Summit County local Nikki LaRochelle won the fourth of this year’s five Arapahoe Basin Ski Area Rise and Shine Rando races on Tuesday.
The victory in the 12-skier women’s division gave LaRochelle her second consecutive victory in the Rando series after a win on Dec. 4. LaRochelle completed the course in 49 minutes and 27 seconds after skiing to a time of 57:42 on Dec. 4.
LaRochelle was joined in the women’s podium places by Jill Seager (50:15) and Grace Stanbery (56.66).
In the 35-skier men’s race, David Glennon completed the course in first place in 45:55, ahead of second-place finisher Brent Herring (46:04) and third-place finisher Paul Mumford (46:18).
Tuesday’s course consisted of a skin up the Wrangler trail, a quick switchback into the woods on the Chisholm Trail, then back onto Wrangler to continue to ascend. Skiers then traversed through the trees and out along the toe of the ski area’s East Wall. Skiers continued to skin up through the Cabin Glades, past the historic ruins before switching back to East Gully. They then transitioned to boot-pack up Graveyard before descending down the West Gully and past the bottom of the Lenawee Mountain Chairlift back to the Chisholm Trail.
Once there, skiers ascended up again into Sundance and Lynx Lane before continuing past the south side of the Black Mountain Lodge, up Dercum’s Gulch to the bottom of the West Wall. Skiers then transitioned to a second boot-pack up the West Wall to the Cornice Run. Putting their skis back on, the race concluded with traversing the Cornice Run to an uphill finish inside the Snow Plume Refuge.
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The next and final A-Basin Rando race of the season is scheduled for Jan. 22. The cost to compete is $25.