11/06: Local Ethan Passant Wins the 4th Ski Mountaineering Race at Crested Butte (US)

Jackson Hole, Wyoming-February 11, 2006 - Crested Butte Ski Patrolman Ethan Passant won the third stop on the Mountain Hardwear, Life-Link/Dynafit Ski Mountaineering Race Series held in Crested Butte, Colorado. Passant beat Chris Kroger, from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last years overall race series winner, by just 24 seconds, finishing in a time of 1 hour 54 minutes and 25 seconds. Pete Swenson, of Boulder, Colorado, was third, in a time of 2 hours 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

Starting at 9,375 feet, the highest starting point for any of the race sites in the race series, the race division competitors climbed to the very top of the Crested Butte Peak, 12,162 feet above sea level. Over the course of the race the race division competitors climbed up and skied down over 5,000 vertical feet in total.

The winner of the women's race division was Monique Merrill, of Breckenridge, Colorado, in a time of 2 hours 29 minutes and 43 seconds. Second place went to Karen Kingsley, of Ophir, Colorado in a time of 2 hours 32 minutes and 7 seconds. Merrill is also first in the overall women's standings for the Race Series with 60 points and Kingsley is in second with 50 points.

Cary Smith of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, who is first in the overall series point totals after three races with a total of 50 points, was slowed in this race by a hard fall and finished fourth. Kroger is second in the series standings with 47 points and Swensen is third with 42 points.

"The race started in 20 degree below zero temperatures but it didn't hinder the race or recreational racers," stated John Scott Executive Director of the United States Ski Mountaineering Association, which organizes and sanctions the race series. "It was an amazing group of backcountry athletes that competed at such a high altitude and in such freezing cold temperatures," said Scott.

Kroger, Smith, Swenson and Merrill are all members of the United States Ski Mountaineering Team that will compete in Cuneo, Italy in the World Championships in March. This was also the first race in the series that had a Junior Division as seven athletes from the Colorado Rocky Mountain School participated racing on the recreational division course. Jack Bethel came in first in a time of 3 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds, Bowie Foote was second in a time of 3 hours 42 minutes and 25 seconds and Rachel Schwartz was third in a time of 3 hours 49 minutes and 19 seconds. The next stop in the series is the Outdoor Research Race at Alpental, WA on February 25th.

The Randonnee Rally Race Series is a series of ski mountaineering races held at some of the premier resorts in North America. The Race Series test the competitor's endurance, equipment and skiing skills while skinning up and skiing down some of the toughest terrain that these resorts and their surrounding mountains have to offer. Proceeds from the race series go to benefit local avalanche forecasting centers and local search and rescue groups. Sponsors of the Series are Mountain Hardwear, Marmot, Arcteryx, Life-Link, Dynafit, Petzl, Couloir Magazine, Backcountry Magazine, Ibex, Off-Piste Magazine, Crazy-Creek, Suunto, Croakies, Outdoor Research, Clif Bar, Honey Stinger, Adventure Medical Kits, Buff Headwear. McNett Revivex, Pro Ski Service, and Mammoth Mountaineering. www.life-link.com

Contact: Claire Johnson 800.443.8620 ext 104 or Claire@life-link.com.

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