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Another Sunlight Mountain Resort win for Passant
Close finish highlights 2nd annual COSMIC race
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After running up the base of the slope, racers, including No. 46 Zahan Billimeria and No. 79 Mike Kloser, step into their ski bindings and head up the slopes Sunday morning in the COSMIC Ski Race at Sunlight Mountain Resort.
Kelley Cox/Post Independent
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By Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
January 21, 2008
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SUNLIGHT MOUNTAIN - Ethan Passant, Cary Smith and Brian Smith stood at the base of Sunlight Mountain, debriefing one another on the gnarly terrain they just conquered.
As friendly a scene as it was, one would be hard-pressed to believe that, just minutes earlier, the three had been locked in a three-way battle to win Sunday morning's Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup (COSMIC) race stop at Sunlight.
It took more than two hours of skinning up and skiing down roughly 5,200 vertical feet of backcountry terrain at the resort to settle the outcome.
And the winner, for a second straight year, was Passant. The Crested Butte extreme skier sped across the finish line in 2 hours, 1 minute and 30 seconds, just 20 seconds ahead of Jackson Hole's (Wyo.) Cary Smith and 40 seconds in front of Gunnison's Brian Smith.
That top three reads like a who's who of the ski mountaineering world. Both Passant and Cary Smith are bound for the Feb. 23-29 Ski Mountaineering World Championships in Switzerland as members of the United States Ski Mountaineering Association team.
Brian Smith, who has plenty of winter sports experience under his belt but is better known for his exploits as a big-name cyclist, was partaking in just his second ski mountaineering race.
If it weren't for a mistake or two and equipment malfunctions - Smith went the wrong way on a descent and had skin issues that forced him to use spares - he may have challenged for the win.
"The last descent, I was feeling good; I was ready," Smith said of the three-lap course. "I got within 20 seconds of the guys on the last stop, but those guys are just so good on the descent."
Smith competed in Snowmass on the first stop of the seven-part COSMIC series on Saturday. That race was won by none other than Passant, making for two wins in as many days for the 35-year-old.
Passant didn't tire down the stretch, mustering the energy to hold off his gap-closing pursuers.
"I was starting to feel it toward the end," he said. "Those two guys were right there with me. I could see them right behind me."
While a two-hour race that tests your conditioning in every way possible might seem daunting to most, it's just training ground for Passant.
"This is training for worlds," he said. "This was an easy one to get to. Two in a row is cool. It's some of what worlds will be like - two days on, one off, then two on again. Something like that."
Cary Smith is eager to get to Switzerland alongside Passant and challenge the European talent.
"It'll be good to get over there," he said. "It'll be good to go try and go fast against the Europeans."
The first woman across the line at Sunlight Sunday was Sari Anderson, who finished in 2:25:40. She was tailed by Jari Kirklan (2:48:10).
Sunday's COSMIC race also featured a shorter recreational course for those not-so-die-hard ski mountaineers.
Next up on the COSMIC slate is a Feb. 9 race at Crested Butte, followed by a Feb. 23 visit to Whitewater, British Columbia (Canada), a March 8 stop at Loveland, an April 19 race at Silverton and the closing race at Arapahoe Basin on April 26.
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CLOUDY 45°
