Cosmic CS Irwin Race 2011: Welcome to Gunnison County

Yesterday was the CS Irwin Race near Crested Butte the first race of the Cosmic(Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup) Race series. The morning started out early as I picked up Lyndsey Meyer at 5:30am. The moon was full and becoming eclipsed as we picked up Sari Anderson from Carbondale, before going over McClure Pass to Kebler Pass. As the sun rose over and the moon disappeared we made the quick 45 snowmobile ride over Kebler to the CS Irwin Lodge.  The CS Irwin Hut was hopping as we arrived and I had just enough time to change, grab my bib and warm up. This year I'm racing on the Hagan x-race skis (my custom topsheet says x-lite) and I am excited to compete on skis that are 20% lighter than last years skis. Check out the blog later this week for my review of the new skis. Until then you can check out the Hagan-USA website by clicking here.

The race started out with a 100 meter dash that turns into a brisk uphill walk. I started out faster than I felt comfortable but was able to hang in there for the first climb. The first decent was treacherous with very little base and pockets of windblown powder.  I found myself head over heals twice on the first decent. The new lighter skis with their wider tips held up great and were very responsive cutting through the crud. The base snow was sugar and if you turned too hard you would sink right onto the rocks. I found myself light on my feet and slower than normal on the descents in the simple act of self preservation. I realized after leaving the staging area for the second lap how shaken up I was when I forgot to put my boots or bindings into walk mode and walked right back into my bindings. Rookie move.

The second lap was much better but the ascent gave me a new definition of what I think I can ski/climb with skins on. It is amazing how much grip the mohair skins have on rocks, dirt and grass. I really enjoyed the quick boot-pack mid climb. The second decent was just as harrowing as the first.in snow with no base and lots of sugary pockets. 

The third lap was very much survival. I lost a lot of time with poor skinning technique and the blisters that haunted me last year in the 12 hours of Sunlight reappeared for the last 1000 feet of climbing.  I bonked the last 500 feet of climbing and watched Lyndsey glide by as I stopped to recover. The last decent was by far the scariest. It was not pretty skiing on my part and it was not pretty snow on the mountain's part.  After the decent it was a quick uphill skate to the finish for a time of 2 hours 56 Minutes and 38 Seconds. I think I placed 20th of 29. Not my best showing.  As I crossed the finish line feeling like I had been chewed up and spit out, Pat O'neal who was smoking a cigar and watching desperate skate to the finish said, "welcome to Gunnison County."

Amazingly after the race I went to put on the skis away and I realized I had no core shots! The new skis hung in there for a brutal first race. The Après-ski at the Irwin Lodge was great. With above normal temps in the afternoon made the place a comfortable hangout. Most racers had a few cold ones recovering before the after-party back in Crested Butte.  It was nice catch up with some old acquaintances and meet more of the Gunnison County crowd. We stayed for the awards before sledding back to the truck; Sari & Lyndsey ended up second and fifth respectively. Stevie and Marshall both finish first for a double win for team Hagan!! All in all it was a great day racing with good company and fun. The day ended very close to how it began,  watching the moon on the horizon as I dropped off Lyndsey and headed back to Snowmass Village.

It was a great first race and I look forward to the next Cosmic stop at Sunlight in January. Thanks to Wick, Jake Jones, the volunteers and CS Irwin staff for putting on a stellar event.

Check out Sari's Blog http://sarianderson.wordpress.com by clicking here.

Check out Lyndsey Meyer's Blog http://bravabella.com/ by clicking here.

Full Race Results

During the race I wore the Garmin Forerunner 305 here are the race stats: