Whiteout warriors conquer mountain
Chair lifts are for suckers.
At least that’s what the 64 participants competing in the Whitefish Whiteout may think.
Crowding the base of Chair 1 at Whitefish Mountain Resort, alpine tourers, telemark skiers and splitboarders attached their skins — strips of nylon or mohair designed to allow the ski to slide forward but not backwards — and awaited the signal to begin Whitefish’s backcountry ski mountaineering race on Saturday.
The Whiteout consists of three categories — Long Course, Short Course and Single Ascent. Regardless of the participants category, they all started in Stage 1 by ascending 2,045 vertical feet up the 1.5-mile Toni Matt route on Big Mountain.
Philipp Schädler, of Germany, competing in the Long Course category finished the ascent in a just over 26 minutes. Schälder, visiting the United States on vacation, went on to win the Long Course in an impeccable 1:36:05.
“It’s a beautiful course. I’ve been here for a few days, I looked over the course before the race and I liked it. It was very technical. The most difficult part of it I think was the first downhill because it was very hilly and you must ski with brains but risk much,” he said through his heavy European accent.
“The mountains here are not so high, but this ski area is very beautiful. We had very good visibility. The race course was very technical and I liked it very much.”
Long Course racers were challenged by a grueling nine-stage 8.13-mile course, climbing a total of 5,461 vertical feet while descending 3,505 feet. On two occasions, skinning was not enough. Racers strapped their equipment on their backs and boot packed up steep terrain, including North Bowl Chute and Bighorn — double black diamond runs.
While the race appears unbearable to most, Ben Parsons of Kalispell took the Whiteout head on and has been for years.
Parsons, a RIDGE mountain academy ski mountaineering and mountain bike coach in Whitefish, earned second place in the Long Course category, crossing the finish line in 1:48:34. It was his 10th year racing in the Whiteout, and the bluebird skies on Saturday stood out to 34-year-old Whitefish firefighter/paramedic.
“We haven’t had these good of conditions in ages. We had visibility, the snow was soft, track was set. It was an awesome showing,” Parsons said.
“I keep feeling like every year I’m getting a little bit stronger, so it’s motivating to keep on getting after it. That last climb was so mind numbing and low angle. The boots were awesome. The skiing was awesome. It was a lot of groomer skinning, which is great for getting more people in to do a bigger race. It’s a little less technical, but I miss the technical skinning. That’s where you can kind of get some separation from the engines and technical guys.”
Lauren Kuennen won the women’s division Long Course category. She completed the nine stages in 2:10:43 after her initial ascent of 32:12.
Tim Noonan of Whitefish took home the Short Course title. The three-mile course took Noonan 1:13:04.
It was another successful turnout, according to Whitefish Resort Events and Recreation Manager Josh Knight.
“We’ve been trying to listen to our racers each year to make changes and tweaks based on their comments and feedback from other locations. We changed and altered the course and that not only allow us to cater to their needs, but also allow us to operate it more efficiently and functionally,” he said.
“It’s a fun race to put on. You get to be all over the mountain. You get to help design the course each year, which is fun. It’s a good rewarding group to be involved with. They’re really appreciative and have good expectations.”
Such a unique event, the Whiteout goes to show when the lift lines get long, the road less traveled can reap the biggest reward.
2015 Whitefish Whiteout Results
Saturday’s Results
Short Course
Men
REC Class Name 1st Ascent Time Total Finish Time
Men AT Tim Noonan 0:39:08 1:13:04
Men AT Jesse Doll 0:40:20 1:15:29
Men AT Brad Moehlmann 0:41:07 1:26:20
Men AT Brian Swenson 0:45:21 1:27:06
Men AT Brian Raykowski 0:48:10 1:30:11
Men AT Matt Nerdig 0:50:25 1:39:40
Men AT Graham McDonald 0:57:49 1:44:01
Men AT Kent Feist 0:57:41 1:45:22
Men AT Steve Shea 1:00:06 1:58:15
Men AT Ronald Benton 1:00:39 2:02:37
Men AT John Giddens 1:12:38 2:38:37
Women
REC Class Name 1st Ascent Time Total Finish Time
Women AT Monica Burley 0:50:20 1:28:51
Women AT Ivy Pederson 0:49:18 1:31:04
Women AT Erin Shea 1:09:56 2:03:29
Women AT Danielle Coffman 0:58:35 2:06:06
Women AT Amy Siemens 1:15:13 2:38:37
Splitboard
REC Class Name 1st Ascent Time Finish Time
Men Split Bob Genovese 0:41:23 1:20:25
Telemark skiing
REC Class Name 1st Ascent Time Total Finish Time
Men Tele Bear Barinowski 0:52:20 1:26:54
Ascent ONLY
REC Class Name 1st Ascent Time Men Ascent Richard Schuster 0:43:24 Men Ascent David Streeter 0:52:18 Men Ascent Stryder Claridge 1:22:00
Long Course
Men
RACE Class Name 1st ascent Totals Finish
Men AT Philipp Schädler 0:26:18 1:36:05
Men AT Ben Parsons 0:28:21 1:48:34
Men AT Mike Foote 0:27:41 1:50:25
Men AT Travis Brown 0:27:52 1:52:43
Men AT Brian Story 0:29:47 1:54:34
Men AT John Curry 0:29:45 1:54:41
Men AT Alan Adams 0:29:23 2:01:45
Men AT Steve Sellers 0:31:44 2:03:24
Men AT Jeffrey Friess 0:30:48 2:04:54
Men AT Jeff Shehan 0:36:41 2:24:05
Men AT James Rucker 0:29:14 2:27:28
Men AT Nathan Basford 0:36:10 2:39:10
Men AT Jeremy Philips 0:38:47 2:45:05
Men AT Luke Johnson 0:37:54 2:45:48
Men AT Chris Connelly 0:37:45 3:01:16
Men AT Jason Lavigne 0:46:00 3:23:03
Men AT Erik Schliebe 0:47:37 3:34:05
Men AT J. Peter Heyboer 0:42:54 3:38:41
Men AT Kyle Hougen 0:51:44 3:54:44
Men AT Zachariah Deister 0:54:30 4:00:42
Men AT Steven Pleasants 0:52:57 4:20:40
Men AT Sean Christen 0:53:50 4:20:41
Men AT Seth Pleasants 1:02:14 4:45:56
Men AT Daniel Miller 1:02:20 5:39:05
Women
RACE Class Name 1st Ascent Total Finish
Women AT Lauren Kuennen 0:32:12 2:10:43
Women AT Lizzy Adams 0:36:20 2:21:09
Women AT Martha Burley 0:38:34 2:24:55
Women AT Marg Fedyna 0:34:44 2:28:56
Women AT Katie French 0:35:53 2:30:48
Women AT Jennifer Parsons 0:40:59 2:47:16
Women AT Lisa Curry 0:42:23 2:47:40
Women AT Claire Kniveton 0:45:07 3:02:08
Women AT Katy Curtis 0:51:53 3:43:27
Telemark skiing
RACE Class Name 1st Ascent Total Finish
Men Tele Joel Shehan 0:32:36 2:21:00
Men Tele Benjamin Graham 0:42:26 2:51:22
Men Tele Jeff Beck 0:44:04 2:54:22
Men Tele Warren Lane 0:43:43 3:04:11
Men Tele Jedediah Hohf 0:44:19 3:20:57
Men Tele Randy Hohf 0:50:58 3:43:40
Women
RACE Class Name 1st Ascent Total Finish
Women Tele Amber Steed 0:41:26 3:06:13
Masters
RACE Class Name 1st Ascent Total Finish
AT Masters Dirk Gilette 0:37:12 2:30:46
AT Masters Edward Leas 0:37:05 2:46:56
AT Masters Chris Deister 0:50:57 4:05:34