Letter to Worldloppet

May 1, 2008

We have just published our yearly letter to Worldloppet. You can view it at IAWLS letter 2008.

Birkebeinerrennet 2008

April 25, 2008

This year, as several times in the recent years, temperature a few days before Birkebeiner Rennet was again close to 0C and waxing was for sure going to be an issue again. But for 2008 BR, Swix , the local wax manufacturer, decided not to repeat errors and to avoid situations like for example in BR 2004 … That year with my waxless skis I remember to have passed hundreds of infortunate skiers who blindly followed Swix advice, and who were stuck a few kilometrs later waiting in waiting lines for rewaxing... Never repeat such wrong advice ! So this year official wax advice was not looking like : put this for base grip then that for kick wax. That would have been too easy ! No in order to maximize probability of being right, the waxing company gave to the poor skiers following advice : put this as a base and this for kick wax, or option 2 put (completely different products) that, or option 3 (again different products) put those. In the end skiers were tempted to buy all products (just to take them to the race if their choice proved unfortunate) and Swix multiplied by 3 its chance to be right. If this seemed winning strategy for Swix, it had just the opposite results on many skiers who just decided to put grip tape (from Swix competitor, and worked quite well) or simple use waxless skis !!

Apart from that rather funny waxing issue, all the rest of the race was as usual perfectly organized, weather was very nice and tracks in much better shape than what we could have had if snow was really around 0. We also avoided last year strong winds which forced organization to interrupt the race at last minute. Lots of snow were present everywhere and Norwegian crowd was there, sometimes looking at the skiers from the very top of their wooden cabin buried in the snow (see picture). At the first food station there was even rock band playing to encourage the skiers! So despite lots of philosophical debates between kickwax, grip tape or waxless, this race was really a good way to conclude the 2008 season. Now it is time to complete our passports, for some of us get a new master and start spring training before next snow .. or before Kangaroo Hoppet ! See you soon !!

Engadin Skimarathon 2008

March 25, 2008

This year was the 40th anniversary of the Engadin Skimarathon and the first year of the half marathon. Both events started simultaneously in Maloja, with the half marathon ending in Pontresina, the full distance ending in S-Chanf at the usual place.

For 2 weeks prior to the events the weather was unusually warm and much of the snow cover was lost. What remained was very hard packed snow on the portions of the Marathon trail over land, with much of the trail on the lakes looking more like a skating rink than a ski trail. The organisers did an excellent job of preparing the tracks for the Marathon. Snow was moved in to many of the icy trail sections. Even the sections across the lakes had a thin, but sufficient, cover of snow.   “Mattress hill” was covered with a large amount of additional snow to make it safer and easier to descend.

The temperature at the start was about -1C and rose only a couple of degrees by the finish as the sky was cloudy for most of the day. The wind was light and blowing down the valley toward the finish. The snow was fast, the winner was Tor Arne Hetland in 1:24:30, a new course record. Fastest woman was Katrin Zeller in 1:33:27, also a new course record.

Some results of IAWLS members:

Vasaloppet week in 2008

March 19, 2008

Öppet Spår on Monday

After the Finlandia-Hiihto skating race, I moved to Mora. Two Swedish skiers told me the weather and waxing information about Sunday’s open race, the temperature was +7 and course was bad and the waxing was very difficult.

I went to bed with anxiety. But I could see many stars on Monday morning. !!

I arrived at the start point in Sälen, daybreak and no wind, temperature is -3. I was very happy I could start such a good condition. Start time is 7:00 AM, many skiers waiting for the start in a long line and started quietly and gentle for a 90 km long distance. The course was well groomed and very beautiful; the grip wax( Start universal klister) worked perfectly for me. Weather condition was very good all day, air temperature was from -3 to +3, sunshine and no wind. On the way to Mora, there were many resting stations and I enjoyed special drink ( blue berry soup) and cheerful announcement for oversea skiers. I enjoyed such a wonderful and stress free VASA ski race.

HalvVasan

The day before the race the tracks were hard and icy, definitely klister conditions. The forecast for the morning indicated the possibility of snow. The possible became reality about one hour before the start and the snow continued all day with a final accumulation of about 20cm. The temperature was -2C at the start, +3C at the finish. 3500 skiers spent the last minutes before the start covering klister with hard wax. The fresh snow slowed the front runners while those behind benefited from glazed tracks which were very fast. After the competitors thinned out about the 15k mark everyone was using just one track. This made passing very difficult. Mathias Fredriksson won in 2:20:26

SkejtVasan

There were several levels at which this event could be skied, a 45k competition, 30 & 45k non competitive. The track was firm as the overnight temperature was about -5C and still about the same for the 9AM start. It was mostly cloudy throughout so the snow remained firm even though the temperature rose to +3C by noon. There was only about 1 cm of fresh snow overnight. With just 400 skiers in the 45k event and the 30k not starting until 10:30 there were no traffic problems. The 45k winning time was 1:42

Vasaloppet

Vasaloppet seems to be a series of lineups. First there is the line for the bus to the start, then the unbelievably long line to get into the start gate no matter how early you arrive, then the lineup for the WC. After the start there is the line up the first hill which seems to take forever if you are not in the first few start groups. Finally, after the finish you get to wait in line for the post race meal. Such are the problems of the world’s largest ski marathon despite an excellent organisation, only the start arrangement could use some improvement.

It was snowing, with the temperature about 0C at the start of this year’s Vasaloppet. It continued to snow for another 4 hours. After the snow stopped the sky remained cloudy and the temperature rose only a few degrees to about +3C at the finish in Mora. With the fresh snow and warm temperature waxing was difficult, many skiers stopped to rewax, others gave up and double-poled their way to the finish. The trail soon became only 2 travelled lanes which were glazed and reasonably fast. Passing was difficult as the fresh snow made the unused lanes very slow. The skied lanes quickly lost their shape as a result of the mild temperature and heavy traffic. There was no dramatic sprint to the finish this year. The winner was Jorgen Aukland in 4:13:45, followed by his brother Anders 3:29 minutes behind.

Invitation to the IAWLS 2008 General Assembly

Read.....

Worldloppet Yearbook

October 27, 2007

Have you got your Worldloppet Yearbook in the mail? Read the full source version of the Royal Couple here at IAWLS.

more information and stories....

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This page was last revised on May 1, 2008