What I Did This Summer: Hagan Athlete Edition

Too Long, Didn’t Read: 

Our athletes spent the summer racing in a mall, chasing FKTs, outrunning wildfires, and failing spectacularly at a 1,000-mile bike ride. They also told us their favorite memory from last ski season, which is the best winter hype we could hope for. Skip to your favorite, or read the whole thing and pretend you have a free afternoon.

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Let me begin by saying I am not an athlete. I am a guy with an inbox and a coffee habit. So when I emailed our athletes and asked for three paragraphs each (what you did this summer, your favorite memory from last winter, what you're chasing this year), I was braced for a handful of polite one-liners.

Instead, I got a mall, a cliff rope, a wildfire, and a honeymoon with 36 hours of cycling in it. I trimmed where I had to. The best lines stayed word for word. Last winter was rough for a lot of us (Colorado sat below 50% of normal snowpack for most of it), which makes these "favorite memory" answers even better. Good days still happened. Here's proof.

Jonathan Shefftz: Skimo, Now With Indoor Plumbing

Jonathan Shefftz directs the NE Rando Race Series, and this summer he pulled off what he believes is the world's first indoor skimo race. The venue: Big Snow, inside New Jersey's American Dream mall. It's 160 vertical feet of ISMF-format sprint course at a guaranteed 28 F, with, in his words, "no precip, no wind, no sun, nice from the perspective of a skimo race organizer not to have any worries about weather for a change!"

His races now span "pretty much sea level to above treeline on Mt Washington." That's a range I did not know a race series could have.

Favorite memory from last winter: the race he organized at his local hill, Berkshire East, where his teenage ski-patrol daughter served as Chief of Course and enforced ISMF rules at the base area transition, "including holding one racer in place for 30 seconds for a transition zone violation." Somewhere, a racer is still thinking about that 30 seconds. Probably fondly, hopefully, eventually.

This season: a new race at Catamount, on the New York side of its border-straddling base, which brings his total to six states (NY, NJ, MA, VT, NH, ME). He is also praying that "our frequent on-the-edge winter storms stay on the snowy side of that edge." I’m sure every Northeast skier just nodded.

Photos from the series (some of them are "hilarious," per Jonathan) are on the NE Rando Race Series Facebook page.

Victor Doronin: The 1,000-Mile Bike Ride (A Review)

Victor Doronin (@victor_v_doronin) opened his summer with a clear goal: bike 1,000 miles in 10 days. The results: 90 miles on day one, 67 on day two, and on day three, "so exhausted I gave up." His own assessment: "I fully failed."

His follow-up is my favorite sentence in this entire post: "Next summer, I WILL do better."

The rest of his summer was less humbling: three ski camps (including one in Whistler), a running camp with Max King and Joe McConaughy, a Strava vert challenge, and a verdict of "Ok summer was good ok."

Favorite day on skis last year: the Steep Dreams teams race at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, Canada. It was a 6-7 hour race with 6+ ascents and descents, 6,000+ vertical feet, and weather that went from sunny to 70 mph winds "blowing me off." There was also a cliff descent on a rope, which he describes as "terrified." And yet: "But that was still amazing." His top tip for anyone who goes: "The best thing there is the crepes in the cafe at 7 am by the way."

This winter, Victor "just want[s] to go to races," especially in Utah (Wasatch Powderkeg is a favorite) and, ideally, with a pumpkin spice latte in hand before the flight. We respect the plan.

Brent Herring: Chased Out of Colorado by Fire, Won Silver Twice

Brent Herring planned to run the Oregon Cascades 100 in July. The race was cancelled when a large wildfire grew to within a couple of miles of Sisters. Brent, undeterred, went hunting for Fastest-Known-Times instead: the South Sister Summit and Circumnavigation and the Crater Lake Rim High Route.

Then he ran back-to-back 50ks in Maine and New Hampshire in September, and finished second in both: the Megunticook 50k on Saturday, and the Pisgah Mountain 50k on Sunday. He says he "surprised [himself]" on Sunday. I'm surprised he got out of bed. He's also pursuing marathons or better in every state, a project he's been chipping away at since 2006.

Pictured Above: Brent Skiing Grizzly Peak B, a remote and corner of the San Juans that seldom see's climbers in the summer, much less skiers in the winter.

Favorite memory from last winter: Colorado's snow situation was bad. After "most Coloradans had given up on skiing and brought out their bikes in late March, the tap turned on for a big mid-April finale." He found "surfy stable snow" along the Highway 550 Corridor between Silverton and Red Mountain Pass "that leaves you smiling for days."

He also names a highlight that I'm legally obligated to include, per my own ego. Brent linked up with Jack Breezley for the Power of Four in Aspen: "My planned partner had to bail at the last moment but fortunately Jack had the fitness on tap for us to battle to an 11th place finish." That Jack is me. I'd like it noted that I have the fitness "on tap," exactly as quoted, and that I'm framing it.

Brent plans to go back and crack the top 5. He also plans to "harvest a cornucopia of blower El Nino pow all season long on the Hagan Boosts 105s," with one confession: "I was scared to ski them most of last winter for fear of gouging the bases in my first season on them." Brent, this is the winter. Go ski the Boosts. (And if you're wondering whether the El Niño hype is real, we did the homework.)

Justin Sackett: Took It Back

Justin Sackett, owner of Skyline Mountain Guides, spent the summer on the FKT for the West Ridge of Mt. Stuart. He made two attempts. Then Simon Kearns beat his time in early August, so Justin went back a third time and took it back in 4:29:49. To help myself feel better about my slowing fitness, I often claim that “there is always someone better than you”. Impressive nonetheless Justin!

Notably as well, earlier in the year, he reached 8,600 meters on Everest without oxygen before safely retreating to lower elevations. The rest of the season: guiding. Favorite memories from last winter: perfect powder days at Snoqualmie Pass ("Deep turns in the backyard are hard to beat"), and a January ski descent of Mount Rainier, "cold but absolutely beautiful to be up there alone with my ski partner in the winter."

This winter: the North Face of Mount Hood FKT, ice climbing up, then skiing down the Cooper Spur, all in one round-trip push. Beyond that, "big days in the backyard and all around the Cascades." He is currently "itching for snow at home." Same, Justin.

Elliott Baring : Honeymoon, With Cycling

After 15+ years of elite bike racing, Elliott Baring spent this summer supporting the athletes he coaches and their team, including training buddy Kevin Merenda, who went on to win a Gravel National Championship in La Crescent, MN. They still hit the start line at SBT GRVL, Leadville, and Little Sugar MTB.

The highlight was a delayed honeymoon with wife Ansley: 36 hours of riding in one week across Switzerland and France, capped by watching the Tour de France on Alpe d'Huez (Stage 19) and in Paris (Stage 21). "A peak lifetime experience that I hope to top someday!" Most of us would struggle to top 36 hours of riding on a honeymoon, but we like the optimism.

Favorite memory from last winter: a four-day downhill trip to Aspen Snowmass with Ansley, their second year making the trip. "It continually blows my mind how you can be in Aspen on one of the best powder days of the season and find the lift lines completely empty; though if everyone else prefers to party at the bars and Cloud 9 instead, I won't complain!" Neither will we.

This winter: early-morning uphill laps at Eldora, Rise and Grind races at A-Basin, Morning Grind, and Skimo Nationals at Winter Park. They're also hoping El Niño favors the Southwest so they can get back to Taos Ski Valley, which, funny enough, is where my own forecast was pointing. (Jack's Takes, Not a Forecast™.)

Travis Macy: Italy, Soccer, and Japan

Travis Macy shared a 13-mile / 6,000'-vert trail race in Italy with his family this summer, and spent the rest of it driving to kids' soccer games and tournaments. He says all of it was "both hard and wonderful, full of growth and challenge."

Favorite memory from last winter: backcountry skiing in the "magical land of Japan." The trees "were unique and beautiful," and he found "the entire experience energizing and spiritual."

This winter: "I am hoping for SNOW!" As he wrote on October 1, he could see "almost a foot of it up on the Sawatch." Plans include skiing uphill at Monarch "alone, with friends, and hopefully with some local kids and teens if I can convince them to get out there with me," and, as always, coaching new and experienced skimo racers.

Jack Breezley: 100 Miles, “Quite Smoothly”

I spent the summer running many miles in the mountains with good company ahead of a move away from Colorado. The main event was the Dark Divide 100 miler in early September. It was difficult, as any steep hundred miler is, but it went quite smoothly. Yes, I’m aware that “smooth” and “100 miles” are not words that usually go together, and I’m choosing to enjoy it.

Favorite memory from last winter: going to a lesser visited touring spot in my then-local backcountry, which shared the trailhead with the busiest touring spot in that area, and proceeding to have our zone to ourselves for the entire day whilst the four of us stacked our turns 28-wide through a low angle powdered meadow. That’s the whole dream: a quiet meadow, three friends, 28 turns across, and nobody else around.

This winter I’m hoping to race skimo more casually than I have in years past, ski Mt. Rainier, and then put in an honest effort to ski Mt. Hood as quick as I can. (Justin, heads up. The Cascades are getting busy and may not be big enough for the two of us.)

Pictured Above: Myself fighting some demons on a steep, slick, muddy and cold descent in sometime after mile 90 in the morning. Less of this please and more low angle powder please, my quads much prefer that. 

What the Athletes Have in Common

Reading all of these back to back, here's what I noticed:

• Nobody's favorite memory was a result. Sure, there's a 30-second penalty and an 11th place in there. But the actual favorites were an empty lift line, a quiet meadow, a powder day in the backyard, and a tap that turned on in mid-April.

• Everyone is ready for snow. If a foot on the Sawatch on October 1 doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will.

• Light attitude is a competitive advantage. The athletes who failed (Victor on the bike, Brent's cancelled 100) are the ones with the best stories.

Your Turn

Winter's coming. What was your favorite ski memory from last season, and what are you chasing this year? Tell us in the comments, or post it and tag @haganskiusa with #skitouringforall. The weirder, the better. We read every one.

See you on the skin track.

#skitouringforall