World Cup Racers @ Wasatch Powder Keg

Yow, when a rando monster like Chris Kroger (winner of the Alpental rando rally) is more than 23 minutes off the winning World Cup time, it gives you kind of a shocking perspective on the level the Euros have attained. Where do they find these guys, anyway? Are they sitting out a year of FIS nordic with 60% hematocrits? Is this any indication of what we're in for when and if Randonee becomes an Olympic sport again in 2010?<br><br>www.bdel.com/powderkeg/index.html

The pictures are pretty interesting, too - drilled out F1's, TLT's with custom aluminum top plates and no heel lifts, cut-down nordic poles, full lycra national team suits . . .

The descriptions of race leaders finishing the initial 2000 foot climb well inside of 20 minutes is alternately inspiring and terrifying. I join you in asking, Who are these guys?

Looks like they didn't enforce the "straps or ski brakes in the ski area" rule too strictly, seems most people are skiing with toes in the "tour" position anyway. Check out the guy with the homemade F1 type closure system on his Dynafits . . . and what's up with those double-tipped Trab skis?

Yeah - I noticed those tips too. Look at the tails, they are split as well. I think the purpose is for quick release/attach skins - just a guess.<br><br>The ski brake / leash rule was applied rather loosely at Alpental as well as none of the top guys/gals were sporting straps or brakes on their dynafits.

I'm not surprised by the level of the world cup randonnee racers. Nearly everybody who enters these races in North America is just a recreational skier. In any other branch of skiing, a talented amateur would get shellacked in a matchup with a world class athlete. Imagine running a giant slalom against Bode Miller, for example. It should be no surprise that the world class randonnee racers are just as far out there.<br>

It'll be cool if randonee racing makes it into the Olympics. Promoters speak of this as the return of the sport to the Olympics, but I don't think that's quite accurate. According to articles I've read, the 1924 and 1928 Olympics included a military-style patrol race, not a randonnee race as we know them today. Here are some notes from an article by Morten Lund about the early Olympics:<br><br>www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/peri...tml#isha-2001-4th-p9

Military patrol races were team events. A team of skiers ran a designated course carrying packs and finishing together. Apparently the Olympic event also involved shooting. Many published compilations of Olympic medals omit these early patrol races.

The history of Olympic patrol races should be interesting to Northwest skiers because our local history includes the first such races held in North America. Here's an article about the Mountaineers Patrol Race from my website, derived from an earlier TAY trip report:

www.alpenglow.org/skiing/patrol-race-2004/index.html

Well, I'm not thinking about calling out Bode Miller for a gate-running exhibition, but when he gets in the starting gate of a WC alpine race (or Daron Rahlves in a DH or SG), all the cameras are rolling and no one is surprised if they win. Randonee is yet another example of our collective ignorance of what's going on in other parts of the world, even in a sport that most of us are passionate about. I suppose WC soccer and cycling (outside of the World Cup and Tour de France) are similar, with virtually no public recognition outside of a core group of enthusiasts. Probably what's needed is for a major corporate sponsor to step up and create a national rando center where athletes can live and train full time, maybe in concert with existing ski centers at Steamboat or Park City. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen . . . BTW, I'm puzzled at the absence of Austrian or Norwegian rando racers at the Powder Keg, does anyone have an explanation?

Everyone knows Norwegians can't AT.

Or won't . . . I asked my friend Ozzie, who just got back from doing the Birkebeiner in Norway, the same question yesterday, and he said "Oh, you know Norwegians, if you have to use metal edges they think it's not the REAL skiing . . ."