Registration open for Vertfest and Crystal Skimo Race!
I know it’s taken a bit of time to nail down some of the details for the races, which has delayed in us getting registrations open. Thank you for being patient! You can now register for all three of the races at the following links. What a great Christmas present to yourself! Or your significant other! A nice sufferfest is what everyone wants in their stocking Christmas morning, right?
Keep reading past the dates though, as we have lots of additional news that will both make you sad and happy.
Here’s a snowy welcome to our 2020 Billy Goat Sponsors, Nikwax and Camp USA!
We are super excited (not just for all this new snow!) that two fantastic companies who have chosen to support local skimo. Especially relevant since Nikwax is located right here in Seattle!
We’ll tell you more about Camp USA in our post holiday email, but just as a teaser, they’ll be offering racers 25% off all of their skimo race gear after the New Year.
Nikwax cleaning and waterproofing products extend the performance life of technical clothing, footwear and equipment. From safely cleaning, to re-waterproofing, each care product helps you stay more comfortable outdoors. Nikwax products have always been produced without using PFCs (a common ingredient in most water-repellent finishes) because Nikwax believes in producing high performance waterproofing that is environmentally friendly and safe to use in the home.
Raffle and Benefactors
Nikwax and Camp USA aren’t the only two brands who have chosen to support SnowGoat Skimo! There’s a whole slew of others who are just as excited as we are to see these races grow.. The gear donated from them will be raffled away during our post race celebration. 100% of all proceeds from the raffle will be going towards a local organization that is also about supporting uphill travel. For Crystal, we have chosen to partner with the Cascade Mountain Rescue Dogs and for Vertfest, of course, we will be continuing to support NWAC! All racers and volunteers will receive one starter ticket to the raffle, but open up those pocket books, support uphill travel, and win some super great gear!
Which category should I sign up for?
We realized last year the Heavy Mettle (HM) category of frame bindings, tele, and splitboarders (we’re calling it Splitmo now!) was a bit restrictive. Really not that many people doing a skimo race on frame bindings, even in the Rec Distance. So we are expanding the criteria for the HM category. This year, it will be anyone racing on a boot with three or more buckles. This includes a lot of the “general backcountry touring” crowd. We chose this criteria since it is easily identifiable and generally someone with a three buckle boot isn’t racing to be on the podium.
We also figured anyone who is serious enough to have a skin suit and racing skis is probably not going to be racing the Rec distance, we didn’t need the Heavy Mettle category in that distance. We realize there could be a few people who aren’t so jazzed on these category changes, but we are trying to find the best solution for everyone. The races are small still, and if we opened up a whole bunch of categories, they would become meaningless since everyone would be a winner.
But wait, what happened to the Stevens race you we heard about?
So some bad news. After months (years, really) of discussing with Stevens Pass about a premiere skimo event there, it was canceled for 2020. Being completely transparent, their events staff is totally on board with wanting to see a race take off there and was really helping us push the event through. However, the corporate entities at Vail were not quite so sure yet and are skeptical of the value of committing resources to host a race there. Obviously we all know there is a lot of value! On your next visit to Stevens, I encourage you to positively converse with any employee you encounter about how great a skimo race would be there! We can let them know how many uphill skiers still lift ski too!
