Photo from Jaime Brede
The inaugural ski mountaineering season for Team Summit and head coach Jaime Brede has focused primarily on training, but the team hopes to head to its first in-person competition next month.
Brede and Team Summit ski mountaineers Olivia Lyman and Delilah Staberg have trained weekly on Copper Mountain Resort’s new designated uphill routes.
The endurance training, interval training and ski mountaineering fundamentals such as bootpacking, downhill skiing on skinny skis and transitions led up to Lyman and Staberg’s first race of the season the virtual Arapahoe Basin Ski Area Rise and Shine Rando series. On an unmarked course where they recorded their personal times via the Strava application, Staberg (1 hour, 41 minutes and 46 seconds) and Lyman (1:41:47) finished third and fourth in the nine-skier women’s race behind winner Kate Chapman (1:18:57) and runner-up Katherine Sigerst (1:40:12).
Photo by Hugh Carey / From Summit Daily archives
While pandemic regulations canceled nationals and some other competitions, Team Summit Executive Director C.B. Bechtel said it was encouraging that Team Summit was able to host its first race series of the season at Breckenridge Ski Resort on Monday, Jan. 11 and Tuesday, Jan. 12. Bechtel described the race season as “normal, just being run a little bit different.”
Bechtel said Team Summit mogul skiers were also able to compete in Aspen this weekend, their second competition of the season.
The organization’s snowboard and freeski athletes are the most affected by the cancellation of the national competition. Team Summit Snowboard Program Director Matt Voegtle said the USASA’s regional and Futures Tour contests will keep many of his snowboarders busy through the season.
Photo from Darien Waker
The snowboard community near and far has rallied for one of its own, local snowboard coach Chris Waker.
Waker suffered a “freak” neck injury while riding at Copper Mountain Resort on Christmas Eve, breaking the C5, C6 and C7 vertebrae in his neck. He is recovering at Craig Hospital in Englewood after multiple surgeries the first at 4 a.m. Christmas Day including the installation of several cervical plates.
Waker’s wife, Darien, said Thursday that Waker has made recent progress at the hospital, which specializes in spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation.
Two weeks ago Waker was limited to laying in bed. Since then, he’s progressed from being able to sit in a wheelchair to using a manual wheelchair for the first time Thursday. Darien said her husband was able to move the wheelchair using the bottom of his hands. Also in recent days, Waker has been able to use a fork attached to his hand to feed himself and even throw a bean bag at a cornhole tar
Photo by Liz Copan / Studio Copan
Safe Slopes Colorado, a coalition with the goal of increasing safety and transparency at ski areas, recently released a report detailing the number of traumatic snowsports injuries over the course of the 2017-18 ski season. The report includes data from the Colorado Trauma Registry and was compiled by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The report tallies 1,426 injuries that took place at Colorado ski areas and were treated at Level I-III trauma centers from Nov. 14, 2017, to April 15, 2018. A hospital’s designation equates to the level of care it can provide, with a Level I center capable of providing total care for every aspect of injury
Photo from The Lost Cajun
Colorado is known for receiving an abundance of sunshine, and a run through untouched powder or along freshly groomed trails becomes even more sublime when it’s combined with blue skies. But the sunshine can’t last forever, and sometimes blizzard conditions will force you to stop and warm up at the lodge. Other times, you might be looking for a soothing apres ski beverage to comfort aching muscles.
When those conditions arise, it’s the perfect chance to order a hot cup of coffee, tea, chocolate or cider at one of many spots in Summit County. Sure, you can get a piping mug of something just about anywhere these days, but these spots tend to put a unique spin on their drinks that make them worth the stop.