VertFest 2008

Thanks to OR and the Seattle ski community for putting on a great race. My trip from Salt Lake City to the Vertfest was well worth it. And your terrain and snow was almost as good as the Wasatch. Actually, as I mentioned to Dave, it was an eye opening experience. I have this odd Ranier craving right now.

I've blogged my TR here: www.slc-samurai.blogspot.com

Thanks again.

Thanks to OR for a fun event and some super schwag! My lesson for the day was to bring the crampons for the splitboard next time and not leave them in the car. Sliding around on the climb caused me a lot of headache and unnecessary bootpacking.

Amazing to see the guys on the skinny AT gear running up the slope.

Thanks to Kaj, Martin and OR for putting on such a great event.  Was fun to participate for the first time (really) despite fumbling transitions and leg cramps at the top of lap 2 before descending Bearpits in icy conditions.   If only I'd known the "elite tele" category wasn't continued this year, I would have used my AT gear and skinsuit     Congrats to Lowell, Seth and Monika for those speedy times from the locals.  And to Mary, Andrew and Lisa for getting my butt out there!

Hey All:

In addition to planning for VertFest Alpental, we've already begun the job of looking at next year. We would really appreciate it if you would tell us what you would like to see at VertFest 2009.

Feel free to send comments to me at Outdoor Research - kaj@outdoorresearch.com - and we'll put your ideas into the mix for '09. I'll also be checking this post once in a while, so you can drop your thoughts here too.

We are committed to improving the rando race aspect of VertFest, but we also want to develop activities that will entice the beginning backcountry skier and alpine skier to learn more about the game.

Thanks again and see you soon.

Kaj

Here's some brainstorming for you.( remember there are no bad ideas when you are brainstorming)

Beacon races! Timed event on how long to discover 3 buried beacons!

Digging competition: timed event on  how long to dig up a buried object, 6 ' down.

Avalung trumpet competition. You can make quite interesting sounds blowing through your avalung. You could have an " american idol " type avalung trumpeting competition. ???


Hey at least I contributed !

Avalung trumpet competition. You can make quite interesting sounds blowing through your avalung. You could have an " american idol " type avalung trumpeting competition. ???

Leave it to a Scotsman to think of this use for an Avalung!      

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Bagpipe_performer.jpg/180px-