty fast and need some sort of eye protection.
- A neoprene face mask is a good idea for the night time as well as it can get reallllllly cold on the descents.
- For food, I’d work on eating “normal� food over bars, gels, etc., as that stuff kind of catches up with you and punches out your stomach, or at least it does mine. Turkey, burgers, fries… etc – whatever you can choke down. Greg Hill set the world record on Pria (a yogurt type of drink – warmed) and fruit mix, but that is Greg.
- Don’t take a nap! Just keep going – any movement is better than none, and once you stop, it is a HUGE effort to get going again.
- Set a total vertical goal going into the race and figure out how many laps that will take, and then in turn, what kind of time you need to hit per lap. Note: you can/will go much further than you think! 30-40k is totally realistic. I just kind of winged it and right at the end missed out on hitting 40k by one lap. If I had realized this earlier, I would have adjusted my pace a bit.
- The pit area is less than ideal as it is kind of stretched out vertically instead of horizontally, so you or your pit crew has to kind up/down to the starting area. Once the area closes (4:00pm?) you can set up a tent near the start/finish area.
- 12 hours into the race is NOT halfway! The true crux is about 16 hours into it from midnight to sunrise. The last few hours aren’t bad as the sun comes back up, skiers start cheering you on, the end is in sight and you warm up a bit.
- The laps are short, so you don’t need much, if any extra stuff. The skiing is all groomers, so bring the lightest set up you have. If the ascent is in the same place, there is a little butt-kicker of a hill right near the top that can get slick, so you’ll need good skins, especially at night.
- The ascent can be done without a headlamp, and depending on the weather, the descent probably can as well. The descent is fast, so it is easy to outrun almost any headlamp. A big horkin’ bike lamp might work, but you’d probably ultimately be slower from carrying it up.
- If you have a pit crew, you can just carry your skins down in your hands and throw the whole mess at them. Or, have a jacket that you can securely stuff them in. You definitely don’t want to put them in a pack – too slow.
- Pacing is everything! Watch out for the early start speed laps as you will pay for it later. The race ain’t over ‘til it’s over and many of the early speedsters flame out. Steady as she goes wins out.
- Have fun?

Good luck!

Andrew

Please tell me what you think of the Superlights ……. I love my Sahales for the frozen hard stuff, but am wondering what the Superlights will do in Colorado variable conditions.

My normal BD Havocs are good, but with Black Diamond seemingly trending towards heavier boots and skis, I am looking at K2 more because they seem to be pushing technology in the touring/mountaineering side of things, and that’s where MY heart is at.

Review soon, please sir.