On Saturday April 19th, The North Face Canadian Ski Mountaineering Championships turned out to be the toughest race yet. But the difficult course and conditions did not deter a record number of competitors participating in all three races at this years’ 2008 National Championships.

The North Face Spearhead Passage

Weather dawned clear and cold with starting temperatures around –18C with a steady wind. The new course this year offered up some serious surprises including a boot pack climb up Exhilaration couloir which tops out at over 45 degrees.

The colder temperatures played havoc with freezing hydration systems and some competitors had limited or no water for the entire 26km, 4 + hour race! A total of 41 racers competed with a sprint finish for the top two competitors, Aaron Chance (CAN) and Andy Traslin (CAN). Both men are members of Canada’s national squad and have been battling it out all season. Andy came across the line first but suffered a time penalty which meant he lost the race by an incredibly close 21/100ths of a second! After 3.5 hours of racing! A young Riener Thoni (CAN) came in third with a very strong performance. Clearly one of the up and coming new stars for the Canadian team. Riener’s father, Rudi, and mother, Patricia also competed on the weekend. A remarkable family effort!

The top women were Melanier Bernier (CAN) (1st), Julie Matteau (CAN) (2nd) and Erica Janakova (CZ/CAN) (3rd). Both Melanie and Julie are members of Canada’s national Ski Mountaineering team. The competitors loved the course additions with its more difficult technical climbs.

The North Face Whistler Dash racers competed on a shortened version of the same course. So conditions were not much easier for them. Their 11k course saw a number of new comers and some very fast times lead by Steven Ziff in 1st, Dave Crew 2nd and Andre Munck in 3rd. There were 12 competitors in the Dash race. Top women were Carolyn Swertka (USA) up from the Jackson Hole in her first ever race. 2nd was Emelie Steinberg (CAN) and Birgitta Nieport (DAN) in 3rd. An international field in the citizen’s race!

Sunday saw an early start for competitors in The North Face Whistler WindUP as they shook off the tired legs and lungs from Saturday and hammered up the steep 1200m climb from Whistler Village to the Roundhouse. The young legs of Riener Thoni was the class of the day with a time of 1:08:57! 2nd was Matt Thompson (CAN) and 3rd was Javier Garcia (ESP). Matt chose to use snowshoes for this race and showed the snowshoers on a steep and hard course could keep pace with the skiers only 6 minutes behind Riener.

The women’s field was lead by Melanie Bernier and followed by Lina Augattis (CAN) and in third, Birgitta Nieport. Melanie posted a fast pace at 1:30:34. Amazing performance after a hard day of racing the day before.

Total racers competing was 76, an new high. A very successful weekend of racing which is continuing to establish the Spearhead Passage as one of the most difficult and most favoured stops on the North American schedule.

More at http://www.wbfj.ca/