As the attention of the world shifts to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, a more obscure but no less difficult athletic competition is about to take place in Europe, where the United States will be represented by a team including two Flathead Valley firefighters.
Brandon French, of the Kalispell Fire Department, and Ben Parsons, of the Whitefish Fire Department, head to the tiny European principality of Andorra at the end of February for the Ski-Mountaineering World Championships as part of the eight-man U.S. team. There, they will test their ski-mountaineering skills ascending and descending various routes through the Pyrenees in a series of solo and tag-team races over four days.
Following that competition they head to the French Alps to compete in the Pierra Menta, a four-day stage race resembling the Tour de France, but on skis.
Ski-mountaineering races, also called randonnée rallies, are a little known sport in the North America outside of Western mountain towns, but it is growing in popularity along with the techniques and equipment of backcountry skiing. In these races, competitors ascend mountain faces on skis using skins, strips of carpeting that provide uphill traction in snow, then descend via a different route several times. Certain sections typically also require climbing in boots, should the terrain prove too steep for skis.
The solo racecourse for the senior division of the World Championships in Andorra, for example, includes four climbs and four descents totaling an elevation change of 1,780 meters over 18 kilometers.
Punishing in nature, these races test competitors on their fitness, as well as skin technique and downhill skiing skill. The ability to transition quickly between stages is also key to success: Attaching skins quickly or stowing skis efficiently for a boot-packing pitch can mean the difference between finishing first or tenth.
“Five minutes technically is much easier to reduce than five minutes aerobically,” Parsons said.
French won the Jan. 23 Whitefish Whiteout Ski Mountaineering Race, ascending the mountain in 27 minutes and completing the race with a time of 1:27:34. Parsons was nipping at his heels, coming in second with a 28-minute ascent and a final time of 1:29:39.
For French, the 2008 U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association National Champion, this will be his second trip to the world championships, which are held biannually. As such, he is aware how much tougher the competition can be in Europe, where the sport is more popular and dominated by racers from France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. In 2008, the top U.S. finisher placed 32nd out of about 90 racers, he said.
“We’re hoping for better this year,” French added. “Everybody’s faster this year.”
For Parsons, that he made the U.S. team just one season after beginning ski mountaineer racing says as much about his athletic prowess as it does about how small the pool of competitors are in America.
“It’s ridiculous I’m on a national team,” Parsons said. “As a mountain bike racer, I’d be happy to finish in the top 20 of a national event.”
But he also acknowledges that he trained hard last season, competing in 12 races, an obsession that took up much of his winter.
“Every weekend I’d find some fool to drive with me so I didn’t have to go alone,” Parsons said. “I’m kind of compulsive.”
Randonnée racing is extraordinarily tough, especially at a high level, but Parsons and French maintain a low-key sense of humor about it all, referencing many nights spent camped out in ski resort parking lots before races and wondering what compels them to do it at all.
“The first 15 minutes of the race, you’re like, I can’t believe I paid to do this,” French said, but added that once his muscles warm and he falls into the flow of the competition, the enjoyment kicks in. “It’s just a good feeling to challenge your body.”
Parsons feels similarly.
“For me, it’s kind of setting a goal and working to achieve it, as cheesy as that sounds, I’m a lot happier,” Parsons said. “It’s good to be humbled too, as hard as it is.”
But while making the national team gets them some official looking jackets, it pays little of the high expense involved in traveling to Europe to compete, which entails registration fees as well as accommodation and transportation. In an attempt to defer some of the cost, Parsons and French are holding a slideshow of their exploits on Feb. 18 at the KM Theater above Red’s in Kalispell at 7 p.m. They’ll be auctioning off gear and asking for a donation of $10 at the door.
And while the event will be held before they head abroad to compete, it will also serve as a kind of celebration in the outdoor community of what Parsons and French have achieved so far, and what they have yet to accomplish.
“It’s cool to see what’s possible,” Parsons said. “Each year Brandon and I are getting faster and faster.”