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Ski Mountaineering Competition Canada
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Competition Climbing Canada |  |
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About Ski Mountaineering | ||
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Contact info | ||
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Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Competition Team 2012 | ||
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backcountryskiingcanada.com | ||
SMCC 2012 Race Calendar
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Saturday 03 December 2011 – VERT 180 | ||
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We kicked off the ski mountaineering competition season with this hugely popular evening sprint/relay/enduro event at Canada Olympic Park. Some fun Quick Facts about this years MEC Vert180: |
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Race results: Solo Female | Solo Male | Two Person Relay | Four Person Relay | Overall Results  |
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Saturday/Sunday 11/12 February 2012 – DOGTOOTH DASH |  |
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| These are Canada’s National Skimo Championships, featuring two days of racing for all classes and categories. Golden BC is the heartland of Canadian backcountry, and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort always puts on the highest profile event. Come party! http://www.kickinghorseresort.com/resort/events | |||
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Saturday 25 February 2012 – ROAM Randonnée Rally | ||
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An SMCC ranking event is always a central part of the annual Cold Smoke Powder Festival at Nelson, BC. Whitewater hosts. Expect a bigger field entering in this off-championship year. Info, as it becomes available, here: www.coldsmokepowderfest.com | ||
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Saturday 24 March 2012 – KEN JONES CLASSIC | ||
| Celebrating its namesake with big backcountry, this race rolls out of Lake Louise Ski Area and tours the heights. The Pro Patrol likes to show off their great terrain. Info TBA here: www.skilouise.com/things-to-do/events and on this page. | |||
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More – RED MOUNTAIN, SUNSHINE, USSMA |
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We’re still coordinating organizers and officials for possible races at Red (Rossland, BC), Sunshine (Banff, AB), and don’t forget our sister hoedowns south of the border on the USSMA Calendar. Make this winter a big one! Info TBA. |
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6 tips to get you ready for your first ski mountaineering race
| TEAM | ||
The Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Competition Team has been named for 2012. Selected based on interest, potential, and ranking over 2011 races, they are: |
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Team training has already begun, with glacier sessions, outings to The Pass, and dryland work. Uniforms have been re-ordered - thanks to partners Rab and The Alpine Club of Canada. 2012 is an off-year for World Championships, but several team members are planning personal European visits for ISMF calendar events. Out-of-country Team efforts this winter will focus on the North American Ski Mountaineering Championships in Crested Butte, Colorado toward the end of January. Here in Canada, you can see the CraZy suits out at any domestic SMCC calendar event. Cheer them on – they’re already gunning for a spot on the 2013 ISMF World Championships team. |
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Line up with rampaging locals, Canada's National Team and a whole bunch of backcountry fun hogs for an evening of short race events. These are for everyone who knows which side of their skins goes on the snow and are designed to party us into the big winter ahead. Let's get everyone's blood pumping. Wax 'em up and come on out!
Through the rest of the winter, the Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Cup will build momentum and enthusiasm with more events in Alberta and British Columbia.
Not only for our elite National-level skiers and competitive Open Category athletes, these international format races all share a strong connection to local community and enthusiasm. Each event will award prizes for ‘recreational’ or ‘introductory’ classes over a reduced course - perfect for those who like to keep the fun quotient high, or are new to ski mountaineering competition. All rules, race formats, and course descriptions will be posted at the event websites, listed above.
Register for SMCC races via the form at the top of this page. Information for each event can be found at the dedicated event websites as they come on-line over the next weeks.
If you are interested, but don’t know if you can – or want to – race, why not volunteer? Every race needs personnel for starts, finishes, time-keepers, photographers, and course marshals. Contact us. Many of our supporters and sponsors work as hard as the athletes to make the events successful. Many of our supporters and sponsors ARE the athletes.
The race series for 2011 is set and organized by groups led by the Alpine
Club of Canada, and run under slightly relaxed ISMC rules – a competition
format that highlights ski skills on both the ascent and the descent,
employing skins and Alpine Touring, Telemark, or split Snowboard gear.
Snowshoe categories are being considered as associated events. Competitors
carry necessary backcountry safety equipment such as avalanche transceivers,
probes, and shovels, as well as supplementary clothing and emergency
supplies over a course of more than 4000 feet of elevation gain and loss.
Numerous changes in terrain reward technique and versatility equally
with fitness and downhill ski skills.
Full result details, times, and current national rankings will become available on this website after each race. Rankings count toward the Canadian Cup championship and are considered when the National Ski Mountaineering Team is chosen each year.
Come out for the contest, the party with your friends, or just to learn more about this exciting and challenging new kind of ski racing. See you all at the races!
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David Dornian, Chair
Ski Mountaineering Competition Canada/ Competition de Ski Alpinisme Canada
The Alpine Club of Canada / Le Club Alpin du Canada
Media & direct enquiries:
Contact: David Dornian ddornian (at) agt.net
Phone: 1-403-969-9673
Contact: Ryan Johnstone ryan (at) ortovox.ca
Phone: 1-403-813-6495
About Ski Mountaineering Competition
Ski mountaineering (or randonnée racing) is a winter sport that combines athletic skiing and mountaineering skills over medium distances, incorporating technical ascents and descents. Ski mountaineering races introduced a new dimension to this beautiful sport in Europe in the 1980's. The concept is extremely simple - racing over steep alpine terrain using ski touring gear, gaining and losing elevation (up to 3000 metres worth) past a series of checkpoints set along ridges and peaks. Some parts of the course require skinning up snow slopes, some involve scrambling with the skis on packs, and some slopes reward polished downhill technique. Some technical courses may require boot packing or traversing fixed lines. The entire itinerary needs to be completed carrying full gear from a mass start on the valley floor in typically less than 3 hours. The winner is the one who crosses the finish line first. Thus, results are determined by time. These are athletic challenges, rather than tests of local knowledge – routes are marked and the techniques to employ are specified at all points on the courses. The sport enjoys a great popularity all over the world with a rapidly growing community in North America. Athletes and citizens that participate in such events are skiers, snowboarders, telemark-skiers, backcountry enthusiasts or simply the ones who seek a fun challenge.
Ski mountaineering competitors are often popular athletic heroes in western European nations. They are widely admired, and arrive on race day heavily promoted by outdoor equipment interests and their home country's mountain federations. By virtue of our club's membership in the Union International d'Associations d'Alpinism (UIAA), the Alpine Club of Canada is this sport's national governing body for Canada. The ISMC organizes ski mountaineering races around the world in a World Cup Circuit. Here in Canada, the SMCC organizes an annual competition calendar and tracks athlete’s performance over the season to determine a National Champion and choose a Canadian National Ski Mountaineering Team.
In the latter part of the 1990s, the International Ski Mountaineering Council was established to oversee the European and Youth competition calendars, organize an international World Cup series, and lobby for the sport's inclusion in the Olympics. The first official ISMC World Championships were held in Serre Chevalier, France, in January of 2002. On very short notice, the ACC organized (we canvassed regional backcountry ski pros for recommendations) a team of two men and registered Ptor Spriceneiks and Richard Haywood for the championship event. The two draftees served well, suffering selflessly as our impromptu national team. And, wonder of wonders, they didn't finish last. Perhaps we DO have some national pool of talent for this kind of thing.
Visit the ISMC home page and read of the Olympic aspirations of the ISMC here: http://www.uiaa.ch/commissions/commision.asp?id=16 The site also has downloads of rules, competition calendars, and international contacts for the sport.
Unfortunately, decisions on sports to be included in the Olympic games must be made before a host city is announced. Although Ski Mountaineering Competition was denied a place in the Winter Olympics in 2006, the UIAA now has a strategy for approaching the candidate cities for the winter games in 2010 and the summer games in 2012. Meanwhile, here at home, there is strong encouragement for Canada to make more than a short term, one-shot effort. The ISMC would like to see Canadians at all World Cup ski mountaineering events in seasons to come. The ISMC would also like to see competitions held in their format hosted in North America. We'd like to see that too.
But if such events are to happen, and Canada is to mount a consistent team, we have to build a proper athletic organization. So, if you are interested in coaching, competing, fundraising, organizing events, or just learning more about what's happening with this wild sport, please get in touch with us.
The Alpine Club of Canada. All rights reserved.