So you may have heard that this winter the Catamount Trail Association and Bolton Valley Resort have teamed up and will be hosting a Citizen Skimo Race Series on Wednesday Nights starting on January 27th. You might also be wondering what the heck is Skimo, and is it something you can participate in, and will it be fun?
First, let’s answer the important questions: Yes & Yes… You can participate, and it will be fun!
Next… What is Skimo?
If you’ve heard the term skimo before than you know that it’s an abbreviated term for Ski Mountaineering and might also be called randonee racing. Hearing that term might also cause you to picture something like this:
Though this photo is pretty typical of what you will find at a high level competitive event, you should know that not all skimo events are like this. In general a Skimo Race is a ski race where you race both up and down hill and that’s the only requirement. Skin suits and lungs the size of the Goodyear blimp don’t hurt, but they aren’t necessary.
The Catamount Wednesday Night Citizen Skimo Races are designed so that anyone with equipment that allows skiing uphill can come out and participate. That means alpine touring equipment, telemark skis, splitboards, and even snowboarders using approach skis… Everyone is welcome!
If you’re familiar with the weekly trail running and mountain bike races that take place during the summer at the Catamount Family Center… This series is built on the same principals. These events are more about coming out and participating as a member of a community. Sure there’s a clock, but you only have to take it as seriously as you want.
We’re hoping people will come out and maybe push themselves a little harder than they might if they were out their on their own. Getting your heart rate up, and practicing transitions from uphill mode to downhill mode as efficiently as possible will only do good things for you and your experience when you’re out on your next backcountry tour.
Things You Don’t Need… Skin suits, huge lungs, carbon everything!
What You Do Need… A good attitude, any kind of gear that allows uphill travel, the desire to be skiing rather than sitting on the couch on Wednesday nights.
Could you see yourself as one of the people in the photo below? Then you should come out! It’s going to be fun, there are going to be a lot of great people, and you get to ski!
There are (7) races in the series with the first one on Wednesday, January 27th. Each race is $10 and comes with a raffle ticket and a single ride lift ticket so you can get in a bonus lap after you’re done racing. There are two courses which we will alternate between, and the format is most laps skied in 1 hour. The fastest man and woman with the most laps each night will get a pie from Sweet Simone’s in Richmond because they’re awesome, and everyone will have the chance to win some sweet gear from our sponsors.
If you think you’ll want to come out most nights you should consider buying a season pass for $35. That’s (7) races for only $35. You just have to make it (4) times to screw us over 🙂 CLICK HERE to buy your season pass.
Hope to see you out there!
Think Snow!
