Racers make their way up Ten Sleep Bowl.
It looks like the best man and woman won at the Dyanfit US Ski Mountaineering National Championships. Fresh off the grueling four-day Pierra Menta stage race in Europe last week, both Pete Swenson and Monique Merrill were able to recover and recharge their batteries enough to come back and handily win this years National Championship race in Jackson Hole this weekend. As a key player in 
North American rando racing and the USSMA, Pete has successfully been able to hand over much of this years race oversight responsibilities to others at each venue, allowing him to get back on his skis and compete. Monique continues to be a power house that is nearly untouchable amongst other NA female racers, winning this years race by about 10 minutes. As a key member of adventure racing’s Team Nike, Mona shows that she is multi-dimensional as an athlete and competitor. For full race results, click here.
Chris Kroger climbs the ladder in Corbet’s Couloir
This weekends victory shows that Pete and Mona are at the height of the sport in North America and with Pete’s 28th place finish (teamed up with Cary Smith) out of over 150 teams in the Pierra Menta, it is looking like US rando racing athletes are getting closer to competing at the top at the international level. (More stories from US at the Pierra Menta here.)
Race winners. Top (L-R): Travis Scheefer, Pete Swenson, Bryan Wickenhauser
Bottom (L-R): Amy Fulwyler, Monique Merrill, Kris Walker
Hell Yea Pete! Swenson is where he should be: racing (and crushing!). He spent years and money and time that could have been put to good use -given his obvious talents- as a racer. Now that he has gotten ski-mountaineering racing started at more than 15 resorts all over the US, getting to compete again is the fruit of his labor. Thanks Pete for laying the groundwork and making rando racing happen in the US. Congrats on your win!
Just like Jordan, Pete comes out of retirement and dominates.
Steve, thanks for the report and the result. And congrats to the winners!
Wow, very impressive!
So looking at the course maps and (abbreviated?) rules, I see the line about how the ski area requires brakes or leashes. So did everyone have to add leashes to the Dynafits?
That tends to be a don’t ask…don’t tell rule JS. I’ve also found that rule to be the same at most races that are held, in one way or another, within ski area boundaries.
Hey Steve, was the heavy metal course the same as the race div course? …just looking at the heavy metal winning time.
I believe it was Art! But I’m not sure what exactly classifies ones gear as “heavy metal”.