Comments on: Couloir Magazine — New Issue — March 2007

By: el lechero

el lechero — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:21:16 +0000

The CB boys killed it.

Hey Lou,

Back to the releasable bindings and avalanche question:

Almost nobody agrees with me but I would way rather know that my G3 “non relaese cable bindings” are not going to come off in avalanche terrain.

I aim to ski out of slides rather than kick a shoe in them.

What is your opinion on that?

Thanks for all the inspiration.

By: Lou

Lou — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:40:04 +0000

I admire the athleticism it takes to ski 40 miles in one push, but plenty of nordic “ski marathon” races do that.

They actually had challenging weather a few years ago, and most people were so ill prepared that the race turned into a retreat from Moscow with 40% attrition. Check out report:

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20030331/SPORTS/303300008

Amazingly, the race only has about 6,000 vertical feet of gain yet covers approx. 40 miles of ground, much of which is either nordic trails, groomed snowcat roads or resort ski runs. Throw in 2,000 more vertical feet of steep terrain, with a few boot climbs, and we’d perhaps have a mountaineering race that would take the winners longer than eight hours to cover and require backcountry boots and skis instead of nordic race gear.

I suppose it is what it is, but I’d sure like to see it be more of the “backcountry” ski race it’s promoted as and the media pants about.

By: gene

gene — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:40:15 +0000

I echo Lou’s sentiments about the GT, wishing for more challenging terrain that would neutralize the Nordic beasts. Maybe someday the stars will align and absolutely foul weather with safe snow conditions will do the trick? As to remaining easy? Haven’t had that happen yet. Good luck to all.

By: Lou

Lou — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:21:41 +0000

Yeah, we are cheering for the rando racers! As the years progress, I’ll bet people will figure out better gear, but what I’d really like to see is the organizers add a leg or two to the race that had more steep downhills and a few boot climbs up steep gnarl. Why they won’t do that and instead have made it into a nordic race is beyond me. Perhaps some entity makes a ton of money off it or something, and they want it to remain easy so they get lots of participants? Curious minds want to know. Ultimately, it just makes me sad — a nordic skate race that’s tries to come across as a ski mountaineering comp — I weep.

Brian, I’ll bet your thumb will be better soon, all that alpinist blood heals things fast!

By: brian harder

brian harder — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:06:59 +0000

Hey Lou,
Bryan and Eric are going to do something that occured to me when I first stepped into rally gear this season. I did the GT back in 2001 and thought it was one of the best events I had ever done. Although I had a great time with my last minute partner, I hated the Combi set up I was on and longed for less precarious feeling gear. Although I’m out this year I will be watching the results with great interest. Even if they don’t smoke everyone (which they might anyway), they are sure to have more fun when the tips point down. Kick some ass, boyz!

On a separate note, my thumb tendon is back with its better half and now it’s a three month wait for biology. Skied the Pass one poled anyway while everyone was suffering at the Life Link finals. Getting creative with the work outs. Don’t tell my surgeon. See you next year.