Skimo, or Ski Mountaineering is a growing sport with more growth in recent years than alpine skiing. Year on year this is noticeable in the mountains around Verbier as more people take to walking up the pistes, it is featured more frequently in 'Verbier Life' and people look to escape the hustle and bustle of the ski resort; often in search of the very reason some come on holiday here, for the alpine air, some good skiing, to relax and stay fit and healthy. Like most sports there is also a competitive side...
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| ISMF individual world cup skimo race start (ISMF image) |
Many resorts across the Alps (and increasingly in North America) hold skimo competitions annually. These normally fall into a category, most local races being Vertical / Individual, and having an elite/popular entry:
Vertical - A race involved uphill only often with 1000m ascent, normally 30mins to two hours
Individual - Uphill and downhill, usually including a bootpack too, often a several hours long
Sprint - a very quick 'sprinting' race, think minutes not hours
Team - In teams of two or three, sometimes over multiple days
Onto the local race then...
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| Verbier night race flyer |
Normally held during the first two weeks of December, the Verbier Night Race/Trophee Verbier Sport Plus race is a vertical night race from Carrefour to Attelas with 962m of ascent over 4.24km, and one of the first races in the calendar. I first entered the race during my first ski season here six years ago (when there was only the elite category!) and it has changed a great deal since.
Six years ago only a handful of amateur competitors were in skimo suits with super lightweight gear, now, despite owning lighter boots and Dynafit bindings, a significant proportion of the field were on racing skis, boots and in specific skimo 'onesies'... and that's in the popular race!
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| Racers on their way to Attelas (screenshot from Verbier WebTV) |
Not one to be discouraged, at 6pm on the 12th December I found myself on the startline warming up in my normal ski touring softshell outfit! At 6:25pm over 150 competitors were in the starting box rearing to go. The start gun went at 6:30pm and we all raced up the first steep hill (a black run!) towards Attelas.
Ski poles are flying everywhere and you power straight up the hill trying to get in a good place to avoid having to overtake others later on. This spurt of speed combined with the effort of avoiding everyone else can easily send your heart into overdrive! I was definitely at the top end of my sustainable pace but soon broke into a good rhythm. The first 30 minutes passed quickly and I was on course to make the race in 75 minutes. At the half way mark I struggled to keep plugging away at the same pace and around ten people passed me. My mind wandered from thinking of nothing to trying to justify my slowness, blaming it on my equipment weight, lack of acclimitisation, and the fact that I had just finished seven days of ski school training and had very tired legs! This, of course, was utter nonsense, I had been in the alps for ten days, and I could have gone faster if I was fitter (I was pretty tired though)! It was a beautiful night and looking back down the course you could see a constant stream of headtorches looking like reflections of the numerous stars in the sky. The next 20 minutes took forever, despite the nicer terrain.
Eventually I caught myself and managed to find enough reserve to keep going, the easier slope angles allowed me to speed up a bit, increasing the gap behind me so I could no longer hear the scrap of skins of other competitors closing in on me. At 1hr 20mins 33secs it was over, I was greeted by a cup of marche tea, a huge plate of spaghetti and my bag full of warm clothes that was carried to the top in the piste basher for me.
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| I don't think I can warrant a skimo suit (yet!) but maybe some specific race trousers so my nice windstopper ones don't get holes in them from the safety pins! |
It was great fun and interesting to see where my fitness was at the beginning of the ski season and I was pleased to come 59th out of 131 popular entries, and around 7th lady.
https://www.mso-chrono.ch/results/553-verbier-night-race/4053/categories#populaire-dames-et-hommes
To finish my post I thought I would just write a comparison of what I competed in against what the majority of racers used followed by some top tips:
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| My skimo race / normal skimo setup |
My Setup (I like to think it is a reasonably light but functional normal alpine touring setup!0
Skis: Dynafit Mustagh ata superlights - 1255g per ski
Bindings: Dynafit TLT Verticals - 500g per binding plus brakes
Skins: G3 Alpinist skins - 250g per skin
Boots: Dynafit TLT 6 CLs - 1020g per boot
Clothing: thin merino thermal, windproof top with insulation on the core, softshell trousers, headband, thin gloves, 300ml of water in a compressible bottle in my pocket! no rucksack needed
Equipment weight total: 6050g
Amateur racing setup (this is for an good weight:price ratio, not the lightest available!)
Skis: most lightweight ones are around 700g per ski
Bindings: now around 200g per binding
Skins: around 150g per skin
Boots: 800g per boot
Clothing: skimo racing suit
Equipment weight total: 3700g
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| I think this is one the only Skimo manual in English at the moment, available on Skintrack's website |
Top tips if you fancy doing a race for fun
- Although more people are buying fancy gear, plenty of people race on what they have already own including Marker Bindings and 'Fat' Skis!
- Pace yourself
- Avoid the ski poles hitting you in the face at the start by placing yourself strategically at the back away from the keener competitors!
- Enjoy it
- Book your place early, normally you get a small discount and it means you have to race!
- Pack an entire change of clothes for your drop bag including thermals and underwear or you can find yourself getting too cold at the end of the race
- Stretch before eating at the end of the race or you might not be able to stand up from the table!
- Get a good headtorch for nightraces so you can enjoy the ski back down.
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