Growingly popular is the uphill-and- downhill winter endurance activity known as ski mountaineering, or "Skimo". It usually calls for camping and combines hiking, climbing, and skiing ability. Athletes in Skimo racing run timed events on approved routes across difficult winter alpine terrain. Individual Mass Start events, Sprint circuit races, team Relay circuit races constitute part of the competitions.
Confident ascent and descent of steep hills calls for particular gear including skis, skins, ice axes, and crampons. Depending on the plan, you could also require ropes and other climbing gear to ascend difficult rock or ice or rappell to descend.
Although the Cascades have lengthy history of recreational ski mountaineering, the competitive form of the sport is somewhat young. Military traditions inspired Skimo competitions, whereby troops raced across alpine terrain employing both skiing and climbing techniques.
This winter endurance sport, although still relatively new, has already made amazing progress in equipment and training. While better material science promotes actual leaps in technical proficiency, skis and boots have gotten wider and lighter. The clear physical demands of this exercise have also spurred notable advancements in mental preparation, training, and diet.
For the uphill parts of your trip, you really must use appropriate boot fit and ski crampons. While basic cross-country boots may let you climb more steep hills, a good boot will be gripping on both rock and snow. A mountain guide offers safety advice for backcountry skiing and a terrific way to assist you choose the finest gear.
Any ski mountaineering trip's most crucial component is a good respect of the mountains. As much as you can, learn about the goals you are working on, weather and avalanche conditions. Apply the red flag concept; remain vigilant and perceptive; identify when occurrences or observations your mind or intuition deems as unimportant could actually indicate impending danger.
Though at greater elevations, many ski mountaineers compete in sprint events modelled after a cross-country skiing race in heats and finals. With an eye towards high maximum oxygen absorption and high VO2max, physiological research has concentrated on the factors influencing performance.
Apart from specialised equipments, such as crampons and ice axes, which help ski mountaineers be skilled and confident in negotiating high slopes. They have to be conversant with avalanche safety precautions, know how to assess the state of the weather and snow, and pick suitable paths.
Ski mountaineers have to strike a balance between energy expenditure and recovery during contests, which frequently call for several hours of uphill skiing and descents. Higher elevations' lower temperatures and drier air may cause athletes to lose more water through perspiration, therefore causing dehydration.
Long-distance aerobic training sessions at or beyond the aerobic threshold and a range of strength workouts are among the training strategies meant to raise performance. To more rapidly overcome gravity, many ski mountaineers also employ a specialist kind of cross-country skiing with a longer stride length and shorter propulsive phase. We call this kind of method skinning. Given the rigours of ski mountaineering, this is the perfect kind of instruction.
