We had over 107 racers on the start line of the first Rise & Shine A-Basin race series, and it seemed to me that every other person I talked to was from Boulder. Let’s get a carpool going!

The first race consisted in doing as many laps as possible in 1 hour from the base to the Black Mountain Lodge (600 feet per lap). I managed to squeeze in 5 laps for the win (and exactly zero turns!), with Arthur Whitehead in 2nd and young gun Jacob Dewey in 3rd. I love skimo because there’s so much more than fitness…transitions and downhill matter!

Check out some blurry pictures (non blurry ones courtesy of Eric at Meteorite PR), my Strava file (76 mph top speed, but don’t show mum), and let’s get a crew going next Tuesday!

Time to frantically dig up those skins from wherever you hid them (?!) over the sweltering Summer months, and get your transitions on! First race of the season is almost comical, as it’s often the first time skinning for the season for everyone: come get dizzy on High Noon for a 1hr lap-aton and practice your straight-lining (max speed challenge?!).

The whole series has announced, and routes set! Check it out here.

• Rise and Shine Rando Series #3: Tuesday, December 7, 2021

• Rise and Shine Rando Series #4: Tuesday, December 21, 2021

• Rise and Shine Rando Series #5: Tuesday, January 4, 2022

• Rise and Shine Rando Series #6: Tuesday, January 18, 2022

It’s happening folks: come meet fellow Boulder uphill skiers at The Tune Up at Full Cycle!

We ill go over what the heck skimo is, what gear you need, where and when can you do it locally safely, what the race season is shaping up to be, training opportunities with the club, avy awareness as it relates to skimo, and many more important topics about skiing in lycra.

Doug Stenclik (my Power of Four ski partner, Founder of Cripple Creek Backcountry, Owner of the Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup and Wild Snow, and podcast producer of the Totally Deep Podcast - aka Mr SkiAlp North America) will be in attendance with gear to share his wealth of knowledge from over 15 years in the niche business.

US Ski Mountaineering Association President, Ram Mikulas, will be on site to answer any questions you might have about the Olympic qualifying process, and much more.

Have a chat with Heather Novickis of the Human Interest Group, who brings 20 years of experience representing Olympic and action sports athletes going back to the Nagano Games in 1998, and is excited about skimo’s future as an Olympic sport.

We will have a transition competition, so bring your setup if you have one!

I’ve been managed to crash yet another podcast, this time on Coach Joe Howdyshell’s (of the Summit Endurance Academy)"The Better Podcast" with guest Doug (yes, he truly is Mr SkiAlp North America).

Hear from Doug my take on pole length as I vehemently tell him 8 miles and 3k feet into the 24 miles and 11k feet Aspen Power of Four race… :)

Long poles + strong upper body = faster uphill skiing.

One of the leading US endurance sports columnists, Alex Hutchinson, summarizes a paper that just came out in the journal Frontiers in Physiology (Ski Mountaineering: Perspectives on a Novel Sport to Be Introduced at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games), where a team of researchers - ironically 4 of whom are from the University of Verona, my native town - explores what’s currently known about the sport from a sport science perspective.

Super interesting read!

Want to get involved? Get in touch!