A true backcountry event in the heart of the Siskiyou Mountains in Southern Oregon. The race starts and ends at the Mt Ashland Ski Area, but you'll be venturing in and around the ski area.
Whether you are a hard core skimo athlete or a recreational backcountry skiing enthusiast there is a place for you at the Mt A Skimo Summit! We offer two race courses which are detailed below.
All participants will also be eligible to ski and ride for a discount on the lifts at the ski area after their race thanks to the generous support of the Mt Ashland Ski Area.
We will have day of registration for 140$/70$ for Full/Rec courses, but we highly encourage everyone to sign up earlier, which helps us get our meal & beer orders, and print out the results sheet
NOTE: Anyone under 21 is eligible for a 40% off discount. Use code Youth23 at checkout. Anyone under 14 is free use code Youth14 at checkout (for Rec Course only).
Full Course Description
The full course at the Mt Ashland Skimo Summit is a true backcountry event! We start and end on the manicured Mt Ashland Ski Area trails, but the bulk of the time you’ll be skiing and riding in untamed ungroomed terrain outside of the ski area.
While the Mt Ashland Skimo Summit full course is a race and does follow race formatting you need not consider yourself a racer to take part. This course will cover advanced skiing terrain and therefore requires both strong downhill skiing ability and endurance.
There are four major climbs and a fifth very short climb at the finish. The total vertical gain and loss is approximately 4,500ft. The distance is approximately 8 miles.
The course will be fully marked to USSMA standards with green flagging on the ascents, red flagging on the descents, yellow flagging for the bootjack, and blue marking for transitions.
Required Gear: Helmet, Avalanche Safety Gear (beacon, shovel probe), skins, backpack which you can strap your skis/board to, food, water, extra layers.
There will be four categories for the full course (with M/F winners):
Skimo: no maximum weight gear weight limit
Heavy Metal Skier: Ski+binding weight over 1,500 grams
Splitboard
Recreational Course Description
Overview:
Our recreational course at the Mt Ashland Skimo Summit is perfect for newer uphill skiers or people looking for a shorter effort. The course will incorporate one major climb from the Mt Ashland Lodge to the Summit followed by a descent on piste, finishing with a short 250ft climb back to the Lodge to finish. All of our rec course will remain in the ski area boundary and racers will not be required to carry avalanche safety equipment. The course will descend a blue ski run and does not require expert downhill skiing ability.
The Total vertical gain and loss on the rec course is approximately 1,100ft and the distance is approximately 2.2 miles.
We'll have 2 categories, Male and Female for the rec course.
Required Gear
FULL COURSE:
Our full course travels outside of the ski area boundary into the backcountry on the Siskiyou Crest. Avalanche safety gear is required (Beacon, Shovel, Probe), skins (no snowshoes for the full course), along with a backpack that you can strap your ski or snowboard to for the boot pack section (no carrying your skis on this section for safety reasons). Recommended gear: Helmet, food and water, extra layers
REC COURSE:
Our rec course will stay inside the normal ski area boundary and so avalanche safety gear is not required. The following items are recommended: Helmet, Food/Water, Extra layers
Schedule
See https://www.mtashlandskimo.com/race-schedule for more details
Race Date: Saturday Feb 4th 2023
Race Start 7:30am
Awards: 1:30 pm
Cancellation/Refund Policy
In highly unlikely case that we'll have to cancel, the Mt Ashland Skimo Summit cannot offer refunds on race entry fees. Most of the money goes towards insurance, which will not be refunded. We'll do our best in adapting our course rather than cancelling the event.
We aren't making any money on putting on this event, we do it because we love the sport and love to see the community come together. We ask for your understanding.