Last weekend at Font Blanca ski area in Andorra, the 2012 Ski Mountaineering World Cup kicked off under sunny skies and thin but good snow conditions. Forty-four male and fourteen female athletes registered for the World Cup division from over ten different countries. The World Cup event organized by the International Ski Mountaineering Federation and the Club Pirinenc Andorra featured two events, a vertical uphill race on Saturday and a longer individual ski mountaineering course on Sunday.
Saturday the uphill event was a steep lung-burner straight up the piste climbing 580 meters over 2.5 kilometers for women and 950 meters over 5 kilometers for men. Kilian Jornet Burgada of Spain won for the men with a time of 35:17 followed closely by Lorenzo Holzeknecht (ITA) and Manfred Reichegger (ITA). French woman Laeticia Roux crossed the line first in 25.22 minutes followed by Miriea Miro Varela (ESP) and Gloriana Pellissier (ITA).
The individual men's race on Sunday covered 1580 meters of vertical gain and loss with five climbs and five descents with two boot-pack hiking sections requiring racers to attatch skis to packs. The women followed a smiliar course with one less ascent resulting in a slighlty shorter elevation gain of 1350 meters. The podium results for the top athletes in the male and female divisions were almost the same as the vertical race with Kilian Jornet winning for men (1:27.02) followed by Matteo Edyallan (ITA) and Lorenzo Holzeknecht. Laticia Roux won with a time of 1:25.03 followed again by Varela and Pellissier. The United States was represented by female Chamonix resident Nina Silitch who placed 12th and 9th resepectively. For a list of complete results click here.
Next up the ISMF moves to Crested Butte, Colorado for the North American ISMF Championships. This will be the first time the United States will host an international ski mountaineering event with participants from Canada and Italy traveling to compete. The recent fresh snowfall in Colorado and the addition of a technical climbing section has allowed organizers to create a beautiful and technical course similiar to the classic courses in the Alps. A sprint race will be held on Saturday and an individual course on Sunday. For more information click here for details.
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