More than Mountains and Minds: Wyo Rando Roundup 2015

I'm told that I am crazy by those who don't understand. You see, Alli and I like to ski up mountains...for fun. Yup, crazy. But the best part is coming back down...

In our first year here in stunningly beautiful Jackson, Wyoming, I decided to pick up my Skimo game. Skimo is the cool way to refer to ski mountaineering racing. Definitely use the shortened term if you want to impress your friends. I've done a few races in the past, some which may even be mentioned on this blog, but I've been so out of touch with this site recently that I can't remember.

Anyway, elevating my Skimo pursuits meant purchasing some specialized equipment, which is heavily discussed elsewhere in the blog-o-sphere. Who doesn't like upgrading their gear? In general, my new equipment is designed to be light (small, skinny skis and light boots), fast (stylish lycra racing suit), and efficient (skimo pack). You'll see them in the pics below.

My first race as a lycra-suit-wearing individual was a weekend series located in the Teton area dubbed the Wyoming Randonee Roundup on January 10-11, 2015. This event has three events at each of the local ski areas: Grand Targhee, Snow King, and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The GT race was held on Saturday morning followed by a "sprint style" race at Snow King that night. Then the burly JHMR race began early Sunday morning. I had a fairly good performance for my first race. I found out that my training has gone really well this season and identified some good areas to focus on for the next race. Fueling was a particular struggle and will need to be fine-tuned in the future. GUs are just really hard to choke down at the transition stations.

Hope you enjoy the pictures! I was really lucky to have a support/fan club/photographer follow me around that weekend (I love you Alli!).