Unfinished Business on Schedule to be Finished
14th Dec 2013
Back in April 2012 Di, Catrin and I were disappointed to be stopped just above Arolla in the PDG due to the avalanche risk. Determined to complete the event we applied for a place in the 2014 event, but this time as team Skimo Scotland, the name given to the newly established race series in Scotland. We were meant to find out a few weeks ago if we had got a place or not. However the decision was delayed as the organisers took time to carefully sift through all the entries and remove all those that were caught cheating by submitted 2 entries. This morning we were delighted to learn that we have been given a place (Catrin might not know yet as she is currently in Antarctica!).
Today was the Mont Blanc Ski Challenge, a local ski mountaineering race (but with world champions competing). I had wanted to compete in the team event but unable to find a partner I somewhat reluctantly entered the Challenge des Autannes, the shorter of the 2 individual races. The course had been adapted to suit the current snow conditions, carefully linking together the patches of snow. It was a fantastic race with a friendly atmosphere. It was impressive to see the speed that the top racers came past at, having started lower down than us. I got quite a surprise when I got a text later on to say that I had come 3rd in my category! It was totally unexpected as there were quite a lot of people in front of me but they must have been mainly juniors and veterans. The credit should really go to Toto though who was hot on my heals and had skis that weighted 3 times as much as mine!
