Wagner and Smullin Win First Ever Race up Snowbird

Published: Wed May 14, 2008 2:00 AM MDT

The first ever cross-country ski race up Snowbird from the base to the top of tram took place on Saturday April 19th. Maybe the toughest ski race in America?

Good times were had by all. We hope this becomes an annual event. Join us in 2009!

Results

Women
Wendy Wagner 1:16:00
Elizabeth Guiney 1:19:20
Giggi Nyquist-Burns 1:20:20
Debbie Wagner 1:21:30
Marit Glenne 1:24:24
Lisa Bruns 1:34:45
Mary Burton 1:34:45
Chirne Njeim 1:36:05
Annelies Cook 1:36:05
Laurel Anderson 2:03:00

Men
Josh Smullin 0:55:08
Torin Koos 0:55:43
Van Edgette 1:02:13
Henrick Burns 1:02:25
Dave Klein 1:03:27
Daniel Guiney 1:04:30
Jimmy Samuels 1:05:15
Gus Johnson 1:12:46
Whit Reid 1:13:00
Ian Anderson 1:14:15
Zach Anderson 1:14:52
Aaron Saari 1:17:08
Todd Anderson 1:18:57
RJ Guiney 1:19:00
Dean Huber 1:22:50
Dan O'connor 1:24:30
Johnathan Bruns 1:30:45
Fred Duberow 1:33:11
Olav Malkomsen 2:18:00
Bjorn Malkomsen 2:42:00

The start

1 km into the race

Wendy Wagner - Women's Champion

Josh Smullin - Men's Champion

Torin Koos - 2nd Place

Interesting equipment choice

Team Fischer/Craft

Jeff Meserve - Livermore, ME, posted on May 14, 2008

Awesome race! There should be more of these. What would really make it even more interesting is if they were required to turn around and ski back down.

Dave Knoop - Park City, UT, posted on May 14, 2008

Looks like mom put the hurt on some younger ladies too. How nice it is to see Debbie Wagner and
the ageless cardio machine, Van Edgette both 50+ show some elan and panache & take on a climb they know so well from way back when.

Cheers!

Gustavo Johnson - Salt Lake City, UT, posted on May 14, 2008

Congrats to J2 skier Henrik Burns as well. He killed it in this one!! This was your kind of race for sure. There were parts of this race where I was out there barely managing to walk at a decent pace, and then I look up to see Henrik out there skating dynamically. Way to go!

-Gus

Herbie Sellers - Darwin, MN, posted on May 15, 2008

"there ought to be more of these races" actually, there are and they're called ski mountaineering races or Randonee racing. It makes regular xc look like a picnic in the park...and you get to go down once you climb up.

Jason McGowin - Boulder, CO, posted on May 15, 2008

and then up again and down again and up again and down again. Yes, as Herbie said it's called ski-mountaineering or randonnee racing. There are now several races, including the Powderkeg which starts in Alta. Most of these races involve between 4000 and 6000 vertical of climbing and skiing. They are done on Randonnee skis with fixed heels for the descent. Skate skis would never make it through the courses. Most involve some backcountry terrain and/or advanced terrain in a ski area.

Of course, like everything cool, it is extremely popular in Europe with a World Cup and a World Champs. A few years ago the PowderKeg in Utah was an official World Cup race. The fastest Euros climb at the rate of over 5,000 feet an hour. That is the equivalent of going up Snowbird in about 35 minutes. There's a 4 day stage race in France called the Pierra Menta and thousands of fans climb to the top of 10,000 foot peak to spectate.

We need more nordies to come out and do these races. They're really fun! Pete Swenson, Carl's brother, won the US championships and series a few years ago and now puts on a series primarily based in Colorado called the Cosmic series. Check out www.cosmicski.com

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