CNYO Snowgaine, Day 1
Winona State Forest, NY
[Race time was 13.5 minutes longer because we started late.]
After a 2-year absence, the Snowgaine was back! Past participants Bruce Kuo, Russell Nordquist and Gian Dodici approached CNYO for permission to revive the event using the club's maps, insurance and expertise. As word spread, the winter-loving Canadian contingent grew steadily.
The forecast called for high winds and squalls on Friday with the potential for 3-4' of new snow at Snowgaine HQ near Mannsville, NY. The heaviest squalls ended up hitting farther north so we drove through white-out conditions on and off between Kingston and our hotel in Watertown, NY.
'Bent and I made our first nav error of the weekend by taking the wrong turn for the Olive Garden parking lot. Then we relocated and made a different wrong turn. The restaurant was next door so we left our car and walked across the strip of snow between parking lots, which turned out to be thigh-deep!
We enjoyed dinner with two speedy teams: Peninsula Adventure Sports Association (Harps & JVD) and Wilderness Traverse (Bob and Scott). 'Bent and I hoped that some of their talent would rub off.
Saturday morning was cold and cloudy. We could start between 8-9 a.m. and our official start time would be 30 minutes after we took our maps. Today's time limit was 8 hours. The variable start time was a last minute change to give teams more time to get to Race HQ on snowy roads.
Most teams waited a bit rather than break trail for everyone else. 'Bent and I checked the trail report and found that half the ski trails had been groomed yesterday. We decided to put on our ski gear and get completely prepared to leave before picking up our maps.
As soon as I saw the map, I realized that skiing would be very difficult. The snow was deep off-trail, and we would have to negotiate steep slopes and cross flowing streams to reach a number of control sites. So we used precious time to switch to snowshoeing gear and put our skis back in the van.
Because planning time was so limited, we weren't concerned about leaving right at 8:45, our official start time. If another 5-10 minutes with the map resulted in a better route, it would be time well spent. We ended up leaving 13 minutes late, which was too much. (Click on map to see full res version.)
We traveled on freshly groomed ski trails on our way to 70. They were soft and wide enough for skiers and snowshoers. It was chilly but we'd dressed for it. The snowy forest was spectacular. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop for any photos today.
'Bent has had some mid-race gear failures over the years but even by his standards, this race got off to an impressive start. The big metal arm of his homemade ski map holder snapped in half before the first control. After some adjustments so he could carry a map, I asked him to break trail heading south. He headed north and I calmly pointed it out. (OK, you *know* that's not true. We've been married a long time.) We showed our compasses to one other and discovered that the needle on his wrist compass was not moving. So I was our only compass person for the day although ‘Bent could check a bearing by pressing a few buttons on his watch. :(
Soon we hit a 4-way intersection of groomed ski trails that wasn't on our map. This missing trail was the only real map problem we noticed over the two days; otherwise, it was very reliable. We stopped to try to relocate. I questioned myself because I'd been distracted by the gear issues and hadn't concentrated well. We gave up after a couple of minutes and carried on to the next junction, which was recognizable and exactly what we were expecting.
From there, we went to 60, 58, 49. I didn't like the direction of the tracks after 49 so we broke our own trail east through deep snow to get to the trail where we could cross the stream on the bridge. That took 6 minutes and the trail we reached was ungroomed (which we knew) so it wasn't much faster going. If I'd known then that the tracks I’d seen belonged to Bob and Scott, I could have saved some time. :)
The stream crossing after 69 was the most difficult one of the race for us. I ended up with two wet feet and a wet shin and knee. With all my layers, waterproof socks and Climashield shoes, I stayed warm enough after the initial shock. We continued west to 71, where I refolded my map and realized that 54 had been hidden under a fold, and we were supposed to have gone 69-54-71. At that point, it was a tough call whether to just keep going. In hindsight, my error added about 25 minutes but I'm not sure we could have got the same number of points elsewhere in less time. In Snowgaines past, we have sometimes regretted skipping a moderately valuable control near the edge of the map on Day 1.
Next 'Bent put me on tow and we headed to 81-76-67, starting with a road run that felt surprisingly good, given that I haven’t been running. After 81, I had the first full-on nosebleed that I can remember in my life, which was awkward. ("Wait, let me wipe the blood off my map so I can check our route.") I think that was also the place where 'Bent's snowshoe broke so we needed a repair break anyway. After 76, we started following a set of tracks that looked like they might lead toward 67 but they didn't seem to be doing the right thing. The bushwhacking wasn't fast so we backtracked and went around on major trails - 12 mins lost.
At the far south end of the map, we kept running into good teams like Brent and Abby, Bob and Scott, Alex and Karine, and Chris and Chad. That made me worry that we'd bitten off more than we could chew. It was time to make our way back toward the finish: 39-36-79-20. We finished with 9 minutes to go so there was no stressful dash to make the deadline, which is a tradition that I've been trying to end.
We were pleased with our first day and had been pretty relaxed about it since we knew we weren't competitive in either the Coed or the Veteran (40+) category. When the Day 1 results were emailed out, we were surprised to see a 7-team Coed Veteran category, and we were in the lead. After a fun Canadian evening out at Skewed Brewing, I stayed up late revising our Day 2 plan since apparently we were racing after all!