Rock & Ice Ultra - Day 1
Today's forecast covered a wide range of the weather we'd tried to prepare for. If we got through today, we figured that Days 2 & 3 should be comparatively easy - weatherwise, that is. We were expecting a bitterly cold morning, 30 kph wind all day, and snow and warmer temperatures in the afternoon. My daypack was stuffed with toasty extra layers including heavy mitts, a down sweater and a windproof balaclava. I also packed some serious provisions including special homemade, winter-grade Crash brownies and LD cookies, which I carried each day in a little pocket right over my heart. (Awwww...!)
The Rock & Ice Ultra attracts major attention from the media and the locals. Spectators gathered to cheer at the starting line, and we talked to photographers from Australia and Denmark.
Liza was interviewed for CBC television.
Richard and I were bundled up for the start.
Andrew drew on his competitive nature, clearly ready to take on Greg McHale for the diamond.
Phil and Liza sported cool Salomon gear.
We looked at this ultralight pulk and wondered whether this talented Canadian ultrarunner would be OK for 6 days with so little gear. Unfortunately, he was pulled from the course on Day 1 suffering from frostbite and hypothermia.
Richard's brother Alan and his family came to see us off, which was awesome. After the start, we headed north on Great Slave Lake and started to get a feel for the dynamics of the race. There was a mix of 1-day, 3-day and 6-day racers, with some of the 1-day racers splitting up the 45 km distance among members of a relay team. Some racers were skiing, some were snowshoeing, and some were towing pulks.
The race course feels like a very pretty canoe route through rocky terrain. It's quite flat - I only needed to herringbone my skis a few times over 135 km in 3 days. We spent most of our time on lakes, including some very large ones, and that's where the weather became a major factor. If the wind came up, it got chilly very quickly, and your face had better be covered. Safety patrols appeared on snowmobiles periodically and did mandatory frostbite checks on our faces.
Many of the forest trails were portages between the lakes, although we followed a few inland routes. It was warm in the bush, so this was the best place to stop to eat or change layers.
We knew that the crux of today's ski would be the final 18 km on Prelude Lake, skiing east into the wind on soft snow. The last checkpoint was 15 km from camp, so it was going to be a long haul for tired racers. Shortly before I reached Prelude Lake, the blowing snow began - right into our faces.
At home, I don't worry much about a 30 kph wind, and I rarely pay attention to wind direction - but up here, it matters. It was a slog to get to the CP, but it was a cheery place with a heated tent, friendly staff, hot water and homemade cookies. Liza and Andrew were there, so I knew I was doing OK. Some of the racers looked a little shell-shocked, so I tried to encourage some smiles. "This is what I paid the big bucks for! I can ski in good weather anytime in Ontario, but hey, this is a true northern experience." Some of them probably wanted to kill me.
I set out alone and spent most of the next 15 km with no other racers around. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal, except visibility was so poor that I couldn't see anyone else, and it was hard to see the little flags marking the trail. On two occasions, I had to stop in the middle of the lake and wait for the blowing snow to clear enough so I could see the next flag indicating the route. I never wanted to get out of sight of the nearest flag, so I proceeded slowly.
The snow was soft and drifted, so I couldn't see tracks. It was tough to get into any sort of smooth rhythm on my skinny racing skis, since I was lurching up and down from crust to fluffy snow. It was wild, fun, thrilling and very Canadian. While I can't honestly say that I enjoyed every moment while it was happening, I did enjoy most of it - and it's an experience that I'm really glad to have had!
I wasn't cold at all, even in the blowing snow. I wore a light, loose (this was key!) polypro top under an expedition weight polypro shirt and a lightweight vest, topped with a Salomon Fast & Lite Jacket. Bottom was XC ski pants, expedition weight long johns and windproof briefs. I borrowed Alan's awesome Taiga windproof hat and only needed a windstopper headband under that. I wore ski goggles (aka Gallygoogles) all day, which worked well for warmth in the wind along with a fleece neck gator that froze into a strange but useful shape around my lower face. I also wore seriously warm gloves and boot covers over my ski boots.
The weather improved through the afternoon, and eventually I could see the group of racers ahead. Safety snowmobiles went by on a few occasions, checking my face for frostbite or prompting me for a thumbs up or down sign. After more than 8 hrs, I skied into camp where Richard met me with hot soup in a mug - yum.
He'd been in for 2 hrs, having finished an hour behind the leader of the 3-day ski race, Pate's roommate Thomsen D'hont. (The initial race results showed his time as 1 hr slower than it actually was, but that will be fixed.) The field was surprisingly spread out, and I was still one of the earlier finishers. There were racers who took more than 15 hrs to complete the course! I can't imagine how hard that would be on their bodies, especially since they had to start the next morning after a very short rest. My body was feeling some pain after altering my ski technique to accommodate snow conditions. One heel had a blister while the other had an inflamed Achilles tendon (a brand new injury - yikes).
We settled into the tent village at Powder Point, sharing our heated tent with Greg & Denise McHale, Liza Pye, Phil Villeneuve and Dennis Colburn (3-time winner of the Calgary Marathon). We hoped that some of their considerable athletic skills would rub off on us! After dinner, hot chocolate, tea and stories, we went to bed early. Even with the heat turned down, I was super-warm in Angus' down sleeping bag, lying on a winter Thermarest and blue foamie.