Course Description
Our courses are subject to changes due to weather, snow conditions, visibility, or any other reason the Mt Ashland Ski Area or Mt Ashland Skimo considers necessary to put on a safe event.
We will send you the finalized course the week of the event, but the previous courses below will give you a good idea of what to expect.
Ski Area Map for reference to runs
Expansion Area long read (Check out the alternative option maps HERE (page 2))
Rec Course (est. 45 min - 2 hrs):
This is the race for you if you are newer into the sport and want to dip your toes in the water. Our recreational course is perfect for skiers new to going uphill or people looking for a shorter effort. The course will start with a short climb up to the top of Sonnet lift and a ski down to the bottom of Windsor lift. From there the big climb begins and will take you 1100 ft up to the top of Aerial lift via Caliban and Upper Dream, this part of the course is the same as the Full Course. At the top of Aerial, there will be a transition area where you'll say good bye to the full course racers. You'll descent the way you came up, down Dream (be aware of your fellow racers!) and back past Windsor lift where you'll do your final transition to a short 250 ft climb back to the lodge to the finish area. For this last climb, you'll be skinning up the "uphill route" just on the other side of the boundary rope. There will be a transition captain guiding you to the start of the skin track.
The rec course will be entirely within the ski area boundary, so racers will not be required to carry avalanche safety equipment (no beacon, probe, shovel necessary). You'll be finishing the race around 9 am, so you'll be able to enjoy the rest of the day heckling the full course racers from the lift with your discounted ticket.
Total vertical gain and loss on the rec course is approximately 1,400 ft.
The distance is approximately 2.5 miles.
Full Course (1.5 - 5 hrs):
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 untamed, ungroomed terrain outside of the ski area boundary. While the Mt Ashland Skimo Summit full course is a race and does follow a standard SkiMo race format, being a SkiMo racer is not a requirement to participate. This event is a great chance to explore the backcountry options that Mt Ashland has to offer! This course covers advanced skiing terrain and will require strong downhill skiing ability and endurance. If you need an excuse to go do a longer tour and maybe check out the surrounding terrain around Mt. Ashland, this is your ticket. You'll need a beacon, probe, shovel, and a backpack that can carry skis. You'll also need to carry water, food, and extra layers as if you are going on a normal backcountry outing. There will be volunteers at the transitions and Jackson County SAR will be on the course, but these are not aid stations, so you'll need to be completely self sufficient. If you decide to turn around for any reason, you MUST let a transition captain, a volunteer, a ski patrol, or Yu or Travis know that you turned around.
The total vertical gain and loss is 5,000 ft+ with four larger climbs, four shorter climbs, two bootpacks, and 16 transitions.
Approx distance is 10 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 bootpack, and blue marking for transitions.
There are three cutoff points at Transition 4, 5 and 7. Don't worry, even if you don't make these cutoffs, you'll still get plenty of skiing in.
Detailed Description of the course (open the CalTopo link below and follow it along as you read the description)
First Skin (150 ft) - "Bunny Hill" - Short and sweet. This may be your chance to race with some of the fastest racers you'll get to ski with... for a minute. This climb will take you up to the top of Sonnet Chair to Transition #1. This is just the warm-up, buttercup.
First Descent - Cruise down to the bottom of Windsor Chair via skier's right of the Sonnet Lift via Poma Run, maintain speed into Aisle Two, follow the cat track and continue your descent to the bottom of the Windsor lift. Transition 2 (Boneyard) - We will have the transition marked, and you will be required to skin from the marked transition area. Do NOT skate past the transition zone. This transition will be past the Windsor lift on the Aerial side. Transition 11 will also be in the same location, and you'll be required to skin downhill a short distance to the base are first.
Second Skin - big (1100 ft) - "To the ball" - will take you from the bottom of Windsor Chair along the ski area boundary on Rodger's Way past the bottom of Aerial chair and will head up Caliban -> Upper Dream. The transition will be located at the top of Aerial Chair (7450 ft).
Transition 3 - top of Aerial - this will be manned and is where the rec course racers will split off from the full course racers.
Second Descent (1400 ft) - Descend the cat track off the backside of Mt. Ashland. You'll get there by skiing down towards the bowl, but keep an eye out for the flagging to your skiers left. Catch the cat track and follow it south and out of the ski area boundary. Go around the first corner and look for flags to the start of the backcountry descent. Ski down the open meadow, past where the transition was located last year to an old fire road where it'll flatten out and you'll skate to transition 4 (6000 ft). Put your skins on here. This is also the transition after descending the honey pot.
Transition 4/10 - 40S15. Cutoff 1 (9 am) the racers that don't make the cutoff will skip the third skin and descent and start the fourth skin. This cutoff will shorten the course by skipping the Honey Pot + bonus hill.
Third Skin - big (1100 ft) - "Honey Pot" - will follow the flat fire road for a short distance then you'll start heading up between two drainages. Once sufficiently above the drainage, you'll start veering left, switch backing up past another fire road (40S30). Keep climbing up to the top of the Honey Pot.
Transition 5 - Honey Pot (7100 ft) Cutoff 2 (10 am) the racers who don't make this cutoff will skip the bonus hill and immediately descend the honey pot to transition 4.
Third Descent (600 ft) - West Fork Grouse Creek - from the top of the Honey Pot ski down toward the West Fork of Grouse Creek. This transition 6/8 will be unmanned.
Fourth Skin (600 ft) - up to the top of the bonus hill. Follow a low angle skin track up to the top of the bonus hill. This whole hill side is sparcely treed, so you'll get a good sense of your competition. Transition 7 (bonus hill) - this transition is also unmanned, so grab a sticker to put on your bib to prove that you made it.
Fourth Descent (600 ft) - ski down parallel to the fourth skin up back to the unmanned transition at the West Fork of Grouse Creek.
Fifth Skin (600ft) skin back up the top of the honey pot.
Fifth Descent (1100 ft) - Stay skier's left of the climber's track, making your way down the Honey Pot, cross the fire road, cross the drainage, and make your way down to the second fire road. Take caution of other racers skinning up the fire road here as you may have a lot of speed and not much room. Arrive at transition 4/10 (6000 ft)
Sixth Skin (1000 ft) - Will climb just west of descent #2. You'll cross one small drainage, cross the PCT, cross a fire road and continue climbing to the access road on the backside of Mt Ashland. Follow the groomed road for a short climb just past the Rabbit Ears where you'll find transition #11.
Cutoff #3 (11:30) - If you don't make this cutoff, follow the access road to the top of Mt. A check in with the transition team at the top of Aerial and descend the ski area to the lodge or follow the course from there.
Sixth Descent (400 ft) will head north side down into the expansion area. You'll start in some trees and it'll open up to some low angle open meadows. Make sure to follow the flags diligently as if you miss the transition, there is no easy way out.
Transition #12 will be at the bottom of one of the meadows (6600). If you are making fresh tracks, stop and re-trace your track so you are back on course. This area is difficult to access for rescues, searches, etc... so please take extra caution down here.
Seventh Skin (500 ft) will meander through the forest to the bottom of the Bowl. We'll do our best to mark this skin track tightly. Near the top of this skin track, we'll re-enter the ski area boundary, once you duck the rope, be aware of resort skiers coming down the hill at high speeds (we'll have signs out and warn the public as much as we can - this area may be closed off, so you may not have to worry about it). You'll eventually get to the bottom of the "Bowl" where it flattens out and you'll cross the main exit of the bowl where skiers will be descending at high speeds. We'll have a volunteer stationed here as a crossing guard to make sure there'll be no collisions.
Transition 13 (bottom of bowl @ 7100ft) - Rip your skins, get ready to boot pack, and secure your skis to your backpack. Skis on your backpack is mandatory due to safety reasons.
First Boot Pack (500 ft) - will climb the shoulder of the bowl at the fence line next to Wong's run. This is a short boot pack, but if you are feeling dizzy or don't trust your feet at this point, we urge you to reconsider and just traverse over to Dream. Reach transition 3/14 at the top of Aerial lift and transition (7450 ft).
Seventh Descent (1000 ft) - will begin from the top of Ariel and descend down Ariel Charline. You will descend Dream all the way down past Ariel chair and on to a short cat track back to transition 2/15 (the boneyard). Please be aware of other skiers and ski in control! This area is congested and can be very busy, so slow down and avoid collisions!
Eighth and final skin (300 ft) - From your transition, skin downhill past Windsor base and hop onto the cat track which starts just uphill of the maintenance shed next to Comer lift. Follow the skin track until you are just under the lodge, you'll have to duck the rope at one point to get back into the resort area and we'll finish near the lodge.
Second Boot Pack to the finish (150 ft) - Once you are below the lodge, we'll have one final bootpack to get you to the finish. Mt Ashland has a new lift this year "Lithia Chair" and we've had to modify the finish this year to separate the downhillers from the event participants. There'll be two bootpacks side by side here and we're hoping for an exciting finish right by the start line.
After you finish, enjoy your moment of glory, catch your breath, cool down, change clothes, then grab a beer and a meal. Then start cheering your fellow participants as they come in! There will be snacks, a meal, and beer so we hope you can stick around until the awards ceremony at 12:30 pm by the finish area.
Course Map Here on Caltopo - GPX downloadable
2022 Course (modified due to low snow pack - 7.7 mi, 4000 ft) - Pat Parsel Strava; Max King Strava
2023 Course - (9 mi, 5000 ft) Max King Strava
2024 Course (With Bonus Hill - 10 mi, 6000 ft) - Max King Strava; Chris Jones Strava
