Last Saturday March 5th, roughly 60 teams of two set out at 7:15am to conquer the inagural Aspen Power of Four Ski Mountaineering race.
Part of the Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup (COSMIC) the race attracted uphillers from all over Colorado eager to try to climb and ski all four Aspen area ski mountains in a day. Originally touted as 25 miles and over 10,000 feet of elevation gain turned out to be closer to 26 miles and over 12,000 feet of climbing and descent. Competitors could chose to complete the full distance or participate in the half distance event.
Racers met at the Snowmass Base Village Treehouse area and after a short briefing set out up the first of the four climbs to the top of Snowmass Mountain descending the Hanging Valley Wall and up to Elk Camp. From there competitors traversed to West Buttermilk, descended down Tiehack, climbed back up Aspen Highlands to the tippy top of the Highlands Bowl. After touching 12,300 feet, racers skied back down to the Castle Creek valley floor via the tricky Congo trail, up the never ending Midnight Mine Road and finally, descended down the face of Aspen ending at lift 1A.
Aspen Mountain and Highlands were packed with skiers to cheer the competitors on serving as a great way to educate snow lovers on an up and coming sport in the U.S.
Bryan Wickenhauser and Brian Smith took the men's title with at time of 6:15 minutes. Monique Merrill and Mike Kloser captured the co-ed team title in 6:46 minutes while Jari Kirkland and Eva Hagain bested the women's teams in 7:58. Roughly half the field did not make the noon time cut at the base of Tiehack and were disqualifed. For more photos courtesy of Keven Krill, click here.
From all accounts, the Power of Four 2012 is a definiate thanks to the amazing organizational efforts of the Aspen Skiing Company and the guides at Aspen Expeditions, so start looking for a parnter now! For a list of all results, click here.
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