A familiar cast of Summit County characters topped the results list after skinning up Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Peak 9 on Wednesday morning for the second Breck Ascent ski mountaineering event of the season.
On a different course from last week’s maiden race of the season, three Summit County locals picked up their second victory in as many tries. In the men’s long-course race, Eric Broecker posted the best time of the 23 men’s long-course skiers, crossing the finish line in one hour, one minute and 55.6 seconds.
In the 9-skier women’s long-course race, Nikki LaRochelle repeated her victory from last week, completing the course in 01:03:21.4 And on the short course, Eva Hagen won the 8-skier women’s competition in a time of 32:21.6 while Ron Uhle won the 4-skier men’s short-course race with a time of 38:05.
The men’s long-course was especially competitive, with second-place finisher Michael Hagen finishing in 01:02:15.1, just 20 seconds off of Broecker’s pace. The women’s long-course race also was saw a strong group of finishers at the top, as four competitors would have finished in the top-10 of the men’s race: Sierra Anderson (second place, 1:05:32.9), Kate Zander (third, 1:10:48.9) and Jaime Brede (fourth, 1:17:28.0).
Wednesday’s long-course required skiers to skin up from outside of the Beaver Run Resort parking lot at the ski resort’s Peak 9, before ascending up the Lower Sawmill and Gold King trails to the top of the Shock run. Once there, skiers entered single-track terrain in the trees adjacent to the Volunteer run. Skiers then transitioned to a boot-pack hike for a short portion before putting their skis back on to ascend up the single-track terrain to the top of the Mine Shaft run. Skiers then transitioned to their downhill gear to ski down the Mine Shaft and Tunnel runs before putting their skins back on to ascend up the Peak 8 Transfer trail. Skiers then returned back to the single-track terrain before boot-pack hiking up to the Volunteer trail and, eventually, to the Peak 9 Patrol Hut. From there, skiers rode their downhill gear to descend the Devil’s Crotch, Tunnel, and Sawmill trails to the course’s finish line down at the Peak 9 base area.
The short course consisted of an uphill race from the Beaver Run parking lot, up the Lower Sawmill trail, to Gold King and to Volunteer before finishing at the Peak 9 Patrol Hut.
The series will return on March 14 with an evening race up and down Peak 10, scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. The series will then conclude with another 5:30 p.m. race up Peak 7 terrain on April 11, which, as of now, is scheduled to be a one-hour time-limit race where skiers complete as many short laps as they can in one hour.
Following each race, awards will be given out and free prizes will be raffled out to participants. Through this race season, local businesses including Mountain Outfitters, Hagan Skis and Cuppa Joe have provided gifts to participants.