Return of the Native

Well, I replied to Ronnie's comment not too long ago that it would have to therefore be heavy metal, and in keeping my word, so it was. I'm settling in after a fun drive home from Bridger in a snowstorm. The recap follows:

"Come on, it could be good." I insisted. "Are you serious?" Thad replied. This began a little while back as I realized it may take a bit of prodding. However, much less so than I imagined. Last year at Bridger I made the mistake of renting a beacon during the kid's alpine race and took a trip up the their new lift to the infamous Ridge. I was hooked and wrote a report on the hill which outlines a bit of the terrain with a few photos. Then, this year it just happened that the randonnee race on the Ridge was the same date as the junior GS race. This meant serious possibilities and I promptly went to work on my bud Thaddy!

Thad grew up alpine racing at Bridger. Then, he matriculated to the 'Bowl's ski patrol and stuck around. As a matter of fact, the Old Shoe (rumor has it) was baptized in the A-Frame! He's been seen skiing in the back country by many as well. Thad's passion, however, is ultra endurance cross country marathons, including races running the Ridge in August! This was my go to guy and sure enough he was in.

There was no formal training for this adventure. As a matter of fact, I was a bit worried about Thad's back, which he's been nursing for a bit lately. We did have one brief effort in the Wisherd area which did not last long due to poor weather and my heels. So other than that, we were on our own until Friday the 29th (the day prior to the race), on which during coffee at the GFS we were to receive a pep rally from a friend and Thad's former patroller partner, Neil, who still volunteers on the hill. It was all business that morning as we looked over the course map [see top photo] and decided to put one in for Missoula.

Molly and I had three kids in the giant slalom race the same morning, so she was a champ to let me do this race while keeping the logistics sound for the rest of the crew. Friday night Thad and I met up at the hotel where I was staying with my crew [he was camped Friday night with his folks who are still in the Bozeman area]. We then drove to the Bozeman Public Library for the mandatory pre-race meeting at 1730. The first 50 entrants got the nice metal water bottle [above photo].

We were racing in the recreational division and neither one of us had ever done one of these things. One of the Bridger patrollers led a slide show presentation and told us we were all crazy, but also what to look out for during the event. This was a very well organized meeting with many volunteers. This was also their largest turnout ever for one of these events. Requirements were an avy transceiver and a helmet and breaks on the skis or a retention device of some sort. I had no idea how to fuel for one of these events and also was not certain about what to wear. I was glad to hear the shovel was not mandatory though.

Thad picked me up at 0650 and we made the morning check in at 0730 in the main lodge. Here they allowed us to have a drop bag that they would take to the finish. They also looked over our gear. There was not a heavy metal division, but they did have enough racers to break us up by age for the results.

The recreational division had a Le Mans start at the base of the Bridger lift. The professional division started at the base area near the main lodge. Thad had on an insulated (to some extent) hydration pack and a few gels and bars. He wore a light shell. I had the same deal pretty much, with duct tape for the insulation on the hydration system tube [not recommended] and a rescue bottle in the pack knowing a freeze may be in the works. There were numerous check points along the route, but we were on our own for food and fuel. The race started at 0830 and the only requirement was to be at the top of the lift in fifty minutes. If that was met, one could finish the race taking the rest of the day if it was required.

I took a few photos of the start area above prior to the get go. I had no idea about how to warm up for one of these so I slapped on the skins and trekked around in the starting area for a bit. It ended up that Thad was on the far end above and I at the opposite. When we were sent, I stayed about a quarter of the folks back until I had to take a knee to get the marker's heel lifts in the proper position. This cost a small amount of time. Then, the guy in front of me went down face first on a climb after he broke his left pole in half. We visited for a moment, and I went on. My h/r was actually 172 and for the life of me I could not get things to mellow out. Things settled during the first transition, and then after the boot pack to the Ridge as well. Thad had come around me on the climb and I was trying to hang on. It took 28 minutes for the first pro to catch up and go around. These guys were wearing something like a bicycle helmet, tight racing suits (like downhill alpine racing suits), had skinny skis with edges, and what looked like basically a base heel plate attached to the ski only for bindings. I recognized one from the mtb circuit and said hello as he went by. We were 35 minutes to the top of the lift, climbing a combination of steep groomer and roads. Once to the top of the lift, we transitioned from skinning to a boot pack to the ridge. First we had to go through a beacon check and then up under part of the patrollers lift to the Ridge. I was so goofed up it was pretty funny. The h/r was still ripping, and I made the mistake of wearing long underwear (also not recommended) which were now soaked and we were not even to the top yet. Thad got his skins off quickly and strapped his skis to his pack quickly as well and was off. I followed, however, I put the tails of the Bakers in the straps and did not properly seat the bindings along the sides of the pack between the two straps. My mind was probably a bit O.T.L. ("You ain't got your mind right Luke") in all of the exuberance and exhaustion of the moment. At any rate, I had the skis strapped on their top and they seemed stable. After the first bit of the boot pack, I realized the error as the brakes were going into my shoulder! This was a bit unpleasant and I was laughing at myself, but rather than stop, I kept climbing to the top. Along the way, a few more pros went by saying "track" as we do mtb racing. The volunteer at the top of the climb made a funny comment about my gear for the race and I headed towards Mundy's Bowl and the area boundary [furthest point in the below photo also see link in text above] with the skis still on the pack.

At this point, I pulled out the camera which was among the gels in my pack's waist strap and took a few photos. The above was in an area safe to take a photo. I was pretty soaked, with my boot liners feeling like little ponds, and decided to not risk taking pictures on the Ridge in sketchy sections. I was on my hands briefly climbing in one. As you can also note from last year's link above, the Ridge is absolutely beautiful and I did once again try to take it all in. There were patrollers on the top keeping an eye on us. We packed most of it on top, though there was also some skate skiing. Bridger has had enough snow to provided decent coverage. The pros first took a right at the top and skied above and then I think into the North Bowl and then skinned back up and over repeating similar drops. Those folks are in serious shape. Lots of transitions and climbing. The split boarder was pretty unreal doing the climbing without poles.

Thad had cruised ahead somewhere following the pack up, happy in his old stomping grounds. I got to the boundary and was told by the folks at the area not to go out of bounds or I would be dq'd and the plates marked the boundary skiers right coming down. Last year I had done laps in this area in and out of bounds as it is steep and outstanding. The legs felt fine and I bombed down this section making sure not to cross over below the new lift as that was dnf country as well. Once down, we briefly climbed a road and then skated to the finish area above. Prior to the race, digging through my garage, I had found an old pair of cross country ski poles which helped with the skating. Thad was in the finish area visiting with some of the other racers. Thad had finished in 1.33 and I was 1.40. We were both pretty soaked and tired boys. The weather could not have been better. A beautiful, sunny day.

I thanked the folks who put on the race and the volunteers and then quickly looked for my garbage bag of dry cloths. There was coffee, sports drink and other fluids at the finish and I (as usual) enjoyed some Joe prior to heading out to try to catch the afternoon GS runs of the three LRs. I was going to miss the awards for the rando race, but Thaddy had it covered just in case. When we were skating over to the Deer Park lift area where the kid's were racing, Thad was told by a volunteer he had just missed his parents who had come by the area looking for him. Shortly after this we split up and I said I'd find him in the lodge after the second run of the GS race. I did a quick change in the upper lodge and watched the kid's races. Todd had a nice second run finishing the combined in third in the j4s racing with the MST. The Deer Park area was rocking with a junior mogul contest also going on and participants from all over. This is a great hill.

Then, I went to the bar in the main lodge where they were at the end of the raffle and announcing the results. The organizers had given away a lot of swag which you had to be present to win. Thad handed me a most unexpected gold medal and said I was first in the 40-49 (I think there were 5 of us) and he had gotten the silver in the 30-39 of 6 racers. We both had had a ball and learned something new, that's for sure. Principally that our spouses will not approve of another hobby! Well, maybe occasionally.

Prior to going for a few runs with his parents, Thad asked "What would you do differently next time?" I thought that was an interesting question and wondered what was on his mind? Another trip back in the future? "No long johns." I replied. "How about yourself?" I asked. "The next time prior to stepping into my skis at the start I'm going to make sure they are first in walk mode!" We both cracked up! Thanks once again to everyone who put this race together! Good memories and good times!

End Notes: After the kid's slalom race on Sunday, we headed out. I first stopped at the Northern Lights (one of the race sponsors) and upgraded the firmware on the Pieps which (I think) is the only place in the state where that can be done. It was basically a brief software download and was free. During the process they also checked the transceiver's diagnostics.